Maaya - fluent in English?

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frecklegirl
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Post by frecklegirl »

[quote="Therax"]This may all seem very strange to those in other parts of the world where competence in languages other than that of your home country is relatively common, but believe me, to most of that Anaheim audience, Maaya at AnimeExpo sounded "fluent" by their standards.[/quote]

That's probably the entire basis behind it. Thanks a lot for pointing that out!

[quote="Gibb"]You sure travel a lot :P [/quote]

For the first 20 years of my life, I had never even been outside the U.S. Now I'm making up for it, and honing the languages I study as my purpose. As of now I've still only been to 2 countries...
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Post by oamichano »

I agree. At Anaheim I came to the sad realization that her spoken/live performance English is nowhere near her almost flawless recording singing English.
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frecklegirl
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Post by frecklegirl »

Almost flawless? Say whaaaa? I notice her accent almost every time I listen to her sing. It's far from perfect!
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Post by dillpops »

But when you're not listening for an accent you can't hear it, it's very noticable on some songs but not on others. Americans sing differently to British english sometimes too which could be a comparison to you hear an accent if you're looking...maybe 0_o

I don't know, but she's defiantely had one song at least which the accent doesn't show as much as others which might confuse people.

And the fact she sings so much in English
might be enough to convince people she sings it. Especially if you're not deep into Jpop and don't know that yes, other people sing english and can't speak it etc.

I don't know >_<
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Kem
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Post by Kem »

[quote="frecklegirl"]Almost flawless? Say whaaaa? I notice her accent almost every time I listen to her sing. It's far from perfect![/quote]

Her english is pretty accented, but I feel like you can still tell what she is saying (unlike many japanese artists singing in english). I think she must practice her songs in english a lot before she records them.
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Post by LennStar »

I understand most of the english in the songs, and its not my native language, so it can't be that bad ;) (It got better with time) I know how bad english can sound from a japanese that is quite good in writing it. :D
I think Kem is right with the practice.
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Gibb
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Post by Gibb »

This thread makes me think of her song "Vector". It's my favorite Maaya song, and it's 100% in English. Her english is pretty good, but there are some words she seems to have trouble with. Until I looked up the lyrics, I thought the chorus was:

"Do you know my name"

Turns out it's "Do you know what I mean". Her "mean" really sounds like "name" or "main". Her "Told" is pretty hard to understand as well. Sounds more like "Took".
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Kem
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Post by Kem »

[quote="Gibb"]This thread makes me think of her song "Vector". It's my favorite Maaya song, and it's 100% in English. Her english is pretty good, but there are some words she seems to have trouble with. Until I looked up the lyrics, I thought the chorus was:

"Do you know my name"

Turns out it's "Do you know what I mean". Her "mean" really sounds like "name" or "main". Her "Told" is pretty hard to understand as well. Sounds more like "Took".[/quote]

Okay... I'll give you that one. That line confused me at first, too. I kinda meant that in general, you can tell what she's saying. I know that I've heard much worse (Like "Summer Days" by Do As Infinity. It took me forever to even realize that the song was in english...).
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misssakura
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Post by misssakura »

Damn, all this time I thought she was saying "do you know who I am?".

:evil:
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Gibb
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Post by Gibb »

[quote="misssakura"]Damn, all this time I thought she was saying "do you know who I am?".

:evil:[/quote]

I'm listening to it again right now. It does sound like it could be "Do you know who I am?" hehe.

http://www.animelyrics.com/jpop/sakamoto/vector.htm
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dillpops
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Post by dillpops »

That's what I heard as well :lol:
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Post by Tenson »

In fact, what she's singing is "Do you know what I'm telling" :P
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Post by kirei_lanford »

hah,, and i was sure that she was saying "do you know your my man" that's why i never sang that part. it's really not suitable for guys to say something like that :evil:
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Post by Chibikko »

I always thought it was "Do you know what I mean?"
but that she did say it a little oddly...more like "Doyu know wadnai meeeen?"

A little odd, but still understandable.
And hey, there are people who have spoken English all their lives who don't ennunciate so clearly when they sing :P
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Gibb
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Post by Gibb »

[quote="Chibikko"]I always thought it was "Do you know what I mean?"
but that she did say it a little oddly...more like "Doyu know wadnai meeeen?"

A little odd, but still understandable.
And hey, there are people who have spoken English all their lives who don't ennunciate so clearly when they sing :P [/quote]

It is "do you know what I mean". I'm looking at my Nikopachi booklet right now.
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