Cindy Speaking Japanese Scene

About

Cindy Speaking Japanese Scene, also known as Scary Movie 4 "Hello, Herro" Scene, refers to a series of parodies and memes referencing a memorable scene in the 2006 comedy film Scary Movie 4 in which actress Anna Faris' character Cindy Campbell talks to a Japanese ghost boy using well-known Japanese trademarks, company names, martial art names and other words aligned with Japan, including the Engrish term "herro." The scene resurfaced as a viral soundbite in early October 2024 on TikTok in which interracial families lip-dub the "Hello, Herro" scene to mock the stereotypical accent some East-Asian natives have while speaking English.

Origin

On April 14th, 2006, the comedy film Scary Movie 4 was released in the United States.^[1] In the film, Cindy Campbell (played by Anna Faris) tries to talk in English to a Japanese ghost boy, inspired by The Grudge horror film, but quickly realizes the child doesn't understand her, leading her to speak memorable Japanese trademarks, company names, martial art names and other words commonly associated with Japan, which is portrayed as if she is speaking fluent Japanese.

On April 17th, 2006, YouTube^[2] user @elmorris7562 uploaded the earliest mention of the scene on the internet. The video (seen below) amassed more than 469,000 views and 1,000 likes in 18 years.

Full dialogue:

Cindy:
Hello?
Cindy:
"Haro?" – Hello
Cindy:
"Hibachi, Benihana, Teriyaki" – Do You Live Here?
Ghost Boy:
"Nagasaki, Okinawa, Hokkaido, Yokohama" – Your Japanese is Awful. It dishonors my ears
Cindy:
"Karate, Judo, Sumo, Samurai" – Are You a Ghost?
Ghost Boy:
"Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru" -Yes. I was Killed and my soul walks the earth!
Cindy:
"Hari-kiri, Tsunami, Kamikaze, Banzai" – