SNSD Gets Criticized For Bad Pronunciation In Japan

[es2pido.livejournal.com]

SNSD recently performed the Japanese version of "The Boys" on a top variety program in Japan. However, the emcee pointed out some pronunciation flaws during the song and thus, has become quite an issue among the netizens. 

The issue arose after an episode of popular Japanese variety show "Hey Hey Hey" aired on December 19, during which SNSD performed the Japanese version of "The Boys." The emcee of the program is comedian Hamada Masatoshi and as soon as SNSD finished their performance, he jokingly said, "What are they saying? I have no idea what they are saying." At Hamada's unexpected comment, the other guests uncomfortable faces were caught on tape and the other emcee of the show, Matsumoto Hitoshi quickly changed the subject. 

Japanese netizens commented, "I hope this will be a good lesson and warning for the Korean artists who come to Japan and sing in Japanese with motives of making more money," while Korean netizens commented, "I hope the way our artists sing in Japan in Japanese will change."

Clips of this part of the episode of "Hey Hey Hey" were posted online and have received over 200,000 hits. 

Korean netizens commented, "It is no longer 'K-Pop' if Korean artists go overseas and sing their songs in a foreign language. Why don't they take this opportunity to stop singing in Japanese all together," "Let's try to understand our Korean artists, who are probably having a hard time in a foreign land with foreign cultures and languages."



Check out the clip of the performance below: 

Source: Soompi + spodockskpark100 @ YT

And he pointed that out live. That was really awkward. :( 

Comments

[anthonymarie.livejournal.com]

can you please put the video and picture under a cut? :) ty

[es2pido.livejournal.com]

Edited :)

[miliy96.livejournal.com]

It is understandable since they don't speak Japanese fluently but they should practice more to do better in the future.

[lovelycanales.livejournal.com]

TRUE! >:)

[rylee900.livejournal.com]

Um,I disagree with both the Korean and Japanese netizens. How about certain emcees learn not to be so freakin rude.

[bolingi-aii.livejournal.com]

If their Japanese is bad, then its bad. Maybe now they'll work harder instead of just going through the motions.

[a-perfect-shade.livejournal.com]

this is the thing that really bothers me about groups expanding to other countries- that they don't bother to really learn their shit first. big bang are another group that are clearly in it for the money and sound awful in japanese. it's good that there are at least a couple members in each group that make a genuine effort to learn and speak properly, but most don't give a shit and their companies should take that into account. rainbow and kara are examples of groups that have made this transition smoothly and don't sound awkward as fuck in their songs. i stan big bang to high hell but they're awful, along with snsd and a majority of the other groups flocking over.

and is it really so hard to learn proper pronunciation for just a few lyrics? they should have coaches that help them through each word so at least the recorded version doesn't sound godawful. you know it's bad when you don't even speak fluent japanese and you can hear the awkwardness.

[lenra.livejournal.com]

ia

[lenra.livejournal.com]

so embarrassed @ the comments on youtube.

[slow-rush.livejournal.com]

The criticism will be good for them to hear.

They're promoting a flawless song that turns to shit in Korean, and a Korean song that isn't that great in Japanese. SM is cranking out products like they're going to be sued any minute, and the girls are so busy they have to recycle everything. I wonder how long it will be until they've had enough of the BS.

[stesabsea.livejournal.com]

I feel like SNSD will be able to handle the BS for a long time. Whether it's because they want to keep working hard to stay popular idols and for their fans or because they can't stand up for themselves to their company, I couldn't say.

[seungtoria.livejournal.com]

no video of incident itself?

[stesabsea.livejournal.com]

They're still getting good sales in Japan so I guess having bad Japanese pronunciation in one performance isn't a detriment to their success.

[freezing-flames.livejournal.com]

umm lol that was kinda rude
their jap isn't the best but I can actually understand what they're saying (well most of it)
he could've said it in a more polite way imo

[rylee900.livejournal.com]

This is the point I was trying to make.

[pinkosa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, SNSD can do it ! I'm sure they'll get better someday. Hopefully it's not too late.

[vikihpnerd.livejournal.com]

well, the girls wouldn't even know if they were being made fun of...'cuz they don't understand...well, except for Sooyoung

[rylee900.livejournal.com]

I think you just pinpointed my issue.
By all means tell them their Japanese sucks. But I hate the " let's laugh at the foreigner,they don't understand anyway" mentality.

[pinkosa.livejournal.com]

I think it has something to do with them not doing full-time promotions there, if they where, it could be another story. But they are there just a couple times and when they are, things like this happen, I blame their company.

[pinkosa.livejournal.com]

That's how the MC is, but people who aren't familiar with him wouldn't understand.

My comment on arama:
I'm sure it's not their fault, I think it's their company because they aren't giving a fuck about the language, they're probably enjoying it because now they can have it easy thanks to BoA and DBSK because at their time, they did had to learn the language to succeed, or at least that's my point of view. But since SNSD has so much things going on right now in Korea, it could be hard...but who knows.

I'm sure they'll get better someday.

