A fundamental question to all the English mother-tongulers out there :)

[Tatsujin]

Isn't it a bit strange to you that you are surrounded with games which have names just like "Altered Beast", "After Burner", "Blood Gear", "Dragon Spirit", "Fantasy Zone", "Faceball" and such?

As for me it would be kinda strange to have all those games written in my mother-tongue and have to read, talk and deal with 'em on a daily basis.

I really like to know how that must be for you?

[SuperDeadite]

Meh, Pure Japanese titles are usually pretty shitty.  My guess is that the Japanese found English Movie Titles to sound way cooler, and attempted to copy this with game titles.  Either way, if games had been released in the USA with Japanese titles, nobody would have ever bought them.

[Tatsujin]

Lol, that was so not the question. But thanks for the attention anyway

[Ji-L87]

I sort of get what you mean. 
When I first installed BF 2 - the default language was Swedish, but I couldn't stand it (sounded so silly, I thought) so I had to re-install it in English. Just so it would feel right. Huh.

[Arkhan]

I don't get the question.

You're asking if I think it's weird to have a game called Altered Beast, or any other combination of actual english words?

Isn't that like asking if I think it's strange I get food at a place called Gepetto's Pizza?

or Outback Steakhouse?

It's english.  What's strange about it.

[Necromancer]

I don't get the question.

Me neither.  Have we become also one day a flavour in our world of when words flow in formulations and the assembly of illness is stressed?

[SuperDeadite]

I did answer your question Tats.  It isn't strange at all.  When I was 5 years old playing my NES, I called the game by what it said on the box.  All I cared about then was playing the game.  I didn't give a crap about what nation created it nor it's original language.  Kids don't think about that kinda stuff unless their parents are crazy japanophiles.  Adults might find some titles (S.C.A.T.) strange, but kids don't give a shit.  You are getting old buddy.

[Tatsujin]

As stated in my initial post:

"As for me it would be kinda strange to have all those games titles written in my mother-tongue and have to read, talk and deal with 'em on a daily basis."


So I know, for you guys it's just your Language and you probably don't know other, as it would be for me if the Titles were all in German or even better Swissgerman. For me kinda unimaginable.

[SuperDeadite]

Well then tato, how do you feel about "Soldner X"?  The game was made in Hong Kong I believe.
To me, a name is just a name.

[PunkicCyborg]

Is Gotzendiener annoying to you tats? What does that even mean and is there a german equivalent to engrish??

[SignOfZeta]

I've been following manga and anime since before there was any kind of import game scene so excessive use of English is something I've been familiar with for so long I can't even remember not seeing it. It sure would be inconvenient for me if it were something other than English since the Engrish represents %90 of what I can understand in printed Japanese material.

Its very true though that when my square friends see my model magazines and PC Engine games and such they always ask why there is so much English in them. So I guess the answer is "yes" people do seem to find it strange.

The reason for this is twofold, I think.

1: White people are cool to the Japanese, and Americans are the ultimate white people. There are stories from Expo '70 where Japanese would ask random white people to sign autographs for no other reason than them just being gaijin. In the 80s there was a very popular trend of T shirts with English non-sequitors on them like, "Fire!" or "Smooth", or "f*ck!". Then there is of course Hollywood. Even if a movie from the US is given a new name, its given a new English name. ie: Time Bandits becomes Bandit Q.

2: It seems like at least %99 of all loan words in Japan are of English origin. Rather than invent new Japanese words for non-Japanese things, they will usually just abbreviate it and slaughter the pronunciation. Rarely is there a kanji for something like "CPU" or "water pump".

There are plenty of examples of using French or German or whatever (ie: Maschinen Krieger) in genre games/anime/whatever, but it can be extremely hard to decipher since katakana murders those languages even more than English. Its also hilariously hard for Japanese to pronounce.

[Arkhan]

I don't care what language the game title is as long as I can pronounce it.   Who cares what language its in.

Call it ACHTUNG SUPER BURRITO BONITA WARRIOR GAIDEN for all I frigging care. 

[esteban]

To get back to Tatsujin's original question: I was always grateful that English appeared (however randomly) in Japanese pop-culture.

I grew up exposed to a lot of non-English media (Europe, Middle east, south America, etc.), and there were rarely obvious references to English in the content.

But my first exposure to this sort of phenomenon began earlier, when I realized that some bands/music artists (mostly European) purposefully sang in English to garner a certain "Anglo-chic-aesthetic" (you know what I mean). You don't sing in English simply to appeal to larger potential audiences—you sing in English because it embodies a specific aesthetic.

I agree with Zeta that the decision to borrow English words is not simply a practical solution, but an aesthetic one.

[Tatsujin]

Is Gotzendiener annoying to you tats? What does that even mean and is there a german equivalent to engrish??

Tho speak the truth, yeah it's a little bit strange to me when they use german in game titles, but mostly because it makes little sense in most cases.

But now imagine a game like "altered beast" in german would say "gewandeltes/verändertes tier" or "after burner" would mean "nach brenner"..lol that would so not work.

There are always some titles that just sounds cool, even in German. but for most of the English titles it wouldn't.

Now a good example would be Thunder Blade -> Donner Klinge. That would sound quite rad as for a pure name.

but there are sooooooo much more english titles, compared to those few in german.

[MotherGunner]

I sort of get what you mean. 
When I first installed BF 2 - the default language was Swedish, but I couldn't stand it (sounded so silly, I thought) so I had to re-install it in English. Just so it would feel right. Huh.

Battlefield 2? or Battlefront 2?