English in Japan

[Zagato289]

Originally Posted by Shanis

I don't know that game but maybe they just want to be "cool" or they are lazy and don't want to programm additional languages so they just do one that can be understood everywhere and just subtitle it xD

lol hahahaha, i am starting to think that too.

[ksa2009]

The subject of a very beautiful Thank you my brother

[trunker]

its not just japan.

i've seen it in the middle east, in india, pakistan, parts of africa, malaysia, thailand, blah,blah,blah,....

it happens everywhere pretty much, and yeah alot of it has to do with it being percieved as being modern or cool.

and to that poster on the first page,.... how is japanese not linguistically related to chinese?

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by trunker

and to that poster on the first page,.... how is japanese not linguistically related to chinese?

They're two different ~types~ of language? I think Japanese is a "conglutinate" (sp?) language, IE words can change their meaning by what you 'glue' on the end so 'taberu'- to eat, can become 'tabe-na-katta' To eat not past tense or rather, i didn't eat. Then chinese is a concrete or fixed language? words don't change, rather you add words or change their position in a sentence to change meaning. It's also tonal. Basically, they are totally different, and no one is exactly sure where on earth Japanese language developed from, because it definitely didn't come from China. It's more closely related to southern asian languages. The kanji confuses the issue as it makes it ~seem~ very chinese, but that's like looking at a mouse and an elephant and going 'Yep! they're related, you can tell cause they both got four legs!'.

But Japanese does have a lot of chinese loan words , roughly I suppose, in the same way English has a lot of french loan words. It's not created the language, but it's added an interesting garnish.

[Liongale]

I had heard a long time ago of Japanese interest in English language- this is what actually made me curious of Japanese language and culture in return. I was very interested in a culture that was interested in my own.

I hope we continue to share cultures even more

[trunker]

Originally Posted by Columbine

They're two different ~types~ of language? I think Japanese is a "conglutinate" (sp?) language, IE words can change their meaning by what you 'glue' on the end so 'taberu'- to eat, can become 'tabe-na-katta' To eat not past tense or rather, i didn't eat. Then chinese is a concrete or fixed language? words don't change, rather you add words or change their position in a sentence to change meaning. It's also tonal. Basically, they are totally different, and no one is exactly sure where on earth Japanese language developed from, because it definitely didn't come from China. It's more closely related to southern asian languages. The kanji confuses the issue as it makes it ~seem~ very chinese, but that's like looking at a mouse and an elephant and going 'Yep! they're related, you can tell cause they both got four legs!'.

But Japanese does have a lot of chinese loan words , roughly I suppose, in the same way English has a lot of french loan words. It's not created the language, but it's added an interesting garnish.

cheers columbine, i didnt know that.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by trunker

cheers columbine, i didnt know that.

I didn't either until there was a special lecture on it at my university.

[Ryzorian]

I suspect it's due in part to the occupation from WW2, also due to English being considered a "universal" trade lanquage for a good part of the last century. It's also partly due to "loan" words, many phrases in English have no counterpoint in other lanquages. Mostly due to the fact English is a hybridized language, where they incorperate new phrases and words constantly.

Consider my Home state of "Iowa," that's not English, it's Native American. Half the counties and towns in this state are named after native American words. English just utilizes what ever words are in an area and adds them to the overall vocabulary. There are several "Japanese", "German", "French", and "Spanish" words in English as well. English is essentially the "Borg" of Lanquage, it absorbs everything else and adds it to itself.

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by Ryzorian

also due to English being considered a "universal" trade lanquage for a good part of the last century. It's also partly due to "loan" words, many phrases in English have no counterpoint in other lanquages.

Ryzorian is right. In almost all modern cultures the drive to acquire words and phrases from other languages is international trade. Many Japanese products, and entire industries, are marketed to the west and the "universal" language for western nations is English. Even the French, who have fought long and hard to keep English words out of their language, have had to accept those terms that simply have no equivalent in their own. It is much simpler to accept an English word for something originally named in English, than to add yet another term simply for the sake of linguistic purity.

[spoonybard]

I believe that the use of English in Japanese music, particularly J-Rock/J-Metal comes from the fact that the music they are playing has its roots in English, and it may be that they want to express something that they simply feel sounds better in English. It's their choice, really, but they are not the only ones that do this; Nightwish and Children of Bodom are Finnish bands, yet their lyrics are in English, and so are those of Arch Enemy who's members are Swedish, except for the vocalist, who is German.