[ideservestars.livejournal.com]

ia. sm just continues to crank out shit after recycled shit and they're bringing their talent down with them. but i swear, if dshitp can get kara to speak flawless japanese, i don't see why in the hell sm can't.

[scribblyness-x.livejournal.com]

the commentary occurs at about 9:55. it's pretty tame considering it's coming from hamada. the article just paraphrased his words so it appeared less than polite.

sidenote, it's hilarious how the akb girls, especially takamina, yukirin and sae were trying to hold back their laughter.

[seungtoria.livejournal.com]

thanks!

[omen1x2.livejournal.com]

I honestly think that SME thinks that now that BoA and Tohoshinki opened the door, they don't have to put as much time, effort, and money into their Japanese releases for their other groups. It's actually rather sad, since I doubt Super Junior, SHINee, or SNSD will make it over there without those things, and honestly, they could do well. But with the half-assed attempts they've been making over there, almost everyone that's a already fan in Japan of those groups were fans, and the Japanese releases aren't doing anything to create new ones.

[captainmarvel.livejournal.com]

A+

[rosetta16.livejournal.com]

well the MC was making a joke i see nothing wrong with it, in korea mc's make jokes like that all the time plus i think jnetizens were pretty nice cause it was an "advice" but knetizens were plain rude

[ideservestars.livejournal.com]

when are knetizens not r00d

[ideservestars.livejournal.com]

it sucked, i'm glad someone said it.

[o-o-mai-o-o.livejournal.com]

someone had to say it.

[ethereal-limbo.livejournal.com]

you and your correct opinions.

[oldwillow-brook.livejournal.com]

Someone told me that basically SME didn't want to go down the road of THSK and so they aren't really worrying about getting them all fluent.

SNSD basically have to get used to the fact that they do suck in Japanese, and that this will happen often (tbh though, how do you go to a country and NOT want to know the language? I would be on that like crazy, especially because if they make fun of me I want to freaking know :/)

THSK's Japanese has significantly changed since their hiatus. They're apparently considered a part of the Hallyu Wave instead of being legit foreign artists. It's a bunch of bullshit tbh, and it's really disappointing to see THSK go down this road considering they are/were beyond the Hallyu Wave crowd in Japan. :///

[rylee900.livejournal.com]

THSK are one of the most succesful Korean artists in Japan,it's ridiculous for SM to do this,and not fair for SNSD either,really.

[ghost-whisper.livejournal.com]

They are foreign artists. If they have good pronunciation, fantastic. If they don't, dude, what do you expect? People who care won't be fans, that simple. No need to get bitter. Enjoy the lulz. Otherwise a lot of singers need to start pulling all their English lyrics to avoid hypocrisy, since I can't understand that half the time (without a translation) either.

Both sides need to calm down about this and be fair&realistic. Artists should be practicing (at least) *singing* in the language they're supposed to be singing in, and if they're actively promoting, then yeah they should practice communicating too. But even with lots of training, some people still have a hard time mimicking an accent. And seriously, how much time does 'training' take up in these artists ridiculous schedules?

[rylee900.livejournal.com]

A freakin plus.

[conxito.livejournal.com]

if you cant do it. then dont do it.

[rylee900.livejournal.com]

Lol,that's the most offensive part of this to me.

[kneekalies.livejournal.com]

Sucks he put them on blast in front of everyone, and most of them didn't understand/know what was going on. SM just have to realize that if he really wants them to succeed in Japan, he is going to have let them put in some time and effort.

Which means they can't be performing in a different country every night, and that won't happen. Which I kinda get because they are on top right now and this is their time to have these concerts/promotions/dramas/variety shows.

[geniebsmart.livejournal.com]

Maybe it is just me, but if my Japanese and Korean pronunciation stinks in my musical covers, then I would like to know so I can work hard to improve xD

Though, I would like the critique version, not the "dang you suck gtfo" version xD

[funkaliciousss.livejournal.com]

yea ia. what i don't get is how people are making it seem like accent and pronounciation are two different unrelated issues.

if i speak korean in a chinese accent, obviously my pronounciation would be horrible right? idgi.

[domokuniscute.livejournal.com]

I just think it's awfully half assed if you want to promote in a country but don't learn the language properly. I don't think there needs to be a party to blame; there are too many reasons like lack of time, SME just wanting to sell shit etc.

The effort Tohoshinki put into breaking into Japan is what is needed...

[funkaliciousss.livejournal.com]

you are right but tbh, none of the current wave of kpop stars going into japan (including SNSD but excluding KARA) are looking forward to the level of longevity that tohoshinki has earned in Japan. all of these acts are just trying to cash in on the hallyu wave and make some extra cash imho.

while i think that it is good that japan is calling them out for this, it could have been done in a more tactful manner. and since SNSD is one of the leaders of the current k-wave and the one that is guilty of not learning the language properly, its given that they would get picked on to send a message to the rest of the kpop bands. sucks for them tho cause they are clearly not as bad as many other kpop groups, that's what you get for being the leader/representative group.