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Funny theory from Japanese TV show: English pronunciation is the cause of Coronavirus spread?!

By LikeJapan Editorial Team / 05/26/2020

The Coronavirus pandemic is big news for everyone in 2020. Specialists have been continuously looking for ways to contain the spread of the virus and vaccine testing. However, some countries seem to have a lower number of infections. Let’s take a look at the figure below:

Ranking Country Total Cases Total Deaths Total Population
1 USA 1,686,436 99,300 330,806,424
5 UK 259,559 36,793 67,850,075
40 Japan 16,550 820 126,513,796

Last updated: May 25, 2020, 10:07 GMT© Copyright Worldometers.info – All rights reserved –

It is clearly shown that even Japan has a larger population of the UK and the US, its total number of infection cases and deaths are much lower than the other two countries. Some may claim that Japan has less extensive testings, therefore, the reported number is lower. But the remarkable difference between Japan and the two English-speaking countries raised concerns about some professionals.

Japanese may be the key of the slower spread of infections ?

Bloomberg reporter Kurumi Mori recently shared a short video of a Japanese talk and news show named “ひるおび！” on Twitter, with the caption “A theory on why Japan was able to contain the coronavirus outbreak…according to TBS”.

In the video, you can see a Japanese woman is experimenting with a piece of paper clipped in front of her face. First, she speaks in Japanese, saying “これはペンです。（Kore wa pen desu）”, which means “This is a pen.” The paper sways moderately in front of her as she speaks. Afterward, she says “This is a pen” in English. It was very obvious that the paper waves were violently when she says the word “pen”.

The Japanese lady who was in charge of the pronunciation test is a woman who had lived in the US for nine years. This decision seems to be trying to minimize the bias on native and non-native speakers.

Photo from https://twitter.com/iRuthoe/status/1263328334261305344?s=20

The professor from Otsuma Women’s University claims that English pronunciation has more aspiration than Japanese, such as word begins with P, T or K. Therefore, the amount of breath will expel further and more violently when someone speaks English. Although the show was trying to convince the viewers how strongly the same word is being emphasized within a sentence when speaking English would cause a drastic blow, native English speakers and advanced English learners seem to disagree.

Photo from https://twitter.com/iRuthoe/status/1263328334261305344?s=20

 

English speakers replied: this theory is ridiculous

This theory immediately catches the English speaker’s eye. Some say the word “ペン(pen)” in Japanese is actually also a loan word, and it announced almost the same way as it is in English. The demonstration of the lady in the show was very unnatural, comparing to a normal, daily pronunciation of a high-level English speaker. The sarcastic demonstration from various Twitter users seems to have proven their point.

 

Perhaps…one pen is not enough to prove a point

In the show, the presenter over-reacts by saying “Sugoi! (Amazing in Japanese), while a professional doctor comments, “flu and mycoplasma can also be transmitted by droplets, but I don’t know if it is the reason why Japanese is less easy to get infected.” Well, this cut-out comment seems to be fair enough. Perhaps it is more reasonable to compare the culture willingness to wear masks, lockdown policies and the closing of schools, rather than simply the pronunciation of languages. Take a good laugh in a difficult time, maybe someday, we will be convinced by another interesting theory.

 

LikeJapan Editorial Team

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