Personally I think her English was very good. I could never be so fluent in a different language other than my English mother tounge so good on you Ayu! She seemed to understand the questions from the interviewer pretty good too. It's kinda like Miyamoto (Zelda, Mario, etc) he likes the questions to be asked in English and then he understands it (not a translator) and then answers in Japanese as he feels he can express himself better through Japanese despite speaking fluent English. Maybe Ayu felt she could express herself with Japanese for some questions and English in others? Either way I think we all underestimated Ayu's English skills.

I don't think she's happier speaking in English, I think the reason she gestured much more is cuz she wanted to get her point across because she was speaking in English (which we all know is not her first language).

As others said, the most reasonable explanation for her speaking in English is because CNNi is international and has people who speak various languages watching it. English is generally considered a common ground language and is comparably easier to learn.

However, I don't think she was without a translator. She was looking past the interviewer at times (probably at the man seated behind the interviewer) when answering more complicated or in-depth questions in Japanese.

Maybe becasue at certain question she could only answers properly in Japanese but on questions where she just wanted to give an easy straight forward answer, she used english.

It seemed like she understood the questions more than she could answer them. It usually turns out that way at first

Ayu is a perfectionist type, and she tries very hard to do things on her own. Translators botch things up all the time, and if you want to express your own true thoughts, you need to learn how to say them yourself. She is a woman of words. I think it makes perfect sense then, that she would not want to have to rely 100% on a translator. Obviously she has been studying English for a long time, but this is really the first big opportunity to put those skills to use. I'm sure that made her excited to finally get a chance to do so, and encouraged her to answer as many questions in English as possible.

From a linguistic point of view, her English really is fantastic. It goes beyond her pronunciation (which from a Japanese-English standard is very, very good), but her intonation and her expression. She seems to really understand how English is used, and she spoke in very natural words - most students of foreign languages sound very textbookish. I imagine Ayu has learned English mostly through TV shows, movies, and music, which is the best way to learn to sound natural.

^Yeah, even though she wasn't always grammatically [sp] correct she seemed really confident when speaking in english and never got all flustered.

mi|kshake~

maybe she spoke in english to tell us that she could...it was one of her secrets. :)

did she understand the questions asked in english, or did she have an interview/prepsheet or watever?

well, i dont really think there is a motive as of how she spoke in english...

like afterall this interview was for an english program (CNN), at least say some english in respect of it. just like fan service, when people go to other countries to perform they attempt a couple of foregin phrases. plus the translator casts over ayu while she speaks in japanese, therefore people can't hear her voice clearly...so speaking english is a way for people to hear her voice...lol

and i think before the interview, they have went through the questions with ayu so she is somewhat "prepared" even though at points she had problems expressing herself, and therefore the hand gestures (which btw are uberly cute)

Ay links to download or watch the interview, i really want to watch it :D

it's on youtube i'm sure you can easily find it if you type in "CNN" "Ayumi".

someone here uploaded it and made thread for it too.

I think someone said there was some translator in the back, sitting behind the interview lady.

Uhh...comparing Ayumi's English in this video to BoA's English in her video...I think...Ayumi wins even though BoA KNOWS more english (or at least has shown to be more fluent.)

In another note...she sounded like "Ms. Swan" when she said a few things from MadTV, that's just cool cute. lol

I LOVED her English. It showed that she made a big effort, despite the mistakes. I wish she spoke in English the entire time. There's no way she could have memorized that from a script, it was too disjointed and there were too many errors. She's so sincere, I love her more from the interview.

That's exactly what I think.

to be pretentious and a hypocrite.

It's my understanding that celebrities have prep sheets prior to interviews. Ayumi definitely has them when it's for an international audience and she most likely has them for Japanese appearances as well. They do this in America also, for instance many comedians will prep stories for things like Letterman and plot out part of the interview beforehand. It not only minimizes dead air, it also prevents them from repeating the same stories.

For someone of Ayumi's calibre, she can basically ban the reporter from asking any questions she doesn't want to answer (possibly explaining why you never hear them ask about Tomoya or other personal things).

Ayumi really impressed me in the interview.

I also think she seemed more animated speaking english because it took a lot more effort to find the words. She even corrected herself at times, and everyone who has been learning a foreign language and had oral exams knows how easy it is to get excited and stressed when practicing under pressure.

I was very, very impressed with her english. Both her pronounciation and her how she expressed herself.

About Tomoya, except few people in the world, nobody knows him. They could have done a short presentation though. But it would be strange to talk about him.

For other personal things, I don't know, I think this interview is much more general about the artist. I think it would be bad to ask private things for a first international TV interview.

But when I think about it, in Japan I didn't see show where they talk about their relationship (only "newspaper")