English in Japanese games?

[SpiderTaco]

Why's there so much english in Japanese games?

I only really noticed it when I played the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy demo on my friend's Japanese 3DS. The main menu was in Japanese as expected, but during battle the hit ratings ("bad" "great" "critical" etc.) were all in plain english and most of the results screen was in english too.

Thinking back to some other japanese games I've played I realized it happens a lot, in Koshien 98, LSD and Pepsiman for example the titles and menu screen were all english with just a few japanese sentences here and there. Surely it doesn't make any sense to do this? Is english just really common in japan or what?

[GlobalWARMING1]

It's most likely a translating error or they developers wanted the characters to be American and speak english. I honestly don't know.

[II2none]

I guess they translate some of the dialogue for the western releases.

[SpiderTaco]

I'm not talking about translations though, I'm talking about the original Japanese versions. In fact Koshien and LSD they were never released, or planned to be released, outside of Japan in the first place. Yet they're full of english.

At least LSD is supposed to be bizarre and surreal, so foreign writing may have been used to add to that atmosphere, but koshien is a bloody baseball game. It doesn't make sense.

[f12guy]

I have also been wondering why in some Japanese games the start menu is in English.
maybe the devs planned ahead and did that so just in case a westerner got a hold of the game at least they would understand the start menu.

[BumFodder]

1. Because you can change the language/can have it translated
2. Gratuitious english is everywhere in Japan for no particular reason other than to look cool

But they wont make full sentences out of English unless its a phrase or they are going for full retard mode.

[Davidson13]

English is a popular language over there in Japan.

[SpiderTaco]

At 5/25/12 09:25 PM, f12guy wrote: maybe the devs planned ahead and did that so just in case a westerner got a hold of the game at least they would understand the start menu.

And... how the fuck does that make any shred of sense? So if you were developing a game to be released in the US, you would purposely make the start menu korean or some shit on the off chance a korean person might play the game at some point, ignoring the potential millions of americans who wont know what the fuck is going on?

Furthermore, there isn't a language selection screen in any of the games I mentioned.

[kmau]

Note how the L also looks like a long dick.

[Ragnarokia]

English is seen as a nice sounding language in Japan. It is why they make a lot of games with English voice actors and Japanese subtitles, they just think it sounds cool.

[Gustavos]

Every student in Japan is instructed to read and write in the English language starting in the sixth grade. English and western themes in general have been hip among young adults for the last few decades, and in addition, many English words do not have a perfect Japanese translation, and if such a word were written in Katakana that nobody's heard of, than it would be a word that nobody understands, defeating the purpose of the second written language they use primarily for foreign words.

Honestly? The only country on this planet that you won't be exposed to anything written in the English language is in North Korea.

[SpiderTaco]

At 5/26/12 07:54 PM, Gustavos wrote: Honestly? The only country on this planet that you won't be exposed to anything written in the English language is in North Korea.

If this were a few scraps of english here and there I wouldn't have made a thread about it, I'm talking about the title, main menu and pause menu of these games with no option to change the language.

These explanations are little more than "just because", and I realize there isn't a real answer. but that doesn't make this any less bizarre.

[saltovergray]

At 5/27/12 09:14 AM, SpiderTaco wrote:

At 5/26/12 07:54 PM, Gustavos wrote: Honestly? The only country on this planet that you won't be exposed to anything written in the English language is in North Korea.

If this were a few scraps of english here and there I wouldn't have made a thread about it, I'm talking about the title, main menu and pause menu of these games with no option to change the language.

These explanations are little more than "just because", and I realize there isn't a real answer. but that doesn't make this any less bizarre.

You seem to be overlooking the more accurate posts here and just "disputing" everything you don't feel is right.

Basically, take the stick out of your ass and read the good posts since apparently you like being a snobby prick.

[Gustavos]

At 5/27/12 09:14 AM, SpiderTaco wrote: These explanations are little more than "just because", and I realize there isn't a real answer. but that doesn't make this any less bizarre.

I've glanced at the other answers, and yes, many are just unintelligible inferences of what they think rather than what they know, but I'm afraid there's not much else I can tell you. I've studied the Japanese language and picked up a lot about the culture and societal habits and happennings of the country as side information, but I am no expert at the subject. All you need to know is that they can, in fact, read their games in occasional English with little to no difficulty. Speaking English for them is an entirely different, and let's face it, comical, story.

Heck, I had an eighth grade pen pal from Japan who wrote excellent English paragraphs considering she had only two or so years of real study. Maybe the answer really is closer to "just because" than we might think. After all, why do we sell untranslated Manga, anime, and Japanese cuisine in an English-speaking and western-culture based society?