Do you sing England 很英格蘭的曲風

一位朋友介紹我這支日本樂團 The Fin。他們是一支三人樂團，唱著英文歌毫無日本口音，音樂風格也很英國。若不為意，閣下或者誤以為他們是求學時代在英國或愛爾蘭長大的日裔青年。

若少年時期就在非英語系國家長大，想要培養這個風格就必須營造一個很英格蘭的生活環境。從早上醒來直至晚間就寢的時間，感官功能盡可能接觸所有英語元素：英國廣播公司BBC節目、澳洲ABC電台、美國的吉米法倫 (Jimmy Fallon) 和其他清談節目。多接觸說美式或英式英語的朋友，其實在臺北還蠻多的。另外，多閱讀英文書報亦可以讓英語風格更加根深蒂固。

有了這些充份因素再學好英國或澳洲口音與發音，這整個培養英語風格的工程可說是相當完善了。說著說著，我也希望自己唱歌很英格蘭。

A friend of mine introduced me this Japanese band The Fin, a three-piece band which sings English songs. Surprisingly, without that you-know-how-it-sounds-like type of Japanese English accent. Their style is very England – to the extent that you might have thought them to be Japanese kids raised in the UK and Ireland since school-going years.

For one to nurture such a style when during your formative years you have been living in non-English speaking country, the only way is to make your environment as English as possible. From the moment you are awake until you go to bed, you get your senses exposed to everything English – BBC programmes of the UK, ABC Radio of Australia, Jimmy Fallon’s and many more talk shows from United States. Get yourself surrounded by people who speak US or UK English – I met many of them in Taipei. To let your Englishness hardwired into your blood, read English books and newspapers ferociously.

With these elements well prepared, learn British or Australian pronunciation and the process of Englishness could become comprehensive. When I achieve better Englishness, I too want to sing England.