MovieChat Forums > Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) Discussion > Does Lundgren Know Japanese or Not?

Does Lundgren Know Japanese or Not?

posted 18 years ago by imalemming-1
6 replies | jump to latest

Some people say he knows it perfectly, some say he only knows the lines he had to speak for this movie.

When he's interrogating the guy at the police station, he sounds like he's reading off a Japanese Roomaji cue card.

And he pronounces "seppuku" "seh-puh-koo". As close as I can "type" it, it's "seh-p-poo-koo". I guess you could argue that he said it that way because he wasn't in "Japanese mode" (I think in that Universal Soldier "Tale of Two Titans" featurette, he says something about Stockholm and pronounces it "stock-holm", but in real Swedish it's pronounced different. Given his origin, I'm sure he knows better and was probably just saying in that way so people would know what the hell he was talking about), but since he was supposed to be a guy raised in Japan you'd think he'd say it right no matter the situation.

However, he does say "wataashi tara sho" quite well.

Anyone know for sure?

[–] imalemming-1 18 years ago

Okay, I withdraw what I said about the pronounciation of "Stockholm"; I thought the Swedish way of saying it was more different than it really was. Everything else still stands.

[–] jox-3 18 years ago

Well I don't think he's fluent in Japanese, but he sure knows a little.

[–] gicchogiccho 18 years ago

His Japanese pronunciation is bud in the Movie.
But he has good pronunciation recently.

[–] chunkreloaded 18 years ago

I think Japanese is one of 7 languages that Dolph is fluent in...seriously

[–] liquidsouther 11 years ago

He's only fluent in 3 languages, but speaks another four a little. So he "knows" 7 langauges, yes.

"He drank. He fought. He made his ancestors proud!"

[–] atari_saturna 10 years ago

He was asked about that in an interview I read once and said it was a misunderstanding stating he only know some words so no sorry :P