Comments on: Yukio Hatoyama speaks English

By: Katie

Katie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:45:08 +0000

I wanted to hear the song he was about to bust into at the end of that video. It had a funky groove.

Considering the fact that when I try to speak Japanese it makes me want to punch my own face, I can’t comment. I understood him just fine, and his voice is no less stilted in Japanese. Seems to be his way.

By: Geckomayhem

Geckomayhem — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:22:10 +0000

I thought he spoke very well, despite reading off a piece of paper that had a prepared speech. I’m wondering if when he spoke to Obama, they used an interpreter, or if the two national leaders were able to communicate sufficiently in English.

By: Beaky

Beaky — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:23:02 +0000

Got that right.

By: ponta

ponta — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:16:18 +0000

Hatoyama’s speech was boring.
I think Koizumi was a good a public speaker and it was considered his asset.
The ability to give stirring speeches per se is not always good as in Hitler’s case, though.

By: Granten

Granten — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:23:19 +0000

In Japan the ability to give stirring speeches and really connect with the masses isn’t considered a great asset. To be honest I could probably give a better speech than him, I just couldn’t possibly do it as fluently in Japanese.

By: Kneecap

Kneecap — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:49:31 +0000

Give the guy a break. It’s refreshing to see a Japanese politician reaching out to the world like this. Certainly beats the last 60 years of political stagnation this country has experienced.

He did receive a degree from Stanford but that was decades ago. His delivery was, admittedly, a bit jittery but his pronunciation was very good (compared to your average English speaker in Japan) and he made the effort, so I commend him.

By: Seth Johnson

Seth Johnson — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:11:57 +0000

His English is a lot better than the US Ambassador to Japan’s Japanese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Karisu

Karisu — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:05:59 +0000

Considering your own English, I can see why you “dont care his English.”

By: Martin F

Martin F — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:45:41 +0000

Hatoyama’s speech is on the UN website (pdf):

http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/climatechange/shared/Documents/Japan.pdf

By: PK

PK — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:33:13 +0000

As an UN buff, I can confirm that as a general rule, one is to address the body in one of the six working languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, or Chinese.

By: ayeh

ayeh — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:30:05 +0000

compared to the engrish we are all used to this is great, really.

By: hoihoi

hoihoi — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:00:40 +0000

his speech is stupid though I dont care his English

By: Vonskippy

Vonskippy — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:27:51 +0000

Maybe. I grew up in Germany, but have lived (mostly) in the States for the last 20 years. Always takes me a few days to get back into thinking/speaking Deutsch when I return home for a visit, but I wouldn’t say “I’ve lost it” just because I don’t speak it daily.

By: pixel_bomber

pixel_bomber — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:30:48 +0000

I think you are right.
I was thinking somewhere between “OK” and “Not so good” but I was surprised to see so many people rate him as “Good”. For me “Good” would mean he sounds like a native speaker. Whereas “Great” would be uses correct or formal English when speaking (sounds like a professional speaker). While he pronounced most of the words fine, he sounded like a Japanese guy reading some English off a card. There is nothing wrong with it, but it’s certainly not as good as people rated it in this poll.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:49:14 +0000

Yukio Hatoyama graduated from Stanford in 1976. Assuming that he moved back to Japan and likely used English (spoken English, at least) very rarely, it’s expected that most of his ability would diminish over 30 years. It’s not impossible for someone to lose even their native language if they move to a foreign country and subsequently never use the language over many years.

As the saying goes, “use it or lose it.”

By: The Overthinker

The Overthinker — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:30:39 +0000

For a guy who lived and studied in the US for years, his English is frankly not very good. He has got rusty. So I would rate him as not that good for a Japanese PM considering how good he should be with a CV like that.

By: LB

LB — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:04:04 +0000

“Extemporaneous formal speeches are not appropriate”

Amen – someone want to tell Qadaffi?

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:02:02 +0000

If you watch any world leader giving speeches in a formal setting, you will see that they always read their speeches. This is accepted practice and makes sure they don’t say something stupid (usually). This is true in Japanese culture as well. Any speech of any importance should be prepared ahead of time and read. This shows that you have prepared carefully. Extemporaneous formal speeches are not appropriate so criticizing him for reading his speech is does not make sense. That said, he was certainly struggling to read what he had, probably from the stress of giving a speech in a foreign language. He should have stuck with Japanese. It is proper protocol and it would have been much smoother.

By: L33tminion

L33tminion — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:54:35 +0000

That is unusual. I can only assume that was meant to be a diplomatic gesture directed towards a specific English-speaking country.

By: L33tminion

L33tminion — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:51:29 +0000

I’d also guess that it was written by a speech-writer, not by Hatoyama himself. Heads of state generally don’t write their own speeches.

By: LB

LB — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:48:00 +0000

Perhaps, but… I would rather he deliver a speech at an international gathering like this in English, which will be more widely understood, than in Japanese and open the door to third-party translation errors. Granted, not everyone at the UN speaks English as their first or even second language. But it is one of the official UN languages (Japanese is not) and probably far easier to translate into the other 5 official languages than Japanese. Plus, and I stand to be corrected here, but isn’t all UN business supposed to be conducted in one of the six official languages anyway?

Now, if Hatoyama was engaging in spontaneous diplomacy or having serious discussions with another leader, I would agree that perhaps he should speak in his native tongue to avoid misunderstandings. Then again, he did graduate from Stanford so I doubt his English ability is much of an issue. But anyway, for a prepared speech, I say let him read it in English.

By: Isaac Kojima

Isaac Kojima — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:18:05 +0000

But the diplomacy protocol tells that a head of government SHOULD speak in his/her mother language. Even if his English is perfect, Hatoyama should address his speech in Japanese.

By: Ken Y-N

Ken Y-N — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:15:19 +0000

I rated it OK for pronunciation, but poor for presentation – reading off the paper – did no-one set up the teleprompter for him? – and a very stiff delivery, but I suppose he was very nervous. You’d think his wife (and his PR people) would get him a few lessons in public speaking instead of the shifty eyes he always has.

Him missus’ singing (how about a poll on that!) was terrible for an ex-Takaraseinne according to wifey, and her English was better, but with a limited vocabulary, perhaps due to rustiness?

By: Mr. USA

Mr. USA — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:38 +0000

Finally a Prime Minister who is fluent in Japanese.

Oh yeah, his English is good too.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:11:04 +0000

His pronounciation is clear, but it looks like he’s reading it all word-for-word from a sheet of paper. Whatever he wrote, you can bet it was proofread by a translator, if not translated entirely by one.

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:08:29 +0000

Sure as hell beats Miss Universe Japan’s English.