Are there any bilingual seiyuu out there? Call it autism or whatever, but every time they introduce a foreigner character in anime that's supposed to be from an English speaking country, I cringe when they come out with really shitty Engrish like they just picked up someone who didn't fail English in high school. Just wondering if any of you know of any bilingual seiyuu who you know can speak both languages fluently.
Even those who are good at english as studied in japan sound weird, because they focus on written english and mainly learn from other japanese rather than native speakers.
>>143422121
You think when they start loosening up on immigration (which is kind of inevitable) we'll be seeing some English speakers wanting in on the voice acting industry?
>>143422266
Japan is so xenophobic it's not funny. Maybe in 10-20 years when all of the old guard is gone they'll hire an English speaker off the streets for chump change.
Tetsuya Kakihara was born and raised in Germany.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1_3il8fQqc
>>143421990
Yes, I'm a spanish seiyuu and I voice Karen. Ask me anything
The only person that comes to mind for me is Janice kawaye. Her English voice is already really cute and could work pretty well for anime imo.
http://indavideo.hu/video/MLaaTR_Season_1_Episode_10_Speak_No_Evil
>>143421990
Ayumu Murase speaks fluent english.
>>143421990
Fun thing is that Kinimoza Seiyuus actually speak fluent english but they were asked by the director to dumb down their accent to make it more familiar to japanese audience.
I don't know how common this practice is but it could potentially mean all the terrible engrish we get from anime actually sounds like that on purpouse!
>>143422685
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X403uwWbyzo
Obligatory?
I just watched Ashita no Joe, and the english of Eddy and Leon were pretty good. Too bad the english of Jose is shit.
>>143421990
Jenya Davidyuk, a Russian, is a Japanese voice actress, with representation and everything.
http://myanimelist.net/people/9673/Jenya_Davidyuk
Sumire can probably fucking speak fluent Russian.
God knows why she is so obsessed with that place.
>>143421990
Posting someone other than Sawashiro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3LCT1DzBq8
His goal for his agency is to perform voice work in English as well as Japanese.
How hard is it to get Gaijin seiyuus for Gaijin characters? Japanese is is a very easy language to pronounce if the script is written in kana or romanji, so the Gaijin doesn't even have to be fully fluent in Japanese (and if you think that can't work, look up a singer called Mike Brant).
>>143422685
Source? You occasionally hear about this sort of thing, but it almost sounds too daft to be true.
>>143422910
Directors have to be able to communicate their intent to the voice actors, thus the voice actor must understand the director's language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sujF161hziE
The guy is fluent in Japanese, but a musician by trade. The girl is Japanese.
>>143421990
Yuuma Ueno has a good speaking voice. He voiced Ray in Beck.
>>143422685
>dumb down their accent to make it more familiar to japanese audience.
Probably not true. There are a lot of instances when fluent english was spoken in anime. The K-ON movie is one example.
>>143421990
Post more chuuni Karen
>>143423014
Well, obviously it's better if the gaijin is fluent, but it doesn't have to be native levels.
posting based ayahi
http://en.musicplayon.com/play?v=243498
>>143421990
>implying japan cares about pandering to filthy guyjean
Nobody cares the same way "foreign" characters in TV or movies are just regular people because who the fuck is gonna bother with authenticity to satisfy an audience that is not your target one.
>>143422685
I don't believe this idea that they get asked to dumb down. They may get asked to try to act as though they were fluent, and that may actually make their pronunciation worse than if they spoke more carefully, but fundamentally the problem is that they're not good enough to speak with proper pronunciation.
Nao Toyama is relatively proficient at English, including apparently having Eiken level 1. But even in English study software her accent is painful.
Romi Park has decent Spanish.
Mari Iijima reprised her role as Minmei in Macross' English (re)dub.
>>143422392
>>143422539
Didn't really watch this show when I was a kid. That was a pretty good performance. Thanks for sharing, anon!
>>143422361
>He didn't watch Robot Carnival
I only know 2 japs who has good accent in English and both of them are not even seiyuu
>1st Taka - One Ok Rock Vocalist
>2nd Anri Okita - JAV actress
That's it
>>143423202
Like this is Toyama talking about her English ability.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ly16UPBfeg
She starts by saying that her pronunciation is okay thanks to her father having lived abroad, but she can't converse. Well, when you hear her pronunciation you can get an idea of what the Japanese think is okay.
>>143422685
>Fun thing is that Kinimoza Seiyuus actually speak fluent english
Right, so that's why they had to go to an English school? To learn how to be shit?
>>143423014
I think this really shows why you need a native speaker when you do stuff like this. Even a Jap who knows perfect grammar and can pronounce perfect /si/s and ending consonants won't be able to do that little groan of emphasis he does in the middle of the argument.
What is this from, anyways?
>>143423470
I can only barely tell apart what is supposed to be the good accent and what is supposed to be the bad accent.
>>143422685
Proofs, tovarisch?
>>143421990
think the english guy in kabaneri was raised in california
ayahi takagaki can also sing well in english
>>143421990
>ching chong ping pong NO MORE
>>143421990
Michael Rivas
>>143423669
Wait, that guy is Japanese? I thought they grabbed some random English speaking actor in Japan.
>>143423464
>2nd Anri Okita - JAV actress
And that's only cause she's actually from England
>>143423726
http://myanimelist.net/people/41331/Maxwell_Powers
>mal
don't go on there but rarely, i do
if there's a problem with them having flimsy sources, do tell
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2015-10-14/.94157
>While some Japanese voice actors list English speaking skills on their resumé (a questionable claim in most cases), often a show producer will seek out native English speakers for bit parts.
