General Yuzuru Chat

[mercedes]

14 minutes ago, Sombreuil said:

Aaah - I got so annoyed at (I think it was) the Olympics when they tried to make him speak in English .  You’ll get a long, detailed, well thought out, illuminating response in Japanese which can then be translated in correct detail by qualified translators if you leave him to speak - if you ask him to talk in English in a PC you’ll get the usual platitudes- try asking Chen to speak French or Kolyada to speak mandarin.  English may be the global default setting but at his level there are interpreters and what he has to say is significant and needs to be put across as accurately as possible. I am perfectly willing to wait for a true representation of his actual words rather than a cobbled together ‘english’ comment that doesn’t actually express what he wants to say.  

Possibly my patience is honed by years of Japanese gymnasts who don’t do English at all.

I know english is the to go language when you want to comunicate internationally(just look at this place) but yes I agree ,when we are talking about top athletes they should just let them speak their own native tongue and translate....even I ,with my bad english feel the need to jump in and save him from those interviews ,such it's the anxiety he gives when he tries.

But it also makes him human....he's a out of this world skater and a pretty brilliant guy but it seems he's not good with foreign languages,it's conforting somehow.

 

This said I have the feeling he speaks english way better in his daily life,but of course in public he feels the need to be correct and clear.

 

 

[KatjaThera]

24 minutes ago, Sombreuil said:

Aaah - I got so annoyed at (I think it was) the Olympics when they tried to make him speak in English .  You’ll get a long, detailed, well thought out, illuminating response in Japanese which can then be translated in correct detail by qualified translators if you leave him to speak - if you ask him to talk in English in a PC you’ll get the usual platitudes- try asking Chen to speak French or Kolyada to speak mandarin.  English may be the global default setting but at his level there are interpreters and what he has to say is significant and needs to be put across as accurately as possible. I am perfectly willing to wait for a true representation of his actual words rather than a cobbled together ‘english’ comment that doesn’t actually express what he wants to say.  

Possibly my patience is honed by years of Japanese gymnasts who don’t do English at all.

Honestly, for all his adorable and funny reactions then, I doubt he was forced to do the conference in English, then. He said he has been trying and given that he works with people who don't speak Japanese on  adaily basis, it's good for him to keep trying to improve, even if he hates it. So while feeling a bit bad for him, this is one thing I think he should keep being pushed towards. Overall, it's good for him. And he's said it himself, when what he has to say is too important, he uses translators (though all translators aren't the same either, so sometimes things can get lost in translation again). I'd still rather hear his still slightly fumbling English to a bad or not completely accurate translations (especially since I'm not sure he'd realize it's inaccurate and rather think his English was wrong if it doesn't much). Luckily, that doesn't happen as much anymore, but still.

 

That said, most of the Western world misses out on the Hanyu wisdom either way, because most of the truly great things he says aren't in competition press conferences. If some Western media did an in depth interview qith him, with a good translator, I think they would be quite shocked.

[Pammi]

3 hours ago, Figure_Frenzy said:

I hope he gets less and less uncomfortable speaking English...

 That would be good but......Even in Canada, most of Yuzu's talking/listening/reading/writing is done in Japanese I suspect.   I much prefer Yuzuru being interviewed in Japanese - he is so thoughtful, and funny! we'd never know this if he spoke in English.  He's such a perfectionist, it must make speaking another language even tougher!

Edit: However, I seem to remember him saying after the Olympics that he has a goal of improving his English, and I hope he keeps trying!

[rockstaryuzu]

28 minutes ago, KatjaThera said:

Honestly, for all his adorable and funny reactions then, I doubt he was forced to do the conference in English, then. He said he has been trying and given that he works with people who don't speak Japanese on  adaily basis, it's good for him to keep trying to improve, even if he hates it. So while feeling a bit bad for him, this is one thing I think he should keep being pushed towards. Overall, it's good for him. And he's said it himself, when what he has to say is too important, he uses translators (though all translators aren't the same either, so sometimes things can get lost in translation again). I'd still rather hear his still slightly fumbling English to a bad or not completely accurate translations (especially since I'm not sure he'd realize it's inaccurate and rather think his English was wrong if it doesn't much). Luckily, that doesn't happen as much anymore, but still.

 

That said, most of the Western world misses out on the Hanyu wisdom either way, because most of the truly great things he says aren't in competition press conferences. If some Western media did an in depth interview qith him, with a good translator, I think they would be quite shocked.

Well, my own feelings on the matter are that if he's going to try and fumble through English for our sake, then it's only appropriate that I  try and pick up some Japanese too, however poorly I do at it.  Just for politeness if nothing else. 

[Pammi]

1 minute ago, rockstaryuzu said:

Well, my own feelings on the matter are that if he's going to try and fumble through English for our sake, then it's only appropriate that I  try and pick up some Japanese too, however poorly I do at it.  Just for politeness if nothing else. 

Gambatte!! (is that right???! I must learn some hiragana too......)

