Forum - View topicEnglish speaking characters in anime.
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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This is where American voice acting has an advantage. Accents in English are far more versatile -- simply because the language is very well spread across the globe. In English, we can discern the difference of a British, French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and other accents speaking English. If we hear a German speak English, we can still recognize the person as German. A clear example would be the English language version to Blood Plus, where the characters travel across the world -- and come across characters of varying ethnicity. Japanese voice acting seems to be limited to Japanese -- or deriving their own method to accentuate foreign accents. See Excel Saga's Pedro, or Ranma 1/2's Shampoo. I have to wonder: How does Japanese sound like using an Italian accent? (or some other similar example, using French) |
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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An example of English being spoken in the original Japanese is the WXIII, the third Patlabor movie. In the original Japanese, there's an American that says "f---" 6 times. Strangely, in the dub, the same American says the rough equivalent of that word in Japanese.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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In an episode of Gigantic Formula an SAS member says "Bloody hell" in English (and is subtitled in Kapanese as kuso).
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d.yaro
Posts: 528 |
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Well, if anything most of the vowels are pronounced similarly between the two languages. I would suspect the noticeable element would the Italian speaker's annunciation. Don't know how it would sound. I've seen a Japanese movie shot in Italy with Japanese actors speaking in Italian but none of the Italian actors had lines in Japanese. |
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KyuuA4
Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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For a sample on how a Japanese voice speaking English sounds like -- I cite the Space Traffic Controller (or the Air Traffic Controller) giving landing instructions to the incoming space travel craft to the Macross F fleet. That spoken part is within the first 2-3 minutes of the first episode.
Japanese actors speaking in Italian? Now, that's a bit interesting. I suppose that's a sample of Italian with a Japanese accent. 
So, I can't imagine Japanese language with an Italian accent either. This was in contrast to English lines spoken with an Italian accent; almost any fluent English speaker can mimic that. Just a simple, "Mama mia" may suffice. Speaking of accents - I'm curious about the Kanto vs Kansai accent. Hmm, I'll look for voice sampling of that. |
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rti9
 Posts: 1241 |
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I watched that episode once again due to your response and I have to admit that she indeed has very little accent. The Japanese who I've seen with no accent at all were usually CEOs on CNN who probably studied a good part of their lives overseas. I also noticed that Kasukabe's seiyuu also spoke English quite well. Accent functions as the reference joke only those who know the source will understand. It is a bit frustrating for me to not be able to notice that Osaka actually has an Osaka accent (although, according to my Japanese friend, only Osaka speaks that slow). I can notice that Ogiue speaks differently sometimes, but just that. Those who can identify where her accent comes from must have a blast. My Japanese friend also explained to me that many comedy duos that appear on Japanese TV rely heavily on accent for their jokes. I recently watched a presentation from Jim Breuer on YouTube. Hilarious. Then I thought "what if I couldn't identify the accents?" It wouldn't be half as fun. Last edited by rti9 on Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:35 am; edited 1 time in total |
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KyuuA4
Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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I have to wonder -- did the Gay Dutchman in Samurai Champloo actually voiced by a Dutch voice actor? Note, both English and Japanese had to be in subtitle in a few parts.
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rti9
Posts: 1241 |
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Interesting to notice that when Asuka speaks in German, there are no Japanese subtitles. I can recall three moments. On episode 8 (mentioned above), episode 22 (when she speaks on the phone), and in the movie. But on episode 18 (when EVA Unit 3 is being transported by plane from America to Japan), there is a short technical dialogue in English. American accent and Japanese subtitles available. Why subtitles for one an not the other? Hm... we've been pointing out the scenes when foreign languages are spoken on anime but it would be more productive if we returned to the original post by Nom_Anor. The director probably is the one who selects the main seiyuus. It would be unpractical if casting was dependent on fluency of a second language which, in most of the cases as seen and already mentioned on this thread, is required on very short scenes. But when the recording of a scene like this is scheduled what actually happens? On Genshiken 2 and Blood the Last Vampire they seemed to be highly concerned to get the best possible seiyuus in order to make those short scenes authentic as possible. This concern for authenticity is probably shared between the director, the sound director (i guess), the casting director (also guess), and the seiyuu. But mainly, isn't it the seiyuu's responsibility to try to portray the character as legitimately as possible? Shouldn't actors and actresses do some research on the roles they are about to play? It is not because it is "merely TV" or "just anime" that a seiyuu wouldn't be bothered of not doing a good job. Even if the main audience can't notice it. |
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TheAnimeJudge
 Posts: 85 Location: WORST TOPIC MAKER =D in Chicago! |
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So you find this weird? o.O Well, it doesn't matter to me, when ti comes to anime, everyone around the world would need their own subtitles to understand whats goin on.... im sure a different language won't hurt the anime as much |
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Lilithi
 Posts: 35 Location: Netherlands |
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Anime should be watched Japanese with english subs. better lip sync.
Also I like Japanese more then English, seems more fitting to Anime |
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