Ayu's best & worst use of English?
 

I was just thinking..Ayumi's English has improved so much. I think it's best in Bold & Delicious, it doesn't seem forced and like she's thinking about. I love the 'Delicious!' ablib she does at the end as it seems so natural. Oh and the worst...the 2002-2003 countdown DVD when she performs Everlasting Dream :irked It just sounds weird. I'll make a clip so you can see what I mean.:tipsy
What do you think on this subject?

I like it when she uses English in her lyrics. My favourite is probably Bold and Delicious. It's a nice, strong phrase. I like Step You too, even though it doesn't make a lot of sense :p

My least favourite is Real Me. I like the English, but some of the sentences seem so random. "A woman can be having fun, a woman can be like a nun" The sentence is fine gramatically, but it's just such a weird thing to say.

^ I agree..haha, I think Ayu was trying to convey that women could do anything in "REAL ME"....but the English lyrics could have been a little better/made a little more sense XD

I find the "it's over" part in "Over" a little annoying....x_x

I guess my favorite Ayu English lyric would be from STEP you...she sounds cute saying "So 1,2,3,4" et. al. ^_^

I'd have to say the worst is at the end of Fairyland. I just have no clue what she's saying, and her voice sounds weird.

The best...hmmm...well, in "Over", I always thought the "I honestly love you" and "I can't smile without you" sounded pretty good, plus they make sense in the song.

when i first heard Real Me i didnt know the chorus had english, i was sooo surprised after reading the lyrics!

but i like step you's english the best~ just sound skool~

I thought Fairyland was a nice song?

Anyway, the way she say "delicious" was nice... I didn't knew she said "bold" until she said "delicious". lol

Fairyland? Oh, you mean Forgiveness? I wish I knew what she was singing, it's so hard to make out the words. But the live versions are a bit more clear than the original recording.

I forgot about Over, I really like the English in that song :)

fav - BnD

least fav - Real Me

Best probably would go to Bold & Delicious... she pronounces it perfectly! and so naturally...

It gets on my nerve in Born To Be... the 'n' in 'born' is not really clear, for Ayu can't say 'three' properly in STEP you (although I think it's cute and so asian XD). Ladies Night doesn't sound very natural either.

I think she's improved much from her unnatural sounding RAINBOW days :)

Yeah Bold & Delicious was probably her best use of English. Her worst was probably Real Me..

best english probably Bold & Delicious, (I love this song>> ) Heartplace & startin'. worst english...hmm; humming 7/4 (I LOVE THIS SONG...it's just that well if you don't listen well you hear other things...lol)

i know its not perfect, but i think her best use of english was when she sang "i'm dreaming of a white xmas" in that suntory cm. i think her english in RAINBOW is pretty good too and in Heartplace. as for the worst, i say it was when she sang "silent night hory night" with gackt. lol. it was pretty bad at the end of forgiveness too (thus the long discussion trying to figure out exactly what she was saying).

is this thread abt her eng in her songs? personally i like heart place and when she said "thank so much i lurfee u all, thank you" in mtv asia award 2002. its just so cute :D

I like the lyrics to Step You a lot.
And as most people here, I hate the lyrics in Real Me. I mean, I like the message, but just not in English!

Hey, I just got AT03-04 a week ago, and I've been wondering about one thing she says in English during the Fly High and Surreal/Evolution performances. It sounds like "put your hands" but "clap your hands" would make more sense...yet I know she knows she knows how to say put up your hands from CDL00-01, "come on, come! minna put up your hands!!" Any idea what she's saying, everyone?

I think when the japanese say 'put your hands' its short for 'put your hands up'.. which also can mean to clap xD

Mhmm I was thinkin' that might be it. Japanese-English is so interesting. I'd like to read a study on how English phrases and such make the transition to Japanese culture.

Best: heartplace and Rainbow
Worst: I don't really think any of her english in the songs are that bad. Even if they sound weird, they still usually make sense in context.

And the "put your hands" thing, she says at every concert. It always sounds so cute. :)

The worst was definetly "Real Me" xD

I never understood that "In order to survive" part until I read the lyrics!

The "In order to survive" bit is pretty synthesized, though, isn't it?

best: Heartplace
worst: LOVE ~since 1999~ - she sounds like a baby talking in this song....ugh

Worst use? In song titles. I mean, what the hell is up with "Are You Wake Up?" and "STEP you," etc?
Best use is in songs. The English in the songs are usually grammatically correct. It's just the pronounciation...

I agree, Are You Wake Up? doesn't make sense. It isn't a very good name for a song, either...

And at the end of forgiveness. It's like.. omg. O_o

The best should go to Bold and Delicious and the beginning of everywhere nowhere<--- most of you forgot this!:D

The worst, oh well, I guess some background parts don't sound so good. Like the background vocals in the chorus of "We wish". Besides I don't like Real Me either. Do you notice that in some concerts she says "so cool"? That sounds weird too.

