MovieChat Forums > Moon Child (2003) Discussion > 'Don't speak Japanese'

'Don't speak Japanese'


I have a question about Son.
When Sho is driving everybody to the beach at the late beginning, Son says something like "Don't speak Japanese!" A few scenes later Sho has to explain how to say Romantic in Japanese to Son. So is Son's native language different than Japanese and he isn't very fluent in it? They don't make it a big deal in the movie and I think these are the only scenes that focus on it. I've only watched it once and don't have the dvd on hand so maybe I missed something.
Maybe someone could be kind enough to explain a bit. Thanks!

"We live like vampires and we love like killers." Slow Suicide~JamisonParker

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Ok, i know im going to spell this wrong, but Son was from Taiwain where they speak Cantonese...you didnt pick up that he was in the Taiwainese mafia?

Not changing this sig 'till i watch KungFu Hustle 2...

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Ah ok yeah I remember something about Cantonese in the film now! Yeah I knew Son joined the mafia but I thought it was after they watched Kei drink the blood from that guy and after that they all split up. So he was in the mafia before he met Sho and Kei? I thought he was just working alone then.

Thanks for the help!

"We live like vampires and we love like killers." Slow Suicide~JamisonParker

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Son didn't speak Cantonese, and Taiwanese people usually speak either Mandarin, or Taiwanese(Min nan), NOT Cantonese- which instead is spoken predominantly in HK/Macau, and many Guangzhou(and other parts of Guangdong province)

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Yeah, most of when Son was talking was Mandarin. Only when the thugs came to get Shinji's money were they really speaking Cantonese.

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I know what people speak what language. I didn't say Son spoke Cantonese- I used the drug dealers demanding Sho speak Cantonese to them as an example. Hence the use of the word "like". Js.

Show me the Holt!

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You couldn't hear the difference?

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No, I didn't concentrate on hearing the difference between the pronunciation or dialect. I don't hear Japanese or Cantonese on a regular basis to know or tune into specific accents/dialetcs. I was busy reading the subtitles and enjoying the story so I guess I didn't think too much into picking apart the language differences. I've only watched it once. So next time I watch it I will concentrate more to see if I can pick up the difference and maybe I'll get better at detecting it.

"We live like vampires and we love like killers." Slow Suicide~JamisonParker

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No problem dude. I can't tell the differences between French, Italian, German or Swedish to save my life either.

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I think the 'romantic' bit may have been an in-joke as the explain the pronounciation in a Japanese katakana way "romanchiku" and as Lee Hom Wang speaks fluent English I thought it was kinda funny (^-^)

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they speak cantonese in taiwan??? no they don't..well now i'm just confused.
i remember son talks mandarin with yi-chen and people talk mandarin to him. later on i remember cantonese being spoken with the mafia. before i was just accepting it as the whole mixing theme in the future, but now i'm soo confused.

-MikaMiire- i love direct linking.

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They speak Mandarin in Taiwan, true. Cantonese is spoken by the two dudes who came in the fish shop, they even made a comment about it with Gackt, "Speak Cantonese!". During the Mahjong game, the two Cantonese dudes also made a comment on the two Taiwanese dudes about them cheating, since they were speaking another language.

So here --

JAPANESE SPOKEN BY: Gackt, Hyde, Toshi, Gackt's bro, the girl working in the wish shop, the waiter.

MANDARIN SPOKEN BY: Gackt, Son, Yi-che, Chan, Hyde (horrible), Toshi (more horrible), the two dudes who kill Chan, the two Mahjong guy playing with the two Cantonese.

CANTONESE SPOKEN BY: The two dudes who went in the fishshop to collect money.

ENGLISH SPOKEN BY: All non-Asians

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I know Gackt wrote the multiple languages in there because he speaks them, but since I've never studied Mandarin I couldn't tell how the other Japanese actors did with their lines. I guess Gackt really is an idealist sometimes.

Although, Gackt's English is horrible too, wouldn't you say?

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I wouldnt say its horrible. Its just rather a bit fast and sounds like alot of words are rolled into one. His English has greatly improved since then.

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agreed! i had to rewind where he talks about ninjas in japan. sounded to me like "blahblahblah ninjas in japan". english is really a hard language to learn!

their there they're, "were" vs. "where", heck i can't say "risks" and "retired" without butchering it, and english IS my primary language...

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well his English is way better than my Japanese :o) <gomen nasai>

At the S.K.I.N. show he did a pretty good job speaking English - it has clearly improved over the years.

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well yeah, mallepa is mostly chinese ppl as sho and his brother are japanese immigrants
that's why at other times like the drug dealer's sho's brother owes money to get really pissed off when he speaks in japanese and they tell him to speak to them in cantonese

Show me the Holt!

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