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You can probably tell how much I enjoyed making this video. Levi is definitely one of my favourite male anime characters. And despite the fact that none of the characters is Japanese, the ways they speak Japanese adds nuances to this anime. So if you want to learn Japanese with me, I can send you some Japanese lessons where I teach you the kind of Japanese that Japanese people actually speak. Click here and subscribe bit.ly/3bmpeF7
I wonder, you may know D from "vampire hunter D" with his personnality i think he could be the type that use keigo well at least in bloodlust i don't remember hearing him using desu or masu but maybe the other keigo words! i hope you can answer my question or if any other could , thank! D is my favorite male character ( primura from shuffle is my favorite female and i think the 2 ( or at least primura will be called bye the otaku "culture" a kûdere))!
I also like Levi a lot but for a different reason the voice actor just happens to have a lot of nice Charakters from a lot of my fav shows he plays a role
I mean, Levi had basically no formal education, so I think him speaking roughly makes sense. The only real japanese speaker her learned was from bars and Kenny... And you know how that worked out.
I mean, education has nothing to do with language abilities. Every human no matter how stupid can learn. Some people just slur their speech a bit more. School teaches arbitrary rules in an attempt to standardize language across countries. However in the small enclose of the walls, you can basically guarentee that everyone will understand everyone else with or without school. Random thoughts from a linguistics major.
@@xoreign I think what he's moreso trying to say is his way of speaking is because he was talking to ruffians and not proper cohorts for most of his youth
@@ArtaxerxesVI you just don't respect it. Atleast he's trying his hard to imitate it and that's a talent in itself. Voice acting is hard just like acting in a movie, you just find it cringey because you're dumb.
When you explained how Sasha speaks, I finally understood what people meant when telling her "why do you speak so politely?". Except those who speak Japanese, everyone else had trouble understanding what that meant, but now I know, so thank you.
I would assume she talks like this because of her background. Since she grew up in the poor farming area she was looked down upon I would assume so she was taught to always talk politely to everyone. IMO it kinda makes sense but I feel like that kinda stuff is more fitting of an Eldian in Marley.
In Spanish she used the formal version of "you" (usted/ustedes) instead of the colloquial ones (tú/vosotros) so they more or less managed to convey the situation. I wonder what they did for the American Spanish version since they use the formal version a lot more.
@@tommyvercetti9434 there isn't really anything like that in English except for saying like please, thank you, sir, ma'am not much like usted. Most of the time formality can kinda be told by the tone of voice (at least where I'm from) most of the time people speak with a higher pitched voice (mostly females) or just speak more clearly (men and women).
As briefly mentioned in this video, the human beyblade Levi is from the underground, where respect is earned by actions, not age or status, which is probably why he speaks in a crude manner, while others follow normal societal norms
I’m Japanese and I’d feel awkward in a different way😖 My friend who was a Japanese learner would often use such words borrowed from anime and I felt like running away because only some low teens in 中二病(chuunibyou )would act like anime characters in real life in Japan
At Levi OVA was a scene, who Levi should say his own name, and he says "Levi da" and everyone was shocked because it was a military recruitment, and he used a unformally way to speak. I think is part of his personality not speaking polite.
I just watched the ova before seeing this vid, and in this scene I thought: “I understand that his acting disrespectful, but I think I’m missing something that makes this even more shocking and that explains this reaction” now I finally understand, and just makes Levi more perfect
Well he was a member of a thug gang so... it's no wonder he'd speak like that + where he lived priorly with his gang (underground city) filled with poor people, it's bound to be expected
AH! Now, it makes sense. It reminds me of the scenes about sasha. More than once, she was asked why she was speaking so ‘politely’ and I kept wondering if they were referring to her accent, or was it something I was missing in what she was saying.
Thanks for explaining! Did Furlan/Isabel also speak disrespectfully? It felt like Levi specifically was reacted to, but I figured it was because Levi said the least/didn't try to say more than his name.
I think Sasha stops speaking keigo after she saves that girl from the titan. She was trying to cover up her accent around her classmates because she didn't wanna be seen as a "hick".
@@viharsarok in Japanese, dialects will use different conjugation, or sometimes even different words. For example, instead of saying “ja nai” which is considered ‘normal,’ a kansai dialect speaker might say “yan.” But keigo is used in the same way by all dialects (which in this case is “dewa/ja arimasen”)
@@onred_ Ok, so there is less dialectal variation in keigo. Thanks for the explanation. This must be very hard/impossible to convey in other languages because for example, Hungarian also has an equivalent of keigo, but it varies just as much as informal speec across dialects so it can't be used to cover up an accent.
It's so weird hearing Kamiya Hiroshi speaking in a super impolite way when Natsume (another character by the same voice actor) speaks suuuper politely. AHHH.
I love Aot, and the fact that I can't catch those little details because I don't know japanese, kind of makes me mad now that I know... I'm gonna have to fully learn japanese and re-watch this anime a for the 10th time
In the Philippines, we also have a polite way of talking, by adding "po" and "opo" when talking to strangers, elders, or anyone who's older or of importance. You could say that it's similar to Keigo, "po" and "opo" do not have a direct translation in English. It's just used to convey politeness. Edit: we are taught by our parents/elders to be polite to other people
To add something, prolly irrelevant. I've forego speaking with 'po' and 'opo'. Personally, I feel it's over the top. It also depends on culture, some regions in the country don't use the terms. I'm born in a region that uses them but raised in another region that doesn't. My parents are alright with it. One day, they told me I only use 'po' and 'opo' when my feelings mean the opposite. No matter how softly, when I say 'po' and 'opo', they know something went too far and I am upset. Knowing this, when I went back to my birthplace, hearing everyone say 'po' and 'opo' was a weird experience, constantly on my toes if I offended them or something. So, in regions where 'po' and 'opo' aren't used, they could take on sarcastic or masking functions? What do you think? Anyway, I just thought that'd be an interesting speaking trait if one were to make a Filipino character
You know that the dubber did such a great job when you can feel Levi's rough speech without having a single clue about that Japanese language trait. I am a translator, but I translate from English into Portuguese. I never knew about this trait in Japanese, but right off the bat, I am pretty sure it is impossible to translate. At least into languages from different families. Other languages do have formal ways of speaking, but that is often expressed through different vocabulary, using the prescriptive grammar forms and using "unusual" verb conjugations instead of suffixes. Neither English nor Portuguese has a definite suffix for politeness, for example.
Actually since i've beel learning Japanese for like 5 months i was honestly very surprised by the fact that people in attack on titan used keigo ! It sounded very weird because it's kinda unusual for anime ! The way Levi talks is your basic Shonen anime hot dude (: i've been rewatching the episodes with no subs and i can say that knowing the language makes understanding the characters much better ! For example, the subs for that Sasha scene were something like *why do you speak politely/nicely with the cadets* and i didn't understand what did she mean because speaking politely is great and it had nothing to do with her accent ! But when i rewatched it and understood she meant the keigo it sounds much more reasonable
He uses the word 匹 ("hiki"). In Japanese and other languages, objects are numbered with special Count Words. Instead of "2 sticks" you have to say "2 _rod_ sticks", where _"rod"_ is also the Count Word for pencils, baseball bats, and other rod-shaped things. There's a Count Word for almost every 'type' of object. When Eren talks about titans, he uses the Count Word for insects, lizards and other small animals. He's basically calling them "vermin". EDIT: So apparently it's common to use 匹 for _any_ evil fantasy monster (e.g. goblins, ogres, orcs) so maybe Eren isn't saying anything unusual (source: www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-counter-hiki/) I don't know Japanese, so please correct me if you do.
Oh, that's an awesome one! Especially as the voice actor uses some pretty noticeable shifts and variations in pitch, tone, etc. And Gojou is one of the coolest characters in an already awesome show!
I would actually love to see a video like this for Mikasa, I don't know any japanese but I've heard that she speaks in a formal way most of the time, even in tense situations. I'd love to hear what you have to say!
I loved this video. Knowing the implications of Levi's tone, slang and word choice helped me appreciate this character that rubbed me the wrong way throughout the anime/manga. I love your impression too.
Oi, I'm so in love this kind of content. I used to download japanese sub for the anime I watch and learn japanese by that but I was busy lately. Your video helps alot.
The best levi trash talk is when he tells nile: "Nile, is your brain as lacking as your beard?" HAHA completely destroyed the guy with a couple words, i would have left the place crying
Hi! I really like your videos about how characters speak Japanese, I find it really cool to understand more deeply and it is some tools western people can use to enjoy animes!! When you talk about "realistic ways to talk", I often think about an anime called Tsuki ga kirei, do you know it? It is a gentle love story, known to be really realistic (and it actually is!). I was wondering if you could maybe talk about it, to explore how realistic this anime is (and also because it is one of my favorite of course :p).
You can speak politely in Western languages too..! (Like when Eren said "You're wrong!"), they could have translated it as: "Wrong!! I mean... You're mistaken..." Because "making a mistake" has less fault than being "completely wrong," it sounds less like you're blaming someone when instead you're correcting them. (Especially when speaking to someone of authority).
I actually watched Noragami before watching AOT so everytime Levi speaks, a part of me always thinks of Yato. Not that there is any problem with that...
now that I watch anime without subtitles (untranslated) it makes it especially hard for me to wrap my head around settings where they are supposed to be in places outside of Japan since Japanese is so full of cultural characteristics that don't really carry over to other contexts (especially western settings). Like it really throws me off when there are scenes in 宇宙兄弟 where the characters are in the US and they're speaking with Americans. In anime where there are western settings I'm always wondering if characters are all speaking fluent Japanese since they are using different levels of 丁寧語 and 口語, using Japanese 諺 and 慣用語, and all of the mannerisms and cultural affectations of Japan like nervous head-scratching, 相槌, and so on (especially since there are times where characters actually speak in English). Whenever I watch anime I just get the impression that the entire world has become Japanese.
