On "Cheers" and "Yes"

[faded_lace]

Okay, so, Ryoma has these two common responses to his teammates which sound an awful lot like "chiisu" and "uisu" (the u is silent on the end of both but I'm writing them this way for the sake of accepted Japanese romanization.) The "chiisu" one is subtitled as "cheers," and sounds like it, so I'm willing to accept this. The "uisu" one is subtitled multiple different things, but general denotes understanding (it seems to often replace either "sou" or "hai"); something that an English-speaker might reply "yes" to, so my best guess is that it's "yes" (It sounds similar to Kabaji's constant "usu" which, I believe, is also "yes," considering it's his response to Atobe's constant "na, Kabaji?").

So then. Why does Ryoma say "cheers" and "yes" so much? My best guess is that it's because he's been in America (IN AMERICA) and is basically fluent in English (it cracks me up that everyone in his English class is like "Y R U SO GUD @ ENGLISH???" since they know he's been in the US...) So, I guess, it's normal that Americans say "cheers" instead of like, "hello" or "goodbye" on a regular basis? idk Ryoma's hip slang is really questionable, but we can pretend. XD;;

My question: As a somewhat-Japanese-knowing America and English speaker, I'm pretty sure I would not have been able to guess that "chiisu" was "cheers" without being told, and it's only my best guess that "uisu" is "yes." HOW DID RYOMA SURVIVE IN THE US IF HIS ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION SUCKS ASS?!

...

In actual news about my life, we rented Clash of the Titans. I am extremely excited to watch. XD;;

[EDIT] Choutarou was born on Valentines Day. Awwwwww.

Comments

[yomimashou.livejournal.com]

Maybe if he was in this hypothetical America where people say "cheers" all the time, it made sense to everyone in context despite his pronunciation. Or something. XD;;; It's probably indicative that his pronunciation in general sucks, though, so I have no idea. XD;;

[faded-lace.livejournal.com]

XD;;; Yeah, I think his seiyuu basically just suck at English. XD;;