original language question

[ruffriles19]

In both DB and Z original Japanese versions, the amount of wasei-eigo (Japanese loanwords from English) seems to be very high. Is this indicative of actual everyday Japanese? Or is it an anime thing, or maybe a DB thing? I'm not sure about anime in general because DB is really the only anime I've ever spent significant time watching. I knew that the Japanese language had absorbed lots of words from English, but they use them SO much in DB, even with words that have native Japanese versions too.
There are numerous examples, too many to list, but some more common ones would be Goku's (sankyu) "thank you" or "piisu" (peace) Not to mention the Tenkaichi announcer doing the KO counts in Engl(r)ish.

[kenisu3000]

I'm quite familiar with Japanese Pokemon (Pocket Monsters), and I can tell you, that anime is just LOADED with English!
All in all, I've never been to Japan, but I can say it's a safe bet that indeed, English is almost as equally common-use in everyday Japanese speech as in anime. Okay, note the ALMOST...

[Gamingdevil]

Then do they actually speak English or alter the words to their own language? (like kinesu's examples?) And by the way, I think the most clear example would be the FUSION-HA, which is literally English.

[B-kun]

Well, Japanese kids are taught English as early as first year junior high, possibly sooner and some of the better students can speak it almost fluently by high school.

So basically, that answered no one's question, but English is a rather popular thing in Japan, from what I can tel and it is thrown around quite a bit, sometime replacing their own words (*remembers hearing about a boy who kept saying" fuck" in English*).

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

English is very common in Japan, in anime, manga, music, signs (with the famous "Engrish"), ect.

XD at Hughes:

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/chibigohans ... Hughes.wmv

[sailorspazz]

I would say that Dragonball probably uses a little more English than the average Japanese person would, seeing as how a bunch of the English comes from attack names (Big Bang Attack, etc.) and, despite what you see in anime, most Japanese people aren't secretly super powerful warriors ^_- (and the Tokyo Tower has never been destroyed!)

On the other hand, perhaps DB doesn't use as much English as a young, trendy person would. I never really bothered to measure the amount of English "buzz words" used by Japanese people when I was in Japan last summer (I do know that, for some reason, a lot of the people I knew spoke more English as they got drunk ^_^;; One of the dorm RAs was particularly fond of yelling out "What the fuck?" randomly ^o^ And then there was the time when one of the guys was approached by a drunk Japanese guy on the street who was saying "I'm gay! I'm gay!" and trying to hug him ^_^;; )

So, uh, I guess my conclusion about English in DB would be more than an older person, but not as much as a young, hip teenager.

[The S]

Then there's the fact that nearly every single anime has at least one theme song with at least one word of Engl(r)ish in it.

[Fuujin]

Then there's the fact that nearly every single anime has at least one theme song with at least one word of Engl(r)ish in it.

Show me! Show you!
Kikkoman! Kikkoman!

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

*Joins in*

You can now dream furikazashi
Go in and try kurikaeshi nayami
hatenaki hibi he to kimi mo
Do you need to cry? kodoku tomo
Show me, a day, fight namida suru tabi ni
yuriginai yume to nare

Arg!

[Sho™]

In Japan, it's considered cool to wear a shirt with English writing on it.

[lost in thought]

Nice song, wish I could understand what the Japanese verses mean.
But in my head, my imagination has a female singer, singing the verses... in my mind it sounds nice.

[SpaceKappa]

Then there's the fact that nearly every single anime has at least one theme song with at least one word of Engl(r)ish in it.

Show me! Show you!
Kikkoman! Kikkoman!

Take this killer! KIKKO-BEAM!

[laserkid]

"I want to CHANGE THE WORLD
Kaze wo kakenukete, nanimo osoerezuni
Ima yuuki to, egao no kakera daite
Change my mind
Jounetsu tayasazu ni, takanaru mirai e
Te wo nobaseba, kagayakeru hazu sa
It's wonderland!"

Er yeah just joining the fun ^^;

[dragonpearls]

Well, it’s kind of hard to tell with DBZ. Like for the Saiyan, they purposely used a lot of English words with them, to make them seem more foreign from the earthlings.