Does Lelouch Speak Japanese?

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Sounds silly, since Junjun certainly speaks Japanese, but considering that Geass takes place in a world where Britannia took over Japan and they obviously speak English there due to our little snippets of English fail in the background, this question popped into my mind.

We know Suzaku and Kallen are definitely bilingual, but what about Lelouch? I know he lived in Japan for a year before it was conquered by Britannia, so maybe a little bit...if he is fluent (which is very possible, considering Lelouch never seemed to be the one to pass up a new skill like learning a new language) then perhaps it would explain why the Black Knights thought it was so weird that he wasn't Japanese, because maybe he DID speak Japanese to them.

I just think its something interesting to think about, because due to our own language barriers in dubbing, it's something we'll probably never know.

Comments

[fujiappletan.livejournal.com]

lol I wrote a Lelouch x Kallen fic that kinda brings this up. ;D

But yeahh I think he is fluent.
What I'm more curious about is how they're going to pull all this "language stuff" off when they're all in China and hanging with the Chinese. Or something like that. It's one thing for a handful of Chinese characters to "know" Japanese/English buuuut the rest of them "knowing Chinese" idk. Zero speaking Chinese would be HOTTTT though imho.

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Oh, so it was you who wrote that? I remember reading it. Nice fic.

Anyway, this also brings up questions on who else would have to be bilingual in order for everyone to be understood. C.C. probably speaks all languages, and Ougi would have to be bilingual as well in order to speak to Viletta when she was all amnesia-y.

Nunnally might be as well...and my fangirly mind thinks that maybe Suzaku was teaching Euphie a bit of Japanese to help out with her SAZ before she went all Euphinator on us. :(

But the Chinese thing will DEFINITELY be hard to explain. Maybe Kaguya will translate for them? She seemed to know Chinese well enough.

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Maybe Geass also gives you the amazing power of understanding all languages?

Mao was Chinese, wasn't he? And yet he spoke English and/or Japanese as well. >.>

[fujiappletan.livejournal.com]

Thank you~

I figure most of the Japanese are bilingual since they've been conquered and all that jazz k they kinda have to learn to survive. :O

Nunnally is probably bilingual as well? Since she was with Lelouch and yeah~ though Suzaku did have to tell her about what sound a frog makes. xD (Picturing Suzaku teaching Euphy some nihongo is cuuuute.)

WIN. SO MUCH WIN. She could teach Zero. If he doesn't know any. It would be perfectttt. I can kind of picture her teaching him "wo ai ni" and being all kaguya!:DDD ♥~ over it. ahhh poor taken advantage of Zero.

[lb-x.livejournal.com]

I always envisioned Suzaku teaching Lelouch Japanese shortly after he arrived in Japan, and that Suzaku spoke English. I assume now he's totally fluent in Japanese, although, it's interesting because you would think he would still have an accent (and hence, Zero would too). As for Chinese, it is possible Lelouch might have received some background in it growing up. Nobility probably has to learn important languages, and given the size of the Chinese Federation, it's probably necessary for diplomacy.

Otherwise, I try not to think too hard about it since the show is written in Japanese, and "everyone speaks Japanese" tends to come up in other anime XD

[fujiappletan.livejournal.com]

I figure he spoke English? Since he had to communicate with Shirley, and he had to recieve medical treatment from Britanians, since he mentions how great their "medicine" is. (Yes, Mao is Chinese.)

[fujiappletan.livejournal.com]

Nobility probably has to learn important languages, and given the size of the Chinese Federation, it's probably necessary for diplomacy.

Totally agree with this idea. <3

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Maybe Nunnally knows a little. I mean Lelouch...he probably learned because "it was useful" for him, but since Lelouch was looking after Nunnally at the time, she probably only learned what she had to. Lelouch seems like the kinda guy to learn a new language just for the fun of it, anyway.

OMG, SOMEONE WRITE A FIC OF SUZAKU TEACHING EUPHIE JAPANESE. NOW.

You just made me have to go back and re-read Fushigi Yuugi for the nostalgia. Thanks a lot. >.> (D'awwww, Kaguya teaching Zero "Wo ai ni" gives me warm and fuzzy fangirl vibes. I can even see the "?" appearing over Lulu's head now. XD)

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Still, Lelouch WAS only 9 when he got booted out of Britannia. If he knows any Chinese from that time, it's probably a little.

I suppose he might have studied up on useful phrases when he decided he would have to move his whole organization to China, though.

Cuz we all know Lelouch would prepare in advance for this sort of thing.

[fujiappletan.livejournal.com]

FIC. YOU WANT FIC YOU SAYYY. it's kind of ironic that I was planning a fic where Lelouch teaches Euphy Japanese because Suzaku tried before and she's like HORRIBLY EMBARASSED BY HER ACCENT. fjkdfg. *is shot*

Haha. "Ai? that means "love" in Japanese, isn't it the same-"
"NO NO. Completely different meaning~ :D ♥"

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

I still like my "Geass gives the power of language!hax!" idea. It would make Code Geass more ridiculous and haxy than it already is. XD

[fujiappletan.livejournal.com]

Cuz we all know Lelouch would prepare in advance for this sort of thing.