>The difference is that there are a handful of agencies that specialize in "gaijin talent". Companies across Tokyo such as GroupEcho, Frame In, IMO, K&M Pro and Avocado will accept foreigners off the street and, depending on their look, their portfolio, their talents and their Japanese language ability, will match them up to job offers as they come in.
>These jobs can range from modeling, to participating in silly foreigner-themed game shows, to small roles in film and television. Anime voice acting is among these jobs.
>Unfortunately, very few actual professional-quality actors from other countries are going to abandon their careers and move to Japan, so the level of talent that these agencies attract are usually pretty amateur.
>This suits the Japanese entertainment industry just fine: most Japanese people will never understand what they're saying anyway, so it doesn't matter if their acting is awful.
>And since there's always a steady stream of under-employed foreigners coming to Japan for extended stays, competition is high enough that they don't have to pay any of them very much!
>The Japanese creative staff usually doesn't know English very well at all, so chances are you are hearing a rank amateur actor, being given next to no direction for their role. They run a few takes, the staff look at each other and shrug, and they move on.
>There is, a small community of actual, professional multi-lingual TV hosts, voice-over artists and actors working in Japan. Very, very little of what they do is anime
>>143424050
Was intended as a reply to >>143422910
Sumire Uesaka spoke some Russian asides from jap in Girls und Panzer, and since she majored in Russian studies, she can pull it off pretty well.
>>143424050
>you will never get a small cameo role as a gaijin in some anime
>you will never be able to slip in /a/ memes that the producers won't understand
>>143423569
Yama no susume
>>143424220
>26. Tell us what your motto is.
>Марш,марш,вперёд! (March, march forward!*)
She studies Russian in University, she sang the Soviet national anthem in a fan gathering, she sang Japanese when she went to Russia, she likes the BT-5 tank.
>>143424639
43. If you could bring only one item to a deserted island, what would it be?
A light wheeled armoured vehicle.
45. Please tell us if there is anything that you do on a daily basis, habits etc.
Listen to the Soviet national anthem
>>143424220
Can you consider her russian as acceptable?
>>143424639
>she likes the BT-5
It was going so well.
>>143424752
95% of the time it's just "horosho"
>>143422361
>Japan is so xenophobic it's not funny.
It keeps them from pulling a Europe, so that's a good thing. Or would you rather they import millions of "refugees" that will rape their women, murder their citizens, force their shitty religion on people and practice shitrea law in their communities, and outbreed native citizens with birthrates 4-5 times higher?
They sometimes use foreigners to voice characters, but it's pretty rare. The closest you'll get is usually when a (male) foreigner shows up and they don't know how to properly intone so they have a very obvious accent. Simon in DRRR is an example of this, but there are lots of loud American characters like that, too. It's usually done as a gag.
>>143424220
>>143424639
She needs some bydlo cock
>>143421990
Kimura Subaru's english is pretty good, he's only half-japanese though.
>>143424050
This saddens me greatly. It reflects the laziness in production quality, especially if a vital point in a particular show is fluency in english.
It's a shame because there are a lot of japanese who have incredible english. NHK World's news crew for example are so good I sometimes wonder if they weren't raised in Japan at all. Still do actually.
>>143424974
/Pol/ outside pls
>>143425386
It reflects pragmatism and the reality of skill sets, not laziness.
>>143424752
>>143424910
Watch GuP or Im@s. She speaks plenty of Russians there.
>>143425386
Why spend time and money on something close to 0% of your paying audience cares about?
All seiyuu are bilingual. They speak Japanese and Engrish.
>>143424752
A russian in a gup thread once said it did not flow as steady as a real russian would speak but it was passable. While Katyusha spoke too cutesy and did not pass for Russian.
Another russian said after the movie that Sumire spoke slowly so he was able to understand her but the Russian VA of Klara spoke too fast for the Russians to understand.
>>143425386
Anime is made for a Japanese market and most Japanese don't even speak English. Why would they bother?
>>143421990
I know Sawashiro speaks decent english.
>>143425406
You know /pol/ is right, though.
>>143425621
To an extent. She certainly doesn't sound like a native speaker though.
>>143425548
>time and money
Well, this anon said it >>143424050
Gaijin's are cheap and easy to find. Surely they can rope at least one decent sap to make a foreign anime character shine.
Christ, if Karen had an accent like a real britbong like the one's from BBC...
OP here. Thanks for all the replies, /a/! This is the first time one of my threads have gained any traction on this site. Pretty happy about that.
That aside, it seems you learn something new every day. I was pretty blind to the fact that the lack of good English voice acting in anime is a matter of business pragmatism rather than authenticity. True, bringing in better English-speaking seiyuu wouldn't do much to boost sales in Japan, since the Japanese audience probably couldn't care less about how well someone can speak another language. Kinda makes me wish the market for anime outside Japan were bigger. I mean, a lot of people do watch anime outside Japan, it's just that everybody torrents it. It's a shame, but being mad about it would be hypocritical of me, as I've never actually went out to buy anime myself.
>>143425808
Give a main character like Karen a non-Japanese VA and her Japanese will be stilted (and not the fake stilted that Japanese VAs do). It would sound awkward and the Japanese viewers would hate it.
There's a reason they only hire foreigners for bit parts.
>>143421990
As an ESL I can say their engrish is super cute and that real english or brittish accent for that matter is boring as hell.
>>143424220
>russian studies
>>143422464
She isn't Japanese.
That they didn't make Dekomoron spoke some chuuni Russian was a grave offense
>>143424752
Her Russian is as haphazard as it is adorable.
>>143425406
>capitalizing a board name
lurk for 10 years before posting
