Engrish

Cobweb · Post by **Cobweb** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 11:46 pm

I flatter myself as something of an anime music buff, and I've noticed a trend. In nearly every show, the score is sung in Japanese because it's written for a primarily Japanese audience. Now, the .hack songs written by Yuki Kajiura (SIGN and LIMINALITY) are almost entirely in Engrish. No, that's not a typo. Engrish is the term for warped English as spoken by the Japanese. Japlish is bad Japanese as spoken by Americans.
In fact, the only exceptions that I can think of off the top of my head are "Das Wandern" - German - and "Thousand Night One Night" and "Yasahi Yoake" (the end theme), which are in Japanese. I'm probably forgetting a few more J-language songs, but not enough to skew the results. The majority are in English, and the only reason I can think of is that .hack//SIGN was planned to come over the Pacific from the very beginning.
... That, or Kajiura-san just felt like something original ... thoughts, anyone?

Hiro · Post by **Hiro** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 12:09 am

Yaa.Ever heard the song Obsession on I think the Soundtrack vol.1,well I saw the lyrics,and there in English,but when she sings it sounds like it's in Jap.

Cobweb · Post by **Cobweb** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 12:47 am

Yeah, that's Engrish for you. The lyrics aren't just random words strung together like "jog-mountain-seven-yes" (I've heard worse); they're actually quite good songs, they make sense. It's obvious that someone down the line made an effort to write intelligent, English lyrics and then teach them to lead singers who apparently did not understand them - so we get the freaky pronunciation that makes it so Engrish-good. Why go to all that effort if nobody was ever intended to understand it?

Cobweb · Post by **Cobweb** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 12:47 am

Yeah, that's Engrish for you. The lyrics aren't just random words strung together like "jog-mountain-seven-yes" (I've heard worse); they're actually quite good songs, they make sense. It's obvious that someone down the line made an effort to write intelligent, English lyrics and then teach them to lead singers who apparently did not understand them - so we get the freaky pronunciation that makes it so Engrish-good. Why go to all that effort if nobody was ever intended to understand it?

Jerec · Post by **Jerec** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 12:59 am

In Japan, English has a degree of coolness to it, strangely.

Also, there are plenty of .hack songs that are sung in good english by Emily Bindiger and possibly others.

0mega · Post by **0mega** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 1:00 am

I belive I read somewhere that Yuki Kajiura was told to not write Japanese songs for .hack because they wanted it to appeal to every one... or something like that. She also said she likes to be different. Example, she wrote Italian songs for Noir.

Jerec wrote:In Japan, English has a degree of coolness to it, strangely

Thats why most J-Rock/Pop songs have English words, that you have to look at the lyrics most of the time to catch them.

Cobweb · Post by **Cobweb** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 1:26 am

Cool. It's kind of like a parallel to the way English-speakers wear shirts with Kanji on them, even though they have no idea what it means. (Laughs with embarrassment) You hear the voice of experience. Oh, that reminds me ... something I meant to put in the very first posting. Check out the site www.engrish-store.com for a few good laughs and some bad grammar. My favorite is the "over the rainbow" shirt.
Also, please excuse the clone post above. A minor rebellion is taking place in my hard drive as I type, and Norton has betrayed me.

AiNoAssassin · Post by **AiNoAssassin** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 2:22 am

I've actually wondered this myself, come to think of it ... !

Perhaps it serves as an attention grabber of sorts? I know that if I were to flip to some random show on TV & hear a foreign-language song as the opening theme, I would be more likely to continue viewing the program. After all, if the music was unique, different, & interesting if you will, then why wouldn't the show itself be? There's a good chance it could not be like every other series out there. Variety/Originality in television is a good thing. ^^ Or, at least, that's simply my own, personal reasoning. =P

- Amarice Sky

Robby-san · Post by **Robby-san** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 2:39 am

I really like the Engrish t-shirts! Especially the over the rainbow one!

English is qite commin in Japan, there are more Japanese people that speek english than Amaricans that speek japanese.

Cobweb · Post by **Cobweb** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 2:58 am

What a pity! Sometimes it seems like the whole world is slowly turning into America ... I couldn't decide whether to cry when I saw the Animatrix at Suncoast or to buy it on the spot. I did both, if you're curious. And yeah, it's bloody BRILLIANT, but at the same time it's really clear in some spots that the animators were abandoning traditional Japanese/anime-style for a "sleeker" generic American style. I guess the same thing could be said by the real purists out there for things like dubbing or even subbing. They'd have a point, too. Something is always lost in translation, and in a series as complex as .hack that little "something" could be vital.

On a lighter note ...
I'm glad you liked the shirts! Aren't they hilarious?

Sora · Post by **Sora** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 4:08 am

Actually, Kajiura's songs are in perfectly good english. However, it's not what we're used to, even if they're gramatically correct. They are lyrics more like poetry, and less like 'people singing what they say'.

Obsession was sung by See Saw, a Japanese band, and thus the pronunciation is more 'engrishy'. Some of the choral pieces are a bit engrishy as well, however, the lead singer for the .hack songs (such as Key of the Twilight, The World, Open Your Heart, etc), if I recall correctly, is American (or at least, a westerner).

She also just likes to write songs in English. Her album, 'Fiction', while it was planned for an American release, yes, features English, Italian, and gibberish *laughs*.

She seems to like to rotate languages. She knows German, as she lived in Germany for some time, and she speaks very good English, and Italian... I'm not sure where she learned that, but yes, each series tends to have its own 'theme' of music. Noir tends towards operatic Italian, .hack towards English, and things like Aquarian Age use gibberish (Because, as she said, it wasn't Earth, so they wanted a different kind of music to represent that supernatural element).

As for Animatrix... the subtitles were HORRID on that x_X;;;;;; Kite and I were cringing when we watched it. Even if it was cool, the translations were awful.

Xebexz · Post by **Xebexz** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 5:13 am

Yuki Kajiura did japanese for 'Gentle Twlight'. If you've listened to the ending theme it's really 5:12 minutes long, and the ufll verison is wonderful, and it's done in japanese.

Baka Deshi · Post by **Baka Deshi** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 6:46 am

0mega wrote:Thats why most J-Rock/Pop songs have English words, that you have to look at the lyrics most of the time to catch them.

I know this is off topic, but is it true that like J-punk rock songs just throw in American cuss words? I heard that somewhere....don't know if it's true though?

0mega · Post by **0mega** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:03 am

Xebexz wrote:Yuki Kajiura did japanese for 'Gentle Twlight'. If you've listened to the ending theme it's really 5:12 minutes long, and the ufll verison is wonderful, and it's done in japanese.

'Yasashii Yoake' is preformed by See-Saw, Yuki Kajiura's Japanese band (as Sora said), thats why its in Japanese. Most of the See-Saw songs are Japanses, except for 'Obsession' and some of the songs have english words (Tsuki Hitotsu, Emerald Green, Jumping Fish, ect.)

Yes, the full version of Yasashii Yoake is realy cool, I with it was longer on .hack//SIGN.

Baka Deshi wrote:I know this is off topic, but is it true that like J-punk rock songs just throw in American cuss words? I heard that somewhere....don't know if it's true though?

That very well could be.

Baka Deshi · Post by **Baka Deshi** » Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:06 am

^^ You do mean That very well could be true right?