English

Sorry if this question has already been answered elsewhere, but I don't think I've seen it around.

Does Daisuke speak any english, and if so, how well does he speak it?

Main reason I ask is because most interviews of his that I've seen have been in japanese, which I don't understand very well yet ( I am working on it however, I chose it as my foreign language class), and I don't think the american figure skating commentators have had an interview with him ( If they did it was quite some time ago), and also, I'm simply curious.

Hi, Shatterpoint. Daisuke spoke some English in the ESPN interviews from 2005's Skate America, last year's Grand Prix Final and NHK Trophy (his English sounded the best in the last interview in my opinion and he used good vocabulary here). It seems he understands a good amount of English as well. However I'm not sure how fluent he is in speaking it. For this you will have to ask the more expert/knowledgeable fans to confirm.

umdgirl0506 wrote:

Hi, Shatterpoint. Daisuke spoke some English in the ESPN interviews from 2005's Skate America, last year's Grand Prix Final and NHK Trophy (his English sounded the best in the last interview in my opinion and he used good vocabulary here). It seems he understands a good amount of English as well. However I'm not sure how fluent he is in speaking it. For this you will have to ask the more expert/knowledgeable fans to confirm.

Thanks! I haven't watched my dvd's of those competitions in forever... I'll definitely go check it out!

Thanks again.

Actually, I didn't speak English when I talked with Daisuke. So, I'm not sure how well does he speak it, however, he has to talk with his coach Morozov in English, even though he is a Russian.
I think his English is much better than he did at short interview of the "Skate America 2005".

Leode wrote:

Actually, I didn't speak English when I talked with Daisuke. So, I'm not sure how well does he speak it, however, he has to talk with his coach Morozov in English, even though he is a Russian.
I think his English is much better than he did at short interview of the "Skate America 2005".

Thank you.

I suppose since he has to speak english with Morozov his english has improved a lot. Poor Daisuke though, english is hard enough to learn, but practicing speaking and understanding it with someone with a Russian accent must make it much more difficult.

I suppose I'll have to see how well he speaks english sometime.

Hopefully next year Champions on Ice can get him to perform in America... that'd be awesome!

You're welcome about earlier Shatterpoint. Hopefully you've finished checking out those dvds.

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I suppose since he has to speak english with Morozov his english has improved a lot. Poor Daisuke though, english is hard enough to learn, but practicing speaking and understanding it with someone with a Russian accent must make it much more difficult.

He he, sometimes even I don't really understand what Morosov is saying in English.

However, I do think that Morosov would be the best person to ask about how fluent Daisuke really is in English. If only we could ask him.

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I suppose I'll have to see how well he speaks english sometime.

If you do see him, be sure to speak to him in English and hopefully he will reply back in English!

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Hopefully next year Champions on Ice can get him to perform in America... that'd be awesome!

I have been hoping for some time as well that he would join COI in America so that I could see him more easily (I am really greedy so being at Skate America was not enough for me and I really regret missing his short and exhibition programs the last time)! I don't know how possible this is though. We might just have to fly to Japan to see him sometime instead![i]

You're always welcome, Shatterpoint.

umdgirl0506 wrote:

If you do see him, be sure to speak to him in English and hopefully he will reply back in English!

Hahaha...big pressure for Daisuke!!

umdgirl0506 wrote:

I have been hoping for some time as well that he would join COI in America so that I could see him more easily (I am really greedy so being at Skate America was not enough for me and I really regret missing his short and exhibition programs the last time)! I don't know how possible this is though. We might just have to fly to Japan to see him sometime instead!

Yeah!! I'm always thinking about this. I would like him to join COI in US and Kurt's show in Canada. If he would do, I will fly to both countries.
umdgirl0506 and Shatterpoint, please come to Japan in Jan., you can see some Galas which Daisuke will join in "SOI".

By the way, I think that Daisuke is getting along with Morozov. At Christmas day last year, he went shopping and bought Christmas presents for Morozov and Utako even though they stopped Daisuke to go outside before National Championships, He he.

Hi Shatterpoint!
At the end of this video you can find Daisuke speaking in English... only few words...

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=CvlXoAJpuoQ&feature=PlayList&p=6160068EE0817934&index=62

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By the way, I think that Daisuke is getting along with Morozov. At Christmas day last year, he went shopping and bought Christmas presents for Morozov and Utako even though they stopped Daisuke to go outside before National Championships, He he.

Thanks Leode! I love read some curiosities about Daisuke!
Oh Daisuke! Evidently he really gets on well with them... I hope they didn't get angry for his going out without permission!!!

Aw, that's sweet of him.

Thanks guys, especially for the link Glorydave, it was awesome.

I can't seem to find my dvd's of NHK Trophy or Grand Prix Final for last year.

I'm really hoping I taped them and I just misplaced the dvd's, I'll definitely be searching for them!

And Leode, I'd be in Japan in a heartbeat to watch Daisuke if I could, but it's $6,000 just for me, my sister, and my mother to fly there, and that's not counting a hotel or enviteable shopping.