[micaelis]

2 hours ago, Sombreuil said:

Aaah - I got so annoyed at (I think it was) the Olympics when they tried to make him speak in English .  You’ll get a long, detailed, well thought out, illuminating response in Japanese which can then be translated in correct detail by qualified translators if you leave him to speak - if you ask him to talk in English in a PC you’ll get the usual platitudes- try asking Chen to speak French or Kolyada to speak mandarin.  English may be the global default setting but at his level there are interpreters and what he has to say is significant and needs to be put across as accurately as possible. I am perfectly willing to wait for a true representation of his actual words rather than a cobbled together ‘english’ comment that doesn’t actually express what he wants to say.  

Possibly my patience is honed by years of Japanese gymnasts who don’t do English at all.

Some time ago I said this, but I'll repeat.  It seems to me that Yuzu is quite comfortable using English where he's just communicating with other people, such as in training sessions and with other skaters at competitions.  It's the formal situations that have him tongue-tied because he realizes so much is riding then on what he says.  As was pointed out here, in his media appearances where he is speaking Japanese his answers are quite articulate, probably more than most athletes achieve when interviewed in their native tongues.  We have to remember that Yuzu is probably more intelligent, possibly much more intelligent than the average athlete, not that generally athletes are 'dumb jocks'.  I know from my own experiences teaching at a university where I had a number of athletes in my classes and some of them were amongst my best students.  But back to Yuzu.  When he receives a seriously thought out question he wants to give a seriously thought out answer.  That's why I really think that the JSF, knowing how often Yuzu is involved in press conferences, should assign an interpreter to accompany Yuzu.  He probably handles more press conferences than all the rest of the Japanese skating team combined.  An interpreter would be worth the expense.

[faeline]

Sorry for interjecting, but I've completely lost track of what's being broadcasted where this weekend (mainly, what is on iSakura and what is not...) Can someone enlighten me please?

[Figure_Frenzy]

2 hours ago, Pammi said:

 That would be good but......Even in Canada, most of Yuzu's talking/listening/reading/writing is done in Japanese I suspect.   I much prefer Yuzuru being interviewed in Japanese - he is so thoughtful, and funny! we'd never know this if he spoke in English.  He's such a perfectionist, it must make speaking another language even tougher!

Edit: However, I seem to remember him saying after the Olympics that he has a goal of improving his English, and I hope he keeps trying!

 

I knooooowww, which is why I am now more torn than before... Like, let Yuzu speak Japanese by all means (especially during interviews), but then I don't want him to always feel uncomfortable either when he speaks English, even when speaking only short sentences (and especially outside interviews).

 

...and this isn't exactly a trade-off of sorts either, not always anyway... 

Though now I hope that he does feel somewhat more comfortable speaking just teeny bit of English in daily settings... Alright I'll stop at this >_<

[KatjaThera]

You know, I use English every day, though as it's mostly in writing, I do feel a bit uncomfortable speaking it and rather often end up stammering or jumbling words. And I've been learning English for longer than Yuzu has been alive In Japanese, I also feel uncomfortable speaking it with Japanese people I know, who I feel have expectations of me, but I'm quite ok speaking to strangers and even though there are embarrassing moments, I want to keep challenging myself, so I look for all opportunities to speak Japanese. Whether it's with a fellow visitor at a touristic attraction, fellow fans at ice shows, the cashier at a shop or a museum worker. And as a consequence, after a week in Japan, I was able to have a proper conversation in Japanese with my former teacher for the first time. Even though she was my teacher for 3 or 4 years. This kind of immersion is necessary and Yuzu only does it to a minimum.

 

I get it, I really do. Whenever we have speaking exercises in Japanese class I want to run for the hills. So I get being uncomfortable. But I believe this is something where it's better to step out of your comfort zone. It will probably never happen, but one of my dreams would be a fluent Yuzu dazzling the Western media. And I think he could do it, if he really set his mind to it and really wanted it. But right now it would probably take time and effort better spent on skating. And of course, he might simply not want to do it, which is fair enough. He's a grown man who can make his own decisions. But I believe in this day and age, English skills are a minimum requirement.

 

That said, I'm sure his every day English, with people he's comfortable with is much better than we think. The interview with Cathy after the SP Worlds was proof of that, I think. But if he doesn't push himself in press conferences and such, too, he'll never improve in that kind of environment as well. So, for the unimportant things, if he really wants his English to be better, I hope he'll continue doing a bit of English here and there.

[ruruzest]

his face!

 

[kaeryth]

 

 

[kaeryth]

1 hour ago, faeline said:

Sorry for interjecting, but I've completely lost track of what's being broadcasted where this weekend (mainly, what is on iSakura and what is not...) Can someone enlighten me please?

 

This thread has compiled broadcast schedules

 

 

[faeline]

3 minutes ago, kaeryth said:

 

This thread has compiled broadcast schedules

 

 

Thank you!!

[Yuzu_legend]

Guys, there is a cute new video from Yuzu greeting Sasha P., can someone bring it to the forum?!

[Yuzu_legend]

hace 2 minutos , wildstrawberry said:

 

Copying from Toyama thread