How different languages work in Yuri!!! On Ice
Other than being endearingly heartwarming and setting my OTP feels ablaze, one of the best parts about this scene (as another post points out) is that Victor has no idea what Yuri said.
ThereāsĀ confusion among fandom regarding whether or not Victor knows Japanese and what his primary communication language is.Ā So on Twitter this morning I shot off a few tweets about how languages are handled in YoI and Iām coming here to explain myself more fully.Ā
Since episode 2, Iāve been completely in love with the voice direction given to Suwabe-san that helps demonstrate Victorās foreign-ness via auditory cues. Of course, itās not going to be readily apparent to non-Japanese speakers, but it definitely stands out to the native speaking audience.Ā
Basically, whenever Victor isĀ āspeaking Japanese,ā his speech is foreigner-accented. His pronunciation is off in places and the rhythm isnāt that of a native or solidly fluent japanese speaker. The sentences are a bit less complex as well. My favorite example of this is from episode 3, when he was in full gaijin mode lol.
Anyway, when Victor is speaking a language that heās fluent in (likely English with Yuri Katsuki or Russian with Yuri Plisetsky), Suwabe-san drops theĀ āforeigner-accentā and delivers the lines fluidly.Ā
The best example of the ālanguage switchā, perhaps, is in episode 4 when Yuri calls Coach Celestino. Celestino also has a foreigner-accent when speaking to Yuri at first, but then when Victor gets on the phone Celestinoās accent drops and he too speaks fluidly.Ā
So, an Italian-American and a Russian speaking to each otherā¦? English is 99.9% likely to be their common language.Ā
And just to clarify, thereās no continuity errorĀ regarding language in the scenes from episode 2 when Victor goes to Minako-sensei and the Nishigoris to get more information about Yuri. He has no foreigner accent in these scenes as well, so heās speaking in a language heās fluent in. But we know now that Yuko-chan speaks English fluently and itās likely that Minako-sensei does too since she had an international ballet career.Ā
When Victor speaks Japanese he sounds like a foreigner and native/fluent Japanese speakers will pick up on that change.
Victor and Yuri are communicating with each other in English. (Smooth, complex conversation with no accenting.)
Victor maybe has rudimentary Japanese skills, but not enough for him to understand or participate in complex discussions. (Example: ep 4, when he has to ask Yuri what everyone is talking about.)
Every person Victor has had an in-depth conversation with so far has good English skills.Ā
And an injection from realityā most high level international athletes use English as a commonality language anyway.Ā
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