If you’ve ever spoken with a Japanese person at length, you may have noticed them making strange “agreeing noises” while you were talking. It’s an interesting aspect of the Japanese language called aizuchi, basically verbal sounds that a person will make to show they’re listening attentively and affirming their agreement with what the other person is saying. In Japanese, I could be explaining something that happened to me, and the person I’m speaking to would say things like eeh (yes), mah (well), so (that’s true), and ne (a general word of agreement). It sounds quite strange to native English speakers, but in Japanese these words are necessary for communication to flow smoothly, and if you don’t make them properly the other person is likely to stop and ask you what’s wrong. When I heard the sad news of the passing of Carl Macek, I decided to hit YouTube for some old Robotech episodes just for old time’s sake. (Happily, speaking Japanese means I don’t need to watch English-dubbed anime that much.) I was surprised to notice that the English dubbed dialogue, which often includes strange gasps and exclamations that are absent from Japanese original (perhaps the American voice actors get paid per verbal utterance?), sounded very much like the social “agreeing sounds” used in spoken Japanese.
Wha? English-dubbed anime contains some strange sounds, uh-huh!
