Maaya's.net

I brought this up in the Jpopmusic.com forums Maaya thread, and was very surprised at the response. I'm going to ask it here too. Did any of you here think that Maaya was fluent in English? (Or do you still think that?)

Because... yeah, she's not. ^^

This began when I was on her IMDB page and saw that someone put down for her trivia that she is "Fluent in Japanese and English" and something about how at her AX concert she "amazed her fans by speaking entirely in fluent English throughout the show. She was also repeatedly overwhelmed with happiness at the size and energy of the several thousand-strong crowd, much to the audience's delight" (which, ugh, the wording of which is disgusting to me, but whatever). This is really not true! She may have used the few phrases she knows to speak to the audience, but that does not equal fluency, especially considering that the next day at the panel, she had to have an interpreter. Um, if she were fluent in English, she wouldn't NEED an interpreter at the panel!
(I got the "fluent in English" trivia thing changed at IMDB, but for some reason they didn't change the "spoke to the audience in fluent English" part!! I submitted another change with it again, but it STILL hasn't happened! What the heck, this mistaken information needs to stop misguiding people! It's not true so change it already! anyway...)

I was also at the Animefest panel a few months after, and she said to us that she can't speak English well enough not to need an interpreter. And there's the whole liner note to "Garden of Everything" where she says Steve Conte emails her all the time but she can't read it because it's English.

all this = not fluent!

So yeah. Who thought that? XD

(Also, randomly, I'm in France now, French people on this board... XD)

They probably think she's fluent in English because she sings so many songs entirely in english..and her accent isn't that terrible so...

Hmm, I'm not going to call it terrible, but it's definitely not perfect. Every time I hear her sing in English it's like 'agh accent!' But I think maybe she's gotten better.

Aye, I was at the same concert as frecklegirl. Her English is cute as heck, but it's not fluent...

What nationality are the people you're speaking with? Maybe they're confused with Utada Hikaru

[quote="frecklegirl"]
(Also, randomly, I'm in France now, French people on this board... XD)[/quote]

aah where are you ?[/size] :maayagrin:

I'm in Paris. ^^

misssakura: Hmm, this all took place in the Maaya Sakamoto thread on Jpopmusic, though, I think those people know we're talking about Maaya. I don't know their nationalities though ^^

[quote="frecklegirl"]I'm in Paris. ^^[/quote]

You sure travel a lot

Have you gone up in the Eiffel Tower yet? I actually don't have a fear of heights, but I have a fear of windowed elevators, so that ride to the top freaked me out pretty bad >__<. Once I was at the top I was fine tho. I loved the view from up there ^___^.

Ahhhh, Paris Paris... :3
I was there almost 10 years ago. A beautiful place, full of French flags. I would like to come back one day.
About Eiffel Tower... I went there, saw the price, saw the queue and said... let's go eat somewhere! :oops:

Heck my sister lives in St Germain en Laye and I still haven't been up the Eiffel Tower (nor will I ever)

[quote="misssakura"]Heck my sister lives in St Germain en Laye and I still haven't been up the Eiffel Tower (nor will I ever) [/quote]

Sounds like somebody has acrophobia.

Fear of acrobats?

I just hate lifts....especially old ones...

isnt acrobat a name of a pokemon? =D
zubat evolution?! XD AHUAhUAhuAHUhauah

geez~

anyway, i dont think she has fluent english ^^" and the quotation from jpopmusic.com you showed us is proof enough XD and i remember she always saying "im not an english speaker, so i would like you to speak very slowly at the panel" and in the end she had an interpreter ¬¬

besides, if she was fluent in english no one would complain about her concert being boring (i think i read something like that somewhere some some some)

by the way, i liked the "Garden of Everything" note XD AHUAHuahUAhUAhAUaHAu fun fun fun XD

it seems guys fluent in english likes cute girls with not fluent english >:3

Something to keep in mind: we monolingual Americans have fairly low standards for "fluency." Generally if someone can string words together into a semi-coherent sentence, your average American will consider that "fluent."

I run into this all the time when new acquaintances ask me "Are you fluent in Japanese?" My usual response is "No, but I can generally get by, as long as the conversation doesn't get too in-depth." And then, the first time they hear me do something like order food in a Japanese restaurant, they more often than not exclaim "What're you talking about, I thought you said you're not fluent!"

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.

Therax
( Yes, I've been gone FOREVER. Yuunagi Loop sent me into a depressive funk. :-( )