Well, i don't know what to say... Her english pronunciation is not the best in the world, but is not the worst either. I really like how she says the "1, 2, 3, 4 you and me" in STEP you (3 sounds like "free"), and the english part in "Forgiveness", although i don't understand what she wanted to say and the pronunciation of "L" is pretty forced ^^U

By the way, when she says to the audience in her concerts "Put your hands!" (or put your hands up) is like she was saying "Push your hands!". Is so cute XD

Ayu's English has the typical Asian accent. Can't blame her, but still, the accent is there.

Best: Heartplace and Rainbow. I was able to understand what she's saying, and the grammar's alright.
Worst: Real me. Although I get the message, the pronounciation sound really garbled up. Also forgivenness. I can't even make out what she's saying.

I LOVED Real Me. It's my first Ayu song!

best use of english = RAINBOW!!! and Bold & Delicious.

worst use of english = Real me. (sounds funny.. and the lyrics are written purposely it rhymes but no connection)

B&D it sound cool xD

but Real Me is the crap, i didn't understand her

In the live version of forgiveness in A MUSEUM she sings very good and her english impressed me @_@! She was singing "But I wanted only keep my love. Every cardinal sin, every immoral thing. But I was holding on for my love" now even if the grammar wasn't 100%... she pronounced it perfectly :D

X_X her worst use of english was when she said "thank you so much, I love you all! Thank you!" when she won an MTV award and sang "M"... in 2002 or so..... X_X;

Worst - Everytime.

I don't like the beginning of everywhere nowhere.

I understand the Real me lyrics perfectly - not perfect pronounciation wise, but the lyrics do make sense even if a bit odd and they do "connect."

She had a bit of an accent, but it was perfectly understandable. I certainly would not consider it the worst.

hehe yeah me too~ the english in STEP you made it soo catchy only because i can sing it easily in english :P

but actually i prefer Ayu not to use any english like from her 1st-4th album, not because she's bad but i just prefer her not to

she needs to work on a little more pronunciation and she's good to go...i had to ask Yvette about what she's singing in english >.> but she has improved a little...

Oh, real me is worse.
But Ayu always said Tshank You!! not thank you after she sang boys n girl and other at concerts,,
and she always says tshree!! not three, at STEP you.
Example,, So one, two, tshree, four you and me,,

Okay so it isn't from a song (although it was used in a video), but my favourite is in the B&D side story vid when she's holding her puppy and says "she's so cute" ^^

Other than that, I don't really mind Ayu's use of English. I liked it in Beautiful Day (has anyone mentioned that yet?).

I agree! Her pronounciation isn't too bad in the TV performances, but in A Museum it's really good :) The grammar is still weird, but the pronounciation is really good.

The way she says it is so cute.. I was really surprised when I first watched that video. She uses English in her songs, but it's different to say something in English spontaneously.

The worst English for me was Ladies Night. At first I didn't even know she was talking in English at all until I heard Sweetbox's version.

Ayu's best English is in her Dohnut CM.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEw5qN6wWhQ

She does say 'Sank you' but it's so cute!

For the longest time when Ayu said "A woman could be having fun, a woman could be like a nun" in 'Real Me'

I thought Ayu was saying "A woman could be hibia foss, a woman could be like-a-luh" .. o.O

I find the lyrics in Real Me really hilarious, in a good way ;) I thought she was saying "Like a Lion" instead of "like a nun"... :dead2

What concerts has she said that in? Are you sure she's not saying "Sank you"?

Even though it's not perfect English, I enjoy hearing her say "Put your hands!" during her concerts. My husband and I look at each other and say, "Put your hands...where?" :lech

I think her use of English in Real Me is probably her worst. That was the first time I noticed her using any English in a song. I too had no idea there was any English in it until I read the lyrics! Well, that's not true; I could tell she said, "real me" at the end, but that's it.

Her English has definitely improved since then and it always give me a little thrill to hear her speaking in English (since that it my first language). ;)

Put your hands, LOL. She's so cute. She tries to be so.. non-Asian. :laugh

But honestly consider the English of other J-Pop singers. Ayu has them all beat. I find that Ayu can pronounce the most difficult English sounds, but has trouble with the easier ones. Still, she is exceptionally good for most Japanese speakers of English.

I'm in the camp that feels "Real me" makes total sense. The only places that are really incorrect are the "What I get, what you get," (etc) parts. The English lines in the chorus are perfectly correct, and even well-pronounced. I can understand them well enough, although she does have an accent. It's just that these lyrics are sung so much faster and in such quicker succession than most of her English lyrics. The lines themselves are not random, either, they serve in the following structure.
a woman A
a woman B
further explanation
of A and B.

I wish people wouldn't hate on the "a woman could be like a nun" lyric so much. I, after all, am the BIGGEST lyric snob, and I totally appreciate that line. The whole thing is very tongue-in-cheek, and the way Ayu sings it (with relentless energy - you can hear the smile in her voice) makes it work. It's hardly like she's singing some slow, serious ballad, and suddenly mentions women of the cloth.

I also like the English in "everywhere nowhere", except for the way she articulates "complicated".

The English used in "Bold & Delicious" and "STEP you" annoy me more than anything, just because they are nonsensical.

