We of English-speaking fandom tend to laugh or lament over Engrish or Japlish in anime de arimasu. But it also seems that anime repays the favour by making fun of foreigners who speak Japanese either with not quite contextually correct use or by adding unnecesary bits to sentences de arimasu. A Japanese friend told me that one of her non-Jp colleagues introduces himself with the “-san” honorific and refers to himself in the third person de arimasu. She was too mortified to correct him and suspects he learns his Japanese from six year old female anime characters de arimasu. (Btw she also tends to add “desu” at the end of her English sentences when speaking quickly LOL de arimasu.)
The unnecessary addition that comes to mind right now is: “de arimasu” (であります - It is so.) Wilhelmina Carmel, power maid of Shakugan no Shana and the hapless Keroro Gunso (screencaps above)both add this to the end of most of their sentences de arimasu. Former is a foreigner and latter is an alien - though the Japanese may consider both to be the same thing if my first impression of Japanese immigration booths is anything to go by de arimasu (many years ago, seeing the word "alien" under "外国人" at Narita arrivals de arimasu). Keroro Gunso is a comedy and Keroro’s use of “de arimasu” (especially in the titles of each episode’s two parters) is funny but being bombarded by a string of “de arimasu” suffixed sentences from straight-faced Wilhelmina had me guffawing through Ep 15 and 16 de arimasu.
Finally a note of thanks to Jason for opening my mind to the gem that is Keroro Gunso (lesbian ninja girl Koyuki being an initial draw) and to Hitoribochi Fansubs for bringing this as-yet-unlicensed series to English-speaking fandom and even making it even funnier (e.g. “You dares to call my Sergeant ’stupid frog’? That’s unforgivable, bitch!” ) de arimasu.
That’s one of the many things I fear in my quest for Japanese fluency de arimasu. Thank you for enlightening me de arimasu.
all the “de arimasu’s” …urge to kill…RISING…
Well, it’s cute. I confess my japanese is f*ked up thx to too much anime. I still don’t dare to use it in public.
I can forgive Wilhemina for her de-arimasu, somewhat, since she’s an attractive woman who happens to wear a meido outfit most of the time, although I do wish she’d stop using it so BLOODY often. I mean, outside of that, she’s great; she can kick much ass singlehandedly, she can deal with Shana without getting attacked as often as Yuuji does, and…. just LOOK at her. The -de arimasu usage is forgiveable, although I do wish she wouldn’t end every second sentence with it, and instead show her foreignness or lack of fluency in her word-choice or stilted sentence structure.
Now the front, on the other hand… no forgiveness. ;)
Wilhemina is indeed hilarious de arimasu, the touch had me chortling too. It reminds me of Tamami from Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~ with her desuu~ suffixes to every sentence. I feel the gratuitous desu~’s are rather similar to the “90210 Valley Girl” speak which inserted “like” or “y’know” (depending on region, sometimes both) into every sentence. I’m not sure what exactly the “de arimasu” means or if it’s just superfluous language, but I love it.
That’s funny, in all my years of studying Japanese, I’ve never heard “de arimasu” actually used by anyone in real life, foreign or not. Professors never really emphasized “de” as a common particle for “arimasu.” I guess it must be an inside joke for Japanese people because I never encountered it as a problem in class. I do find excessive “desu,” “ne,” and “da ne” to be funny, though. I am interested in the actual language of Japanese but I always bump into anime-watchers trying to shoot random phrases at me when they find out I know the language. (Note: I’m not by any means fluent!)
But I guess random anime phrases must be forgiven because the first phrase I learned was, “omae wo korosu” in middle school from Gundam Wing (Heero). (Translation: “I’m going to kill you.”) Then I took real classes. ^ ^
Heh… that’s something else. ‘course, I’m studying in Kyoto at the moment so I’m developing a bit of a bastardized Hyojungo/Kansai-ben accent. But I’m at least aware of when I can use “ya” (da / de aru) and when I can’t.
In closing:
Ano gaijin wa nani yutten ka? Sappari wakarahenkatta de.
I’m too busy staring at Wilhemina’s “melonpan” de gozaru.
Wow, really interesting responses from everyone. I think this post is a pretty fair illustration of how annoying phrases can be perfectly acceptable if the utterer is a hot meido or funny frog. But otherwise not quite so… de arimasu. :P
Well, it gives them a ‘quirk’ or distinctive mannerism which is supposed to make them stand out… except that they already do so by being a frog, a hot meido, or an evil photo maniac like Tamami Chanohata from Mahoraba - who is both short and has tentacle-like hair. The problem is usually NOT that they use it (-de arimas, desu, etc), but rather that it’s repeated every second sentence or on every sentence-de arimasu. This is quite repetitive-de arimasu. It is also very annoying, and I suspect everyone can agree-de arimasu.
Now if only Wilhemina would tone down the de arimasu, then she’d really be good. :D Otherwise, she is someone you don’t always want speaking in her appearances-de arimasu.
Ugh, reminds me of that annoying Rurouni Kenshin fangirl in my Modern Japanese History class. I’m surprised she didn’t end every English sentence with “de gozaru.”
heh, this all reminds me of the extremely popular series Naruto. The main char, for those who dont know, at the end of every other sentence exclaims dattebayo! From what I’ve been able to gather is it’s the creators invented slang word which can be the equivalent of a hippy saying MAN or DUDE after every other sentence. One of the fansub groups who subs naruto took on that name as their group name as well.