Languages do borrow words from other languages, but this is not the phenomenon we see that OP is referencing. They are not talking about Japanese words borrowed from English. They mean entire choruses or strings of lyrics which are just put forth rendered in English (think “Let’s Fighting Love.” etc. Myriad examples of JPOP in particular doing this can be found in seconds.) Yes, I know you can point out a number of American songs which do this. You’re very smart, but if you actually look at the numbers, non-anglosphere artists do this much more with English than the other way round.

In addition, the borrowing of words or the use of phrases from other languages by speakers of said languages does not change the place of a language in the family tree of languages. Japanese is not related to Chinese, despite more than 40% of its vocabulary being borrowed from Chinese.

English is firmly a Germanic language when examined from any real linguistic standpoint and not just what some idiot said on Tumblr 15 years ago when they realized English has some borrowed French vocabulary (which… spoiler alert: so do all of the other Germanic languages). I also find it interesting that the same pseudo-intellectuals who insist this would never insist that French, Italian or Spanish were not truly Romance languages, despite the massive borrowings into these languages of Germanic vocabulary through Gothic and Frankish which occurred in late antiquity and the early Middle Ages.

Look at the most basic and familiar registers of a language as far as vocabulary goes, look at grammar and syntax, phonology, etc. when classifying a language. The existence of borrowed vocbulary doesn’t change this any more than wearing a kimono or drinking green tea would make me “part Japanese.”

To answer the question: it is used as a virtue signal because English is the prestige languge of global capitalism right now. This is the same reason why self-hating anglophones think of it what they do: global capitalism treats it as a default setting (at least the most sterile, corporate-approved registers of the language, anyway.) Instead of a rich linguistic heritage, they see it the same way a fish sees water or we see the air.

You know how many French words/phrases I hear in English songs? Coup de x, raison d’être, déjà vu, etc

Umm… don’t plenty of English language songs do this too?

Not just songs, but all the other languages showing up in English comes up conversationally too! When you did something wrong, there’s the “mea culpa”. Or in the courts, there are tons of Latin phrases like “nolo contendre”. I’ve had “perritos calientes” (hot dogs, literally hot puppies) in Spain, but never have I had a “giant cheese” (quesadilla) or “little donkey” (burrito) in the states. And we just borrow other phrases as-is like “Je ne sais quoi” and schadenfreude.

The english language literally steals words from other languages and adopts them.

Macabre Ennui Taco Plaza Café Ballet Cuisine Restaurant Elite Genre Police Patio Rodeo Canyon Guitar Tomato Mosquito Hamburger Wanderlust Angst Pizza Pasta Piano Opera Balcony Volcano Algebra

I can keep going but I think you get the point. Some english songs do throw in other languages at times too.

Many Asian songs, especially Japanese and Korean will often include english because they are all taught english in school and english is used in the business world. When visiting Korea and Japan, in major cities, a large amount of signage will include english to aid tourists.

In Dutch we have a term called “borrowed words”, those are words we stole from a different language.

For example “Portefeuille” is a Dutch word, but it originate from the French. Another example is “computer”, we do not have/use a Dutch variant.

Using these words in a song will sound like your described. But it’s actually still Dutch

It’s almost always bigger languages.

Karel nese asi čaj by Jiří Korn and Vilém Čok

This Czechoslovak song is mostly in Czech but also features number sequences from (in order of appearance): German, French, Italian, English, Czech. (The younger singer, Vilém Čok, was not explicitly anti-Communist but the censor ruined his career anyway because this song was “too weird”, and it didn’t recover except for the 1-minute intros to Ducktales and Chip’n’Dale he sang in 1990. That was recently ruled illegal even by 80s standards but the censor got a slap on the wrist. Čok was audibly laughing at the verdict because there was little else he could do.)

Another non-English ones that come to mind are 1980s parodies of the countless Italian hits from back then (Sarà perché ti amo, Made in Italy, Ti amo, L’italiano etc.) by Jaroslav Uhlíř and Karel Šíp with some self-referential humor. I think that’s why my aunt, a language teacher, learned Italian first and only got good at English after failing to find a job in the 00s.

But otherwise, the foreign-language content people mostly consume is English, and the songs reflect that. (Even imported words − do you think „fajn“ (pronounced fine) as seen in „One, two, three, všechno, co je fajn, se smí“ (a line from the aforementioned song) is from German fein meaning “delicate”?)

laughs in sigaretta

Multilanguage songs are the best thing. It’s part of artistic expression, and a reminder to ourselves that at some point, all humans came from a different place.

Not just songs. F***ing english “sprinkles” are everywhere and it’s annoying beyond words. “Myllärin by Helsingin mylly”. 11 cases out of 10 it sounds imbecile, not cool.

If you listen to Gothic, Medieval, or Metal music, they mix different languages all the time. Finnish and English. Italian and French. And anything can be mixed with Latin. It’s quite normal.

Bismillah, No!

Maybe English speaking people with tattoos of Chinese letters is the equivalent?

Styx would like a word.

That strongly depends on culture. In poland this doesn’t happen at all. On the other side, in Japanese works I’ve seen not only English words included, but completely fake languages (Nier Automata Ost) or pseudo languages faking Latin or English (Madoka Ost, Hellsing TV intro)

It’s not unheard of there to be English language tracks that drop in random French, Italian or Spanish words and phrases

It’s just regular cultural exposure to other languages ultimately. No rule says you need to stick to one language in a song, so some musicians throw in some stuff from other languages they’ve heard, because why not