# Why is written or spoken English used in Japan to market to Japanese **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709 "2012-09-05T03:49:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/21 "2012-09-05T16:27:21Z")
When I visited Venus Fort, a very upscale Tokyo shopping center, I was surprised to see that not a single shop name appeared in Japanese. But a few appeared in International Phonetic Alphabet rather than the Roman alphabet. I saw this elsewhere in Japan as well. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/22 "2012-09-05T16:28:20Z")
I asked a similar question eight (eek!) years ago: [Why is the writing on Japanese electronics always in English? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=235842) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/23 "2012-09-05T19:33:50Z")
> [@Vicullum](#): > > Kinda off-topic, but I watch quite a bit of anime and I noticed a tendency to say a few English loan words as a couplet, such as “bye bye” and “love love.” Is there a reason for this? In the case of “bye bye” (Japanese “bai bai”), it’s a couplet in the original English. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/24 "2012-09-07T09:28:19Z")
Article about the influence of English on current Chinese: [http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4168](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4168) This is globalization, and it’s everywhere. Get used to it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/25 "2012-09-07T10:34:41Z")
It’s not like English doesn’t borrow words from everywhere, too. It just doesn’t seem as unusual since we borrow a lot from languages that use the same alphabet as we do. Though I admit actually using the Roman alphabet is different–even otaku (rabid anime fans) use the Roman alphabet, despite the idolization of everything Japanese. I think this comes from the fact that it’s easier to type. It’s easy for a Japanese person to type Roman letters–the keys are even the same. It’s much more difficult for us to type in any of the Japanese writing forms. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/26 "2012-09-07T10:44:54Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > When I visited Venus Fort, a very upscale Tokyo shopping center, I was surprised to see that not a single shop name appeared in Japanese. But a few appeared in International Phonetic Alphabet rather than the Roman alphabet. I saw this elsewhere in Japan as well. I’ve been here for 13 years and I can’t remember seeing IPA used outside of schoolbooks. Are you sure that wasn’t just some random diacritical marks to make things look more French/European? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/27 "2012-09-07T13:29:05Z")
Can’t speak to Japan. I live in Korea and a surprising number of TV ads are in English, mostly for upscale, expensive products. Fluency in English is often associated with brighter career prospects. In one very odd commercial, a man and a woman are talking to one another, he in English and she in Korean. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/28 "2012-09-11T16:13:58Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > I’ve been here for 13 years and I can’t remember seeing IPA used outside of schoolbooks. Are you sure that wasn’t just some random diacritical marks to make things look more French/European? I’ve been to Japan a number of times and have also never seen this. A screenshot would help. I suspect what he’s referencing is very stylized romaji or katakana. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/29 "2012-09-11T17:18:23Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Why are many things, including some people’s bodies, in English speaking countries decorated with Chinese or Japanese characters? So that young girls can advertise “I am a Slut” on the small of their backs in a foreign language that isn’t easily goggled by their parents. Really mom, I thought it meant Peace not Piece! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/30 "2012-09-11T17:54:27Z")
Because English has this je ne sais quoi. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709/31 "2012-09-11T18:04:00Z")
The Japanese football (soccer) league is called the J. League, in the Latin alphabet. I always found that a bit odd. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-written-or-spoken-english-used-in-japan-to-market-to-japanese/633709.md?page=1)