Anime songs

[Eliseu Gouveia]

I love practicaly all anime intros I´ve ran into to date.
Even if it doesn´t quite stick with me the first 2-4 times, by the 5th time I hear a song and watch an intro, I tend to grow a taste for it.
Most end credit tunes too.

Over the years I´ve grown to love hearing the japanese words in those songs. Even thought I don´t understand what is being said 98% of the time, I like its melodic qualities.

So it kinda bugs me when they feel the need to throw in english phrases in the middle of the songs.
It really breaks the spell.

Don´t get me wrong, I like both the japanese and english language but the amalgam they do in those songs seems.... weird.

Why do they do that?

[Darth Joker]

I love practicaly all anime intros I´ve ran into to date.
Even if it doesn´t quite stick with me the first 2-4 times, by the 5th time I hear a song and watch an intro, I tend to grow a taste for it.
Most end credit tunes too.

Over the years I´ve grown to love hearing the japanese words in those songs. Even thought I don´t understand what is being said 98% of the time, I like its melodic qualities.

So it kinda bugs me when they feel the need to throw in english phrases in the middle of the songs.
It really breaks the spell.

Don´t get me wrong, I like both the japanese and english language but the amalgam they do in those songs seems.... weird.

Why do they do that?


I think that they do it for two reasons...

1) Out of admiration, and respect, in a sense. The Japanese know that English is the international language of commerce, and the most prominent language amongst the world's most influential and powerful nations. For this reason, I get the impression that English is to the Japanese what French is to us English folks... a romanticized language that we like to interject certain phrases from into our everyday speaking ( 'Coup d'etat', 'Et tu, Brute?' etc...). I find that when English is interjected into anime intros, it's usually for repeating verses and/or romantic parts dealing with love. ;)

2) Perhaps they think that it appeals to the North American, British, and Australian markets.

[Sanagi]

The answer is simple - they think it sounds cool, just like you think the Japanese language sounds cool.

[heystacy]

In some American songs there may be a word or phrase from a different language. Sometimes it sounds exotic.

My Chere Amour (msp) by Stevie Wonder comes to mind.

[Eliseu Gouveia]

I guess you may have a point.

I grew so accostumed to the english language that it surprises me how someone could find it "exotic". :p