Example of Japanese-speaker singing Disney song phonetically in English?
August 12, 2014 9:10 PM   Subscribe

I've been digging for about a week and I can't find audio examples of a japanese-speaker singing Disney songs phonetically in English. I know it's a thing, because I think I remember being shown this sort of thing vis-a-vis The Circle of Life a few years back by someone who was bilingual, and I got the impression from the number of videos then that this was a common practice among Japanese (and maybe other Asian countries?) kids to do. Can someone find me a link? Or give me better search terms?

I think the search has just been logically and epistemologically difficult, because presumably I'm looking for someone who can't speak or write English, but can parrot the English sounds via katakana or something. I know that the concept is something like karaoke, but karaoke videos are usually just the sound so that you can sing it to yourself, not you posting yourself singing... Please help!
posted by ABlanca to Writing & Language (2 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Although this doesn't directly address the Disney aspect of your question, the "complete symphonic" recording of Les Miserables (recorded 1988, released 1989) features Kaho Shimada singing Eponine (grown-up version). The liner notes point out that she learned the English lines phonetically.
posted by Quaversalis at 3:24 AM on August 13, 2014


I occasionally sing along with songs I've heard enough times in languages I'm unfamiliar with merely by memorizing and attempting to repeat the sounds I've heard and because the tune is catchy or I enjoy it. (I can only hope the lyrics aren't vulgar or anything; I'm reminded of a Swedish commercial for a company that provided English lessons that circulated widely on social media a few years ago, where a whole family got in their car, turned on their radio, and were bouncing and bopping along to a song in English with some very vulgar language.)

I think it's just a human thing and not necessarily a Japanese thing; since Disney stuff is available pretty much worldwide, it's feasible that the songs from Disney features would be learned by non-speakers of English in this manner.
posted by tckma at 8:48 AM on August 13, 2014


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