Speaking English is cool.
December 11th, 2008 by James
A CNET Japan reports on a survey that ranks foreign languages by their coolness:
- English – 64.8%
- French – 13.0%
- Italian – 5.1%
- German – 5.1%
- Spanish – 2.0%
- Latin – 2.0%
- Arabic – 1.4%
- Chinese – 1.4%
- Korean – 1.0%
- Thai – 1.0%
- Russian – 1.0%
- Portuguese – 0.7%
- Other – 1.4%
Update: The full survey results have been translated at posted at What Japan Thinks.
[via FG]
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
- Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)
| Related Posts: |
|
Keio-educated American politician insists immigrants in Nashville learn English Classic Japanese Science Fiction: Ultra Q |
Full RSS Feed
No Japanese?!?!?!?!?
Rate this comment:
0 
1
this survey has been asked to japanese, so i don’t see why they would include their own language
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Think about what you just said and then think about the ratio of “cool people” who speak Japanese to Otaku who do. Surely, you’ll see why it would never be on any list.
Rate this comment:
1 
0
I would imagine something very close to 100% of the “cool people” in Japan already speak Japanese. And about 100% of the Otaku as well.
So, having established that both cool and uncool Japanese people already speak Japanese, when asked for their impression of a “cool foreign language” why would Japanese list their own (non-foreign) language?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Pretty much what one would expect from the land of eikaiwa obsession.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
woot
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Yet they want nothing to do with gaijin’s most often.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
They usually want plenty to do with English speaking gaijin who will let them practice their English.
Anyway I’m glad at least some people are able to withstand the mania:
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20081202p2a00m0na015000c.html
Rate this comment:
0 
0
can someone tell me what that kanji word is for america? I thought they only used katakana for it.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
If you’re referring to 英語, it’s “eigo,” the word for the English language. I believe the kanji for America is 米国 (beikoku).
Rate this comment:
0 
0
米国
べいこく
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Way back in the day, it was 亜米利加, which is just a phonetic rendering of アメリカ。Does anyone know why the 米 became the character chosen out of the four to represent America in 米国?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
亜 was already used for 亜細亜？（アジア)……maybe?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Yeah, you couldn’t use 亜 as it was Asia. Fukuzawa Yukichi and his 「脱亜入欧」(datsu-a nyuu-ou) ideas of “leaving Asia and entering Europe” would have taken on an entirely different meaning….
What I find interesting is the way Japan calls the US “rice country”…. (In China, BTW, the US is the “beautiful country,” 美国. Another bizarre choice…)
According to this, the word was originally Chinese:
(http://homepage2.nifty.com/osiete/s553.htm)
Wiki Japan states that the Japanese in the bakumatsu and Meiji periods often referred to the Americans as ‘Mericans, which is why it starts with Bei and not A.
Doesn’t say why “米” however. No one seems to know.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Come to think of it, why Beikoku and not Maikoku? Aside from the obvious, that is….
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I thought that German would have more percents. It seems to me that Japanese like things related with Germany and German language, since they also use it often in anime, but there’s also a lot of posts by Japanese people looking for a German pen-friend (or rather mail-friend) on the internet.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
They should hunt down the nerds (2%) that said Latin and sterilize them on the odd chance they might actually breed.
//and German is WAAAAAAAY cooler then English
Rate this comment:
0 
0
If it’s so cool, then why is English becoming more common than German in Germany itself?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I thought it was Turkish that was replacing German in Germany?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
No, High German is being replaced by broken German here – the language that all the juvenile gangs speak.
I’m also a bit suprised, that German got this low score, I thought it was at least as popular as French.
I also thought more Japanese people would like to speak Spanish more then Italian.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I find it hilarious that Latin made the cut.
The Kanji for America is 米国. There are Kanji for almost every country.
I wonder how this would turn out if done in other countries…
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I keep telling my wife that just by being an English-speaking foreigner in Japan, I’m so cool that no amount of crappy old clothes wearing or unshavenness could diminish me in the eyes of all who behold me…She has this strange idea that I’m wrong.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
No, you are right.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Hawaiian!
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Yeah, because Jack Bauer and the guy from Prison Break speak English.50cent and Ne-Yo too.
I prefer Latin- some of the greatest minds in the history of mankind have spoken it.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
So did Nero. Oh wait. Was he one of “the greatest minds”?
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Makes sense as English words make some sense with Japanese sounds.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I speak English. Je parle français. Ich spreche Deutsch.
私は日本語を話します。 (It’s true.)
But I find nothing cool about that.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
You said「私は日本語を話します。」
Please note it’s better not to start sentences with 「私は」。
Good luck with your studies.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
That’s an awkward sentence, it would sound much better if you said 「日本語が話せます」 or more accurately 「日本語を勉強しています」.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Or “nihongo MO (also) hanasemasu/hanashimasu” since you already listed Eigo, Fransay and Doitch. 4 languages, pretty cool to me. ganbatte
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I just wrote it the way he was, since he wrote them as if they were all unrelated, instead of using words like “y” for spanish, or “et” for french. But you’re right, it sounds better your way, and I considered writing it that way but I thought it’d be better to be consistent for some reason.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
nihongo perapere gaijin looks cool
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I think thai sounds pretty cool
Rate this comment:
0 
0
in my opinion, there’s a very important nuance with regards to the whole “speaking english is cool”. i believe that the japanese don’t think that speaking engish is intrinsically cool, rather that (a japanese) speaking perapera english makes one look “cool” in the eyes of other japanese
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Speaking Russian is COOOOOOL. English is spoken by like… I don’t know… EVERYONE? How’s that cool? That’s like saying people with a nose are COOOOL !!!1111.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
Russian is the most ungodly language to hear and speak. It seriously gets on my nerves as well as all foreign-language speaking friends of mine.
Rate this comment:
0 
0
I am an Australian – a lot of overseas people come to my country to learn English. English is an important language to know if you intend to travel to other countries.
Rate this comment:
0 
0