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umdgirl0506 and Shatterpoint, please come to Japan in Jan., you can see some Galas which Daisuke will join in "SOI".:

This is a good idea Leode. I think I will have to start saving money now just for this purpose (to see Daisuke in SOI, probably not this January but sometime in the future).

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By the way, I think that Daisuke is getting along with Morozov. At Christmas day last year, he went shopping and bought Christmas presents for Morozov and Utako even though they stopped Daisuke to go outside before National Championships, He he.:santa

Thanks for this info Leode! This is so cute and sweet- Daisuke buying presents for Morsosov and Utako. I remember I heard somewhere that Daisuke and Morosov even went to sing at the karaoke bar after he won silver at the world championships this year (is this right?)! What could they have sung together?

And thanks glorydave for the ESPN 2006 NHK Trophy video! This is one of the videos that I was thinking of in my post earlier. The commentator Paul Wylie's comments about Daisuke are really quite nice in this video.

And shatterpoint, you should start saving money like me so that we can make our dream of seeing Daisuke skate in Japan a reality. Hopefully you'll find your dvds soon! If I have time I will look on Youtube.com some more and see if there are any more videos of Daisuke speaking in English there (besides the one glorydave found).

I found this video on Youtube from seitatoyusei 　　seitatoyusei is the best channel for Dai-chan on youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6XMSvYlBeM&locale=en_US&persist_locale=1

Yumei wrote:

I found this video on Youtube from seitatoyusei 　　seitatoyusei is the best channel for Dai-chan on youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6XMSvYlBeM&locale=en_US&persist_locale=1

Thanks for the link!


umdgirl0506, yeah, I should save up, but it will be slow going because I don't have a job.

Thank you very much for the link, Yumei!

Hello everyone. This is umdgirl0506 but now I've changed my username to UMgal (shortened version of the original one) due to identity fraud concerns that I've been having. Hope I haven't confused you guys too much!

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umdgirl0506, yeah, I should save up, but it will be slow going because I don't have a job. :

Can your family help you out a bit with this shatterpoint?

Thanks a lot Yumei for letting us know about this video !

I love seitatoyusei's videos on Youtube (they're all about Daisuke, ha ha ha)! By the way, may I know is Leode seitatoyusei by any chance or perhaps seitatoyusei is another poster/member on this forum? It seems that seitatoyusei posted up the video of Daisuke speaking English at just the right time when we were discussing this topic. Thank you seitatoyusei if you read this!

My family doesn't have a ton of money and I'm a teenager with no job, just allowance.

Maybe eventually I'll have enough money though, hopefully. I really wanna see Japan and Daisuke skate on the same trip.

Hi UMgal and Shatterpoint!
But you will be able to see Dai-chan at Los Angels Worlds 2009!! Great!!

His English must have improved from Skate America 2005 as it's been 2 years and a lot can be learned in that amount of time =]

Hi, miyu. Yes, I will definitely be looking forward to Worlds 2009 in Los Angeles. Hopefully I can successfully get tickets and everything at that time. And Evgeni Plushenko might even be there (Daisuke's idol) so that will be a really incredible competition.

Maybe Daisuke will even come back to Skate America or Skate Canada (that's not too far from America right, ha ha) in the next few years. I'm trying to be positive.

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His English must have improved from Skate America 2005 as it's been 2 years and a lot can be learned in that amount of time =]

This is a very good point Momoko and I believe that it is true since Daisuke seems smart and I believe that he can achieve this.

I just saw the ESPN coverage for NHK and they showed Daisuke talking about his short program in near perfect English! He certainly has gained more vocab. and confidence since '05. I wish I would've been able to record it and upload it for you all.

swandie wrote:

I just saw the ESPN coverage for NHK and they showed Daisuke talking about his short program in near perfect English! He certainly has gained more vocab. and confidence since '05. I wish I would've been able to record it and upload it for you all.

Yes, I saw that on television. It was great! Short, but very sweet. His english was sounding pretty good.

I recorded it but I don't have a way to get it online for you all... I'm sure it'll make its way onto youtube sooner or later though.

Shatterpoint wrote:

... I'm sure it'll make its way onto youtube sooner or later though.

And then I can watch it again, and again, and again! I just love the way he talks!

Really?? Could you let us know what Daisuke said about SP in English?

Leode wrote:

Really?? Could you let us know what Daisuke said about SP in English?

Sure thing, I can rewatch it tonight and try to write it down so I can remember it and post it.

Swandie, I agree. I was SO happy to see they had a little fluff piece with him like they do with Lambiel so often. It's really nice to hear Daisuke speaking english. He looked rather nice too.

Hopefully he'll win GPF and we'll get to see another interview in english.

Wow, thanks, Shattepoint!

No problem Leode.

Here we go.

Daisuke: " Some people say my footwork is cool. But this season, I'm bringing the hip hop to the ice. I learn by watching and I stole a couple moves. I think it's cool. Check it out."

In between sentences they showed various clips of him skating, and doing the hand motions from hip hop swan lake while he was sitting.