As far as Ayu saying "sankyuu" in concerts... I wouldn't technically consider that English; "sankyuu" is a commonly used Japanese slang term for "thanks", obviously derived from English, but still not English.

Best use of English: Bold & Delicious (I could actually understand what she was saying! :D)
Worst use of English: Real Me (Awful. She sounds like she's mumbling.)

Well, yeah, it seems Ayu's English has improved over three years. :laugh Wonder if she'll ever decide to take classes and become fluent?

I think her best usage of it, song-wise... hmm.... came in Beautiful Fighters, recently. I mean... the lines feel a bit random but her pronunciation is very good. (I also think she's adorable when she's speaking English in the Bold & Delicious -side story- PV. "Night night~")

Worst? forgiveness. I didn't even realize she WAS singing in English at the end until... I read this thread.

for the most part i don't like songs when she mixes in english, tho STEP you was good i think. Its just strange switching between languages, i've never been a big fan of that.

B&D, Ladies Night and STEP you have great english phrases in them and i love the way she sings ;)
the english phrases in forgiveness give the song extra power, but i can't seem to figure out what is she singing =X

cant understand the last part of forgivness

That was a revelation to me too :|

Also, I never realized that half of Real me was actually in english until I decided to read the lyrics because I love the song. That was some time ago though.

I love Ayu's English, it's so barbaric.

I'll post mine later, but what I love about Ayumi's English is how she pronounces her L's and R's; it's very smooth. If she sings "love" she never says it like "rabbu" and she really makes a nice "L" sounds.

(semi-unrelated): At some points I like how she says "thank you." There were some performances where she will shout "sankyou!" and then it may get a little better by saying the word almost like "tank you!" (<-- aw!). However, her English was pretty good at the '02 MTV Awards when she said it pretty clearly, "thank you." ("I love you all!" How diva... xD)

I like her English a lot now. It used to be pretty crappy I think but it's definitely improved a lot. Some of her older lives, like Christmas lives and such, were quite bad!

The worst : Real me
2nd worst : forgiveness (the last part of the song seems like a myth.)

The best: STEP you ("1,2,3,4 you and me")
First runner: RAINBOW ("no rain can't get the rainbow")

The pronunciation has more to do with the fact that he repeats the phrases over and over again, most likely with a coach. During the "Boss Can Coffee" commercial taping, there's a small part where you see her saying "Boss" over and over again.

Worst : Real me's lyrics! i don't understand what's she said

Best : STEP you & Heartplace :love

Ayu`s English is fine. I don`t know if it`s improving but I think her English is fairly good. But I do have to admit, in "Real Me" song I would`ve never got that "in oder to survive" part if I hadn`t read the lyrics.

I was just listening to LOCE ~since1999~ and the bit where she goes "I cried for you, and you cried for me" is acutally really good. And also in the 30sec Mr. & Miss Dohnut CM where ayu is the man her English is excellet! She says "Thanks" perfectly! Usually it comes out "Sanks"

Every promise is, every moment is, but I was holding on for my love...

I think that's it...

As for her worst, I love Heartplace, but I had the hardest time realizing that she was saying "We are free to go anywhere we want, we are free to do anything we want" Over was just annoying. "I can't smile without you... I always will love you... IT'S OHHHHHHVERRRRRRRRRR" @_@ That's a good way to kill my ears... it's even worse as a remix... X_x

There is a Cm where she sings White Christmas....
that sound OKAY , too

LOVE since 1999 is tsunku's work. And the lyrics are halfway engrishy.

The "th" sound is really difficult if you haven't been brought up with it, a lot of non native speakers have problems with it, even people who know perfect english (except for pronounciation).

best:

Bold & Delicious
Real me

worst:
LOVE ~since 1999~
forgiveness

BEST:

Bold & Delicious (Dang, without BOLD & DELICIOUS screaming out at you, you wouldn't feel the energy of the song)
Real me (LOL, the Engrish is what characterizes the song)
Beautiful Fighters (We are Beautiful Fighters!)
Ladies Night (Oh my, rather somewhat incomprehensible English rapping, BUT it really gives the song a quirky edge)
Heartplace (One of my favourite album tracks on the RAINBOW album. Not particularly strong english, but rather strong on emotions. Thought that the English brought it out nicely.)

WORST:

Over ("It's OVERRRR!" -- Geez, absolutely HORRIBLE. The rest of the song is rather ok though)
forgiveness (It doesn't help to include english at this juncture when it's TRULY incomprehensible.)
LOVE ~since 1999~ ("I cry for you and you cry for me", "what colour is true love", ok, but I think tsunku did the lyrics for this. Bah, I really dislike the song)

the english words in forgiveness is at its worst

Everywhere Nowhere was GOOD english to me, int he beginning. WE WISH, was okay, real me okay...they both i could understand fine, but her accent was kinda strong back then. BnD was awesome english. BF....well, it's good. BnD was still better. When she sang Silent Night....omg.
i love how she uses her english most of the time, it's just a matter of understanding it...i'm pretty good at understanding accents though.