THANK YOU!!

yes! Yes! Yes!..Yes! Of course. I know a few japanese words, and I use them in like, my little *insert random info about yourself* boxes, but sometimes i'm reading a really good story and they insert random japanese phrases in there, ones i dont know. And it doesn't help. I like japanese any everything, blah-de blah blah, but i'd rather not read english stoies with random words i don't get, in them.

Heh heh, that was very entertaining, though I must say I'm guilty of chucking a 'gomen' here and there and once and a while an 'arigatou'... that's really no big deal, but yeah... the long phrases without translation urk me.
Nice little rant there.
...
...how about chucking some German in there?
...just kidding.
=^__^=

I understand your points, but I still think that 1% is being a little bit too harsh. Personally, I like a little bit of Japanese flavour here and there, or whatever other foreign language.
I don't think it's really about showing off, it can be simply imitation due to admiration, or many other reasons, not all of which are obnoxious.
English is trendy in Japan, which is why we get to see all that hilarious Engrish, but I think it's too much to pick on them for it.

righteous.

Oh. My. God. I think I love you. This is exactly how I feel when people add in nonsensical Japanese. I'm all for random phrases if they fit and make sense. But sometimes a story is set in Japan and you assume they're speaking Japanese (but the story's written in English) and then suddenly you see a "Daijoubu?" out of nowhere. This is an excellent "essay/rant" about a very important subject. Kudos.

Hey, thanks for review my uh... yeah. Anyway, I think this brings up a very important point. I mean, I do nothing but watch anime, draw, and write, but write things in Japanese over my dead body! I'm even taking Private Japanese Lessons, but I don't go around assuming everyone does! I remember I read this fanfic for Rurouni Kenshin, my reaction was, "Alright, there's English in there SOMEWHERE, I just gotta search harder!" I don't feel like remembering all these Japanese words, it's like everyone's assuming "You know, they MUST know the basics of Japanese, everyone does!" but don't you think they take those "basics" a little TOO far? Anyway, thanks again for reviewing, and Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is mah All Time favorite anime! Anyone who likes it rocks!

I, too, find myself annoyed when the author have the characters using Japanese phases just because the character's Japanese or the author is trying to show off. First, I do agree with what you said. Second, I don't mind an occasional Japanese phase just as long as the author uses it in the right context and shoves a footnote somewhere. I'm talking about small stuff like a sister referring to her brother as "Onii-chan" or saying "Hai" or something along those lines. I don't see the point of shoving a Japanese phase in if it's something long like "Hajime mashite, watashi ha Etsuko san no tomodachi desu."

i felt compelled to review this. i agree with yeller. why should you care? you obviously understand whats going on. let the ones that dont deal with it in their own way. besides, anyone whos been watching anime for any length of time has got to know what some phrases mean.

I find this extremely offensive, Why should you care if people want to insert Japanese phrases into their fan fics, why should it bother you. It ios entirely up to the author, as it is their work of fiction.

Secondly, why are you only complaining about Japanese. I have barely read anything that contains Japanese. There are so many more fics that contain german, french, etc.

Thirdly, if you want to rant about it, why don;t you just review the author, instead of complaining about it a supposed essay.

Ah, very good. I'm glad to see someone doing something about the rampant inclusion of foreign languages in stories. It's a bit of a pitfall that everyone will eventually fall into, especially those writers just starting out.

I must admit my own inclusions of foreign languages, but I've never used them unless it has a purpose. In the first edition of one of my stories, two characters who had taken a French class in the past had a conversation in French because they didn't want their respective friends knowing what they were saying. Even though it was perfectly natural for them to do this, and I included translations after every line, I decided that it didn't add anything to the story, and I removed it in a revision. I also had a very geeky boy tell his crush that he loved her in Japanese, but that was for the same reason that many people include foreign languages; he simply wanted to impress the girl.

Foreign languages can be effective if used in the proper context, but that can be a difficult skill to learn. I must applaud you on your plea to writers everywhere, as like many others, I have been irritated by Japanese for the sake of looking knowledgeable many times before. Very well written.

Ye-es... and of course you're also losing a big chunk of your audience. Japanese is learnt by almost no-one in Europe, so you'll lose all your British readers, for one thing. Sure, there *are* sensible places to insert foreign phrases, but you do need to think about it, as you say. =:)

Ah! Thank you! SOMEONE had to say this and you did!

I agree. Usually, if I decide to drop a foreign language into my stories, it'll either be so bloody obvious that the reader automatically gets it, or it won't be meant to be understood. One possible exception was when I had a German character saying the Lord's Prayer in German shortly before entering battle; so yeah, I'm somewhat guilty of what you've described.

~He Who Walks On All Fours

I agree with you. An occasional phrase here and/or there is alright, but when they totally switch languages and insert many full sentences, it's confusing.

~Arayuldawen~