ROFL. Up to the time of the Black Rebellion he had been studying Chinese but then he got PWND and now he has to go refresh his memory~ *imagines him being DDD: at his preparation being foiled*

*tlly needs to stop jumping*

[lb-x.livejournal.com]

If he knows any Chinese from that time, it's probably a little.
Agree completely, it would only be a background. But it would prove useful if he was trying to pick it up. And who knows, maybe they teach languages at Ashford? All the students seem to have important connections, so languages would be a plus.

[-beliel.livejournal.com]

I thought of it and then remembered that it's an alternate universe and maybe it's quite possible they just all speak the same language. It's definately the lazy way to think about it. If not that, Lelouch seems like he'd totally be bilingual since he's so intelligent.

To think of it. all the characters the show centers around are either quite intelligent, rich, or in the military. a second language would seem like something so normal and necessary to them.

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

I would write it myself, but any Code Geass fanfic I write must have fire and destruction and doom, I have decided. :D

You know, I always did wonder why that was. Chinese and Japanese are more similar than we thought?

Ohohoho~~<3

"C'mon Zero, say it! 'Wo ai ni, Kaguya!' <3"
"... *sigh* If I must...'Wo ai ni, Kaguya..."
*C.C. bursts out laughing*

Thus proving that every girl Lelouch is paired with, including lolis, ALWAYS top. X3

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

I thought of it and then remembered that it's an alternate universe and maybe it's quite possible they just all speak the same language.

Well, they DO speak Japanese and English, I'd assume, given all the stuff in the background all the time. It's possible that the rest of the world speaks English while Japan is the odd one out, but I doubt it. For a show with this much detail that would just seem...lazy.

On your second point though, it makes a lot of sense that way. I think all our main characters are probably bilingual, it's just never brought up.

[fox-holland.livejournal.com]

Which is silly, because now I'm having a reminiscence of the similar conversation months ago.

Friend: Ai...
Me: Why do you keep saying love?
Friend: What?! When?
Me: Ai = Love
Friend: Ohhh...well in this case since I'm Chinese, it means sighing.
Me: Ooooooh~

[fujiappletan.livejournal.com]

Well uh Japanese uses quite a bit of Chinese words, or least they did but those words have been "modified" into more Japanese sounding... words. IthinkI'mexplainingthistooweirdly. (Like uhm, their numbers "ichi", "ni", "san" are derived from Chinese "e", "er", "san" *btw i'm bad at romanising chinese so uh yeah*- basically Japanese language borrowed a lot from the Chinese language a long long time ago and it still continues through 'cause you can't reform what history has set up for you.)

TRUE FACT TRUE FACT. Srry Lelouch.

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Well, I knew they borrowed kanji from Chinese, but I didn't know about some of the words besides 'ai'.

(All this talk about 'Wo ai ni' is seriously tempting me to break out the Fushigi Yuugi dvds again, you know. D:)

That is why I make Lelouch top when it's BL love...most of the time. Gotta give the guy a LITTLE credit for his (minimal) ability to top. But when it comes to the girls; he's on bottom, no questions asked. XD

[schizofragile.livejournal.com]

"C'mon Zero, say it! 'Wo ai ni, Kaguya!' <3"
"... *sigh* If I must...'Wo ai ni, Kaguya..."
*C.C. bursts out laughing*

Thus proving that every girl Lelouch is paired with, including lolis, ALWAYS top. X3

TRUFAX. HARD. A+

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

This is a great question, and I've thought about this before. In season one, we see Eleven commoners and Britannian noblemen speaking to each other, so they ought to share some sort of language. But Suzaku's statement about frogs does make it seem like there is a "Japanese" out there.

In the end, I just decided that in Geass' world, everyone speaks a common language. But then in Turn 8, Lelouch had to ask what "nationality" was and brought up language. This pretty much tells us that there are more than one language out there. Bastard. So I now revise my opinion to "everyone in the great powers probably speaks a common language". Since Britannia is dominant, maybe everywhere else in the world learns English in addition to their mother tongue? Sorta like how many young Europeans nowadays are bi- or tri-lingual, while most young Americans know only English.

However, as far as Lelouch and Suzaku are concerned, we have to remember that they are privileged kids born into upper-crust families that are knee-deep in national governance. I wouldn't be surprised if Suzaku knew English or if Lelouch knew quite a bit of Japanese prior to their meeting. And I wouldn't be surprised if Lelouch eventually became fluent in Japanese simply because it would be "useful".

What gets me is: What language do the Black Knights use when they're hanging around? Japanese would make contextual sense, but I doubt that Diethard and Raksharta are both fluent. I guess the Black Knights hold their meetings in English, then. =P

[fox-holland.livejournal.com]

I presume that Britannian English is the standard throughout the reaches of the empire, while the Japanese language I believe is being oppressed because now it's just an Area in favor of Britannian assimilation by stamping out the home language.

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

Seconding inulovinkit's fic request. Really fucking want, like omg. O_O

[faye-naruse.livejournal.com]

our little snippets of English fail in the background

I think I've failed to notice these XD All I can think of is the 'Yes, my lord!' and 'Happy birthday' to Viletta from Lulu

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Momeland.