Picture the scene. You’re sitting at you’re computer, reading either an original anime story, or an anime fan fiction. You read along, perfectly happy, minding you’re own business, when a character suddenly says “ Konnichwa! [1]”. Okay, you probably understand what that means, its a greeting. Nothing wrong there. You keep reading...

“Gomen nasai”[2] says on of the characters. This ones a little more difficult. It’s sorry, or an apology. It’s actually more formal than the situation requires, but what the heck, you carry on reading....

"Hajime mashite, watashi ha Etsuko san no tomodachi desu. Dozo yoroshiku. [3]" Your brain proceeds to have a breakdown, and melt out of one ear.

Yep, the curse of fangirl/boy Japanese has struck again. The writer has shoved a mysterious chunk of Japanese into a previously English conversation, and you have absolutely no idea what’s been said. You must feel like a right Baka [4] right now. You’re probably feeling angry, you scream “Kuso! [5]” And throw the you’re computer through the window.

This problem could have been in part avoided, if the writer had done so much as include a simple note at the end of the text, which explained what exactly the character was supposed to be saying. But the majority of people don’t do this.

I wish that just for once someone would think of the reader before throwing in a few Arigatou’s [6] or Meshi agare’s [7]. Because since I am neither Psychic, nor multi lingual, 90% of the time. I have no idea what the writer meant.

Okay, now we’ve cleared that point up, take a look at these quotes. Each of them is a lyric from a Japanese song.

“A crew sees crying knees. I wanna need. Not betray!" - Vanilla by Gackt

"Causes stain stay away oh! BOTHER ME" - STAY AWAY by L'Arc~en~Ciel

"Get feel of your passions." - get out from the shell by L'Arc~en~Ciel

"Scan your brain scan your bone." - Scanner by hide

Okay, who read the above quotes and sniggered or giggled, or doubted the intelligence of the writer of said lyrics, after noticing the utterly bizarre use of English words and phrases, nonsensical grammar, or utter gibberish created by these two things.

Hand rights up, even you at the back.

That's better.

Now why are these Japanese people inserting random words of English in their songs?

Could it be that the deep and ‘meaningful’ nature of the song can only be correctly conveyed in English?

Could it be that using English actually adds something to the song in some way?

Or is it because the songwriter is showing off?

The Japanese fans of the artists in question are as likely to actually understand what's wrong with the above lyrics, as you are likely to understand every word of a song totally in Japanese. Hence they’ll probably be amazed by their favourite singers grasp of a foreign language, instead of laughing about how dumb the lyric actually is.

On to the next question, why are English speaking writers using Japanese in there stories? Does it add something to the story, or like our J-rock singers, are they showing off?

After all, there is no good reason for a character to say Gomen instead of sorry, especially when they have been previously speaking Japanese, then immediately switch back to English afterwards. It’s quite jarring actually, and breaks up the flow of the story.

If someone you talked to in real life suddenly change language halfway through a conversation and expected you to follow what he or she said, you’d be irritated to say the least. Now how do you think it feels when people do this in fanfic’s.

Secondly, most English writers probably know as much about Japanese, as the writer of the above lyrics know about English. It is likely that the Japanese used by English writers is incorrect in some way, possibly grammatically wrong or inappropriate to the situation. So far from looking clever, or impressing the reader, you immediately look like an idiot to anyone who knows more Japanese than you do!

In conclusion, just because someone has managed to learn the odd phrase of Japanese from watching subtitled anime or listening to J-rock/pop, it doesn’t mean they should use it .

Q. So should we stop using Japanese in our stories all together?

A. Yes, excluding the 1% of cases in which using a Japanese phrase is appropriate because there is no English equivalent, Putting Japanese in to a story does not help it. In stead of taking the time to search the internet looking for a phrase to mean ‘I love you’ maybe we could spend that time editing or re drafting our work, so when the characters have to use that (or any other phrase) it seems meaningful and appropriate, and with the extra time we spent editing our text, when the character uses that phrase it will be accurate in both the spelling and grammar department.

End.

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[1]Greeting/hello

[2]I’m sorry.

[3]How do you do? I am a friend of Etsuko. Please remember me.

[4]Idiot/fool

[5]Shit!

[6]Thank you

[7]Enjoy your food, similar to Bon appetit