Do the Turtles know Japanese?

[Logan]

This is something that's been nagging me for the past few weeks and I've been hesitant to start a thread on it, but I decided to go ahead and do it.

It seems reasonable to assume, being ninja, that they would be familiar with language. Especially when you consider that Splinter came from Japan. But (to my knowledge) it's never really been addressed. I think it would be kind of cool if they spoke Japanese at home, while English when they're just hanging out or speaking to those unfamiliar with the language.

[ssjup81]

I wondered this when older. For the old toon show, they joked about how you had all these Japanese characters speaking English. Thank you Raph.

But that aside, seems they would know something or Splinter (Yoshi for the OT/Archie series) would've taught them something or used certain phrases with them. In the Archie comics when they had that arc where they traveled to Japan, none of the turtles seemed to speak Japanese or even reference it. I don't even think Splinter did. They lucked out and ended up around English speakers (like the dreadful movie 3).

[pannoni1]

Except for a few crossover words such as Sushi, Clan, and Ninjitsu, I honestly don't see the turtles, except for perhaps Leonardo knowing Japanese. It is more important to communicate with the vernacular since the turtles aren't in Japan for the most part. Still, it is important for the turtles to understand what Splinter has been through while he was in Japan in order to simply be a Ninja Master. Now Leonardo may enjoying reading Japanese books and may know some of it when he's talking to Japanese, and perhaps Donatello in order to understand how the Japanese language works, but Raphael and especially Michelangelo just don't see a purpose for communicating in Japanese as necessary unless is Splinter disciplines them.

[Leonardo Mystic]

The 4Kids' series throughout was peppered with Japanese phrases and words, including Asian-inspired music for Splinter's and Saki's themes and others used in Usagi's episodes, the Ancient One and much of the Ninja Tribunal season.

I do believe all the turtles and Splinter can speak Japanese, but the ones who use it most would be Splinter, of course, and Leonardo. Don too probably, but to a lesser degree. Raph and Mikey, unless Splinter addressed them in Japanese, would rarely speak it.

[Kendamu]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Turtles knew Japanese in that, "I took a semester in college," sense. They know a little bit and could probably get around were they normal people, but they couldn't have casual conversations with people outside of a few very limited subjects.

[BubblyShell22]

Yes, I would think they'd know Japanese to some extent. Perhaps Splinter/Yoshi taught then when they were younger, and they just learned it then. But as they grew older, they decided not to use it, except for Leo who would probably use it more often than the others.

[HotJuicyBurgers]

If we are talking about the IDW turtles I would think yes. I mean, it makes less sense for them to even know english in this case.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Splinter should teach them becoming billunguial from early years.

[Drose18]

In one episode of 2k3 The ancient one said

Leonardo San Remember your japanese studys what does tengu mean?

Or something like that.

[Mr.Turtle]

i think leo and don do but not raph or mikey for sure.

[Machias Banshee]

Ooh, I like this question...

My personal thought was that if we use the Mutation version where they actually 'grew up' (Mirage and 2K3), Splinter (previously a pet rat) could have demonstrated a sort of basic Japanese, maybe mixed in with some animalistic body postures, churrs, and various growls and whatnot... kind of a stunted Japanese.

As they aged, Splinter would recall and teach them more proper Japanese, and the boys would also learn English as they became exposed to more human culture, tv, reading materials. Then they would be bilingual by learning from each other. And as teenagers now, I imagine they speak mostly English, except for certain situations with Splinter (training, private talks, catching hell for whatever reason).

Now, if you go the other route, say... Old toon. Splinter's formerly Yoshi, and the turtles become teenagers immediately. Splinter will know Japanese, and teach some to the turtles, but their knowledge is going to be somewhat basic. The older you get, the harder it is to learn...

Yet if you go Archies, where Splinter was Human AND the boys grew up, it'll be more like the Mirage theory, but with more refined Japanese language.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by pannoni1

Except for a few crossover words such as... Clan... I honestly don't see the turtles... knowing Japanese.

Learn something new everyday. "Clan" is a Japanese word.

[Sage Ninja]

Originally Posted by Machias Banshee

Now, if you go the other route, say... Old toon. Splinter's formerly Yoshi, and the turtles become teenagers immediately.

where do you get this from? With the exception of the very first episode that shows them mutating (which I chalk uip to an animation direction error), there is evidence though out the series that support that the turtles had childhoods and grew up into teenagers. Off the top of my head, the first Mondo Gecko episode implies that years past between the turtles mutation and the turtles present age.

[Machias Banshee]

In my use of 'immediately', I guess I should clarify that it may have been a couple years since the mutation, not a full 15, 16 years... I honestly never had that image that there was Any kind of 'youth' for the OT turtles.

[Cryomancer]

The root question is probably really if Splinter knew English. Assuming they grow up in the US together, it's quite likely that Splinter taught them Japanese and they then learned English together. That'd be a neat angle to work in a future version.

It may or may not be relevant to the conversation that the Japanese TMNT manga was full of Japanese stereotypes and caricatures, despite being made by a Japanese person for the Japanese market. Most notoriously: http://puu.sh/1cdE (don't click if you are going to be offended by this sort of thing)

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

As was mentioned before, in the OT the Turtles make comments about Japanese people speaking English (Usagi Yojimbo being one example), and in the "Goodbye Lotus Blossom" episode they ask why an ancient Japanese is speaking English, and the reply is that they couldn't afford subtitles. So I get the impression they would know Japanese. Why shouldn't they when their sensei and their nemesis both do?

[Stingray69]

I would have to say yes, I can see splinter teaching them it.

[ssjup81]

Originally Posted by Machias Banshee

In my use of 'immediately', I guess I should clarify that it may have been a couple years since the mutation, not a full 15, 16 years... I honestly never had that image that there was Any kind of 'youth' for the OT turtles.

They probably did what they did in the first episode to just show how the mutation worked. I was always under the impression that they would've had "childhoods", especially given that they had birthday eps. They even complained that Raph seemed to act nastier and grumpier on his birthday every year it comes up.

[Sage Ninja]

Originally Posted by ssjup81

They probably did what they did in the first episode to just show how the mutation worked. I was always under the impression that they would've had "childhoods", especially given that they had birthday eps. They even complained that Raph seemed to act nastier and grumpier on his birthday every year it comes up.

thankyou. I remember this as well.

[Galactus]

I think only Raphael in Image was ever shown to speak Japanese with any expertise and even then I could be remembering that wrong.

Originally Posted by ssjup81

They probably did what they did in the first episode to just show how the mutation worked. I was always under the impression that they would've had "childhoods", especially given that they had birthday eps. They even complained that Raph seemed to act nastier and grumpier on his birthday every year it comes up.

That would work if ever other instance of animals mutating in the series didn't show it to be instantaneous. Slash never had a childhood or Groundchuck and Dirtbag or Tokka and Rahzar.