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.

[spleener.livejournal.com]

It's Sunrise. They'll just completely ignore the language barrier issue.

[ipsius.livejournal.com]

Yes, Lelouch probably would be fluent in Japanese, because it just wouldn't seem in character of him to pass up an opportunity to learn a new skill.

Zero speaking Chinese would be HOTTTT though imho.

...

*brain breaks*

Yes, holy shit, yes. *___*

[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. >.>

[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]

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

[-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 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]

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]

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

[dragonmists753.livejournal.com]

I agree that because most of the main characters are either in the upper-class or in the military and heavily involved in national politics that they'd know more than one language. I also agree that Lelouch is most likely fluent in Japanese.

What's really confusing to me is when I start to try to figure out what language they're talking when. What with it being in Japanese, subbed in English, and random bits of English thrown in, eventually I decided to stop thinking about it unless something brings attention to it in the show. And when they get to China, gah! It gives me a headache just thinking about it.

That's a good question. What language do the Black Knights speak? I figure they all know English well since Japan was conquered but I don't think Diethard and Raksharta would know enough Japanese for the meetings to be held in it. But it'd make sense to me if when those two aren't around they'd talk a lot more in Japanese. Kinda of a keeping their culture alive kinda thing, but then switching to English when those two are around, just as a polite thing.

[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.

[chansonxchou.livejournal.com]

Revellion and I think I caugh a Leloush too.

[spleener.livejournal.com]

Well, overall, it's Sunrise, if it's more convenient for the story for there to be no language barriers then they'll blow it off entirely.

In an episode mid-season 1 (12, I think?) when Cornelia was in a meeting with people that boiled down to "Cornelia bitching about the guys in charge being soft on the Elevens and them going 'well, it's because Clovis told us to be soft on them'" you see a list of some of his old policies for assimilating the Elevens including a 5-year plan for language changeover or somesuch thing. So basically the Brits speak English and made the Japanese learn it when they took over, but more than likely they still speak Japanese among themselves. Lulu probably knows Japanese from his time with Suzaku, and probably got better at it as he grew up (remember, he was always planning on overthrowing Britannia, if he was also always planning to do it by leading an Eleven uprising he probably became fluent for that purpose.)

Again, though, it's Sunrise, aside from that one random detail I mentioned they completely blew off any language barrier issues for storytelling convenience.

The issue reminds me of how I always thought it would have been cool if the Geass dub had the Britannians in British accents and the Japanese in American accents and Lulu would speak in an American accent when Zero as a further measure to disguise his voice.

[miasmacloud.livejournal.com]

Lelouch must know Japanese because the Black Knights thought he was Japanese until ep ~12 or whenever they met Kirihara.

[konata-kawaii.livejournal.com]

That's one simple and very logical answer xD

[tenshi789.livejournal.com]

I think in the Geass world, they all speak Japanese.

Or in the Dub-Geass world, they all speak English! xD It's just easier to have the plots and character developments and what not without the Language barrier thing. But realistically, then I'd say Lelouch is fluent in Japanese- the year he spent there when he was 10 is possible that he became uber fluent, and he may have learnt Japanese before hand, just as an heir-learn-languages for politics thing.

"our little snippets of English fail in the background"
makes me laugh xD

[konata-kawaii.livejournal.com]

I thought about this pretty much too.
I guess they'll all have to speak Japanese AND English for a start.
Lol, you know in that serie HEROES they speak Japanese they just subtitled it. I think it's pretty cool they didn't make them be magically able to speak english all of a sudden.

ZOMG, Kaguya teaching Zero chinese "Wo ai ni"...I can see that happen LOL. If they will do that in the show I'll watch that part over and over LOL.
Ah, this topic makes me fangirl LOL. (I mean, I already squee-d when Lulu was like "Aishite, Nunally!" lol. basically since Na-na-ri sounds like my IRL nickname. haha I PHAIL.)

And what made me LOL this season was Suzaku speaking Japanese to the Dutch fighters LOL. I'm like "WTF. Dutch people don't generally speak Japanese Suzaku." lol. I mean, I don't know anyone that can speak Japanese in such a fluent way to understand Suzaku's GHEY speech anyway. (like LOL. they should've included a dutch guy in his knightmare to go like "?" xD)

Since it's sunrise -URRR I mean anime. They will probably ignore the other language.

"due to our little snippets of English fail in the background, this question popped into my mind."

LOLZ.
I don't get why they said "Happy Birthday" in english to Viletta. That was pretty...PHAIL.

Hurr hurr, I'd love it if they're going to actually speak Chinese but I'm sure they won't LMAO. The whole Geass-world is pretty Japanese/English I guess xD.

[eriol33.livejournal.com]

I think "yes my rodo" is greater phail >_>

[voldy06.livejournal.com]

If Lelouch can devise a secret sign language containing over 500 words at the age of 10, then I don't see why he wouldn't be fluent in Japanese. Learning a new language is probably pretty easy for Lelouch anyway, given his intellect.

[minamint.livejournal.com]

I always figure that because Lelouch is such a genius, he could easily learn another language and as for the chinese, so far all the chinese federation people we have fet so far are somewhat important government or military people, so it wouldn't be abnormal for them to have to learn foreign languages such as english and japanese.