First, i was not sure where to put that question so i've created a new topic for it.
So please i ask the admins or/and moderators to put it at the right place if i've putted it in the wrong place.

By looking at my signature of Nao on my package of PinkBeatz Album, one question popped in my mind.

How many and who in Cover Girls or/and in BeForU to know how to speak english and not just 3-4 words but really speak it?

My personal guess is that Nao speak english since she seem to be a business wowen and the fact that her english writing is very clean and neat and i think that Aya too know how to speak english since of her English message for her international fan is well written and that part in her MySpace is in english.

As for Alice i think of her to seem to be a little nerdy enough to know how to speak english.

And for the members of BeForU well i'm not sure at all, maybe Riyu can speak english since she got lot a song in english.

N.B. I appologise in advance if the words "nerdy" could be seen as negative for others. For me "nerdy" means who love books and learn everything and who very intelligent.

oh, nerdy isn't seen as being offensive that much anymore. Anyway, that would be rather nice to know. yeah, it does seem that Nao knows english , and Aya as well. Though from a early post, (i don't remember where it was posted) someone made a comment about Riyu knowing no english.

I think Riyu might know some Engrish since she uses some in songs.  It doesn't seem like she's fluent though.


"Everyday Everywheya!" "So we run towards sunny days!"

I also think Nao can speak a bit of English (Because of the packaging on mine too). But as for AYA, I don't really think so. Even though she wrote that message, that might have been a translation that Nao provided because the English doesn't seem to flow very well.

If I'm not mistaken, Japanese students should be required to take English classes, so to debunk any misconceptions, I'm sure all of them know well more than 3-4 words and all of them should at least know how to write and read somewhat.  But yeah, not many people use it plus I heard they teach it incorrectly.

Anyway, of the 3 Cover Girls, the only person I can recall using any English is in AYA's message to the world.  Of course, I don't know if she had any help from others.  I do expect Nao and Alice to know just as much though.

As for Riyu, the joke is that she can't speak or sing English well at all.  I'm sure she knows at least something while writing all those English lyrics (talking about a "cloud in a shape of a whale" is still English).

(yes off topic) but i read on a website that it was noria that wrote the lyrics to that song that you are talking about, and its (if i remeber right) "the shape of our way". yeah, still doesn't make much sence.

(also, are you talking about RX3 english?)

Yeah, I was.  Maybe the website you read that information from got its info from the Get set Go!! single wikipedia page, which actually disagrees with what it said in the actual booklet.  Also, the lyrics in the booklet say (with a cute typo) "look for the cloudin a shape of a whale."

Out off all the girls, I thought Miharu was the one with the best English in that song.  Noria's was the worst >.<

"Because you are glad, I am happy too, 
wonderful time to forget it completely!
Un, deux, trois, let's play together..." 


The first 10x I heard Silvia Drive I had no idea what she was saying...

Even though I know the lyrics, They're so poor I get confused >.> I still love the song though, I just sing a load of jibberish to it xD

I had to look at Anime Lyric to realize it was in English, and the counting was in French.

Although this thread is about COVER GIRLS, I will mention that Silvia Drive always made me think Noria was pretty good at English. I mean, the song is mostly coherent, and somewhat intelligible.

Anyway. AYA seems to be pretty competent at English. Not only because of her message to the world on MySpace, but back on the old BeForU blogs, didn't Miharu's blog at some point have an English message to a Hong Kong fan? I could be misremembering, does anyone know what I'm talking about?

I'm not sure if Nao's signature alone says anything about her English skills. Even if she'd never taken an English class, it's been common for Japanese students to learn romaji since after WWII. Like nil said, I'm pretty sure most/maybe all? Japanese students study some English, but that doesn't mean they all remember any of it once they get out of school.

The translation of all English Riyu/BeForU songs was done by Frances Maya, so yeah, I don't know about that. :p And I still remember the old adage that "Riyu Kosaka is to the English language as tentacles are to virgin school girls" though she has made progress from... Baby's Tears, haha.

I know that a lot of people, at least people who are younger than 40 are proficient in English to some degree - meaning that they know how to have a conversation with a ten year old. English is seen as "modern" and "cool" by a lot of people, so most Japanese people will know some bit about it - and since they're bombarded with English words everyday, it's not like they forget it completely all together. I mean, I know a few people who know English from TV shows (*coughkorskknowstheworddimwitfromthesimpsonscough*) and movies and songs (let's not forget how popular people like Utada Hikaru and Itou Yuna are, and loads of pop songs have English words in them, plus English language artists are quite popular). I guess it's slightly harder to understand if English is your first language, because of the penetration of English in the world today, it's hard to imagine someone who doesn't know it.

When mailing, an English name is required to send packages. Like, when I sent a package in Japan, I had to sign the Japanese form in kanji+furigana but on the customs form I had to sign it in English. So English is a functioning language in Japan, albeit a bit minimally. 

I think AYA may be the only one that can speak English. She's the only that seems to have used it well.

As for learning English in Japanese schools, I believe it's required from a certain grade level. Some Japanese students may be weaker at the language than others, so they suck at it. Another problem is the fact that they probably never have a reason to use the English that they've learned, so they forget it. I also remember reading somewhere that if a student was of mixed ancestry(Let's use half-American, half-Japanese!), they aren't allowed to take the English exam. In the case of Kaera Kimura, her father is English, but she no longer knows how to speak English, while Anna Tsuchiya's father is Russian-American, but she doesn't speak English well. It just seems to be all about how often one uses the languages they learn.

I think Nao and Aya both likely speak English, to some extent. Maybe not fluently, but enough for conversation or business perhaps. Also, I do think that by now Riyu is likely near fluent, I mean, enough of her songs have been sung in English, she must know what  they say by now, ahaha.

I remember this too. There was a discussion about whether she wrote it herself or had help. I remember it being grammatically correct but sounding a bit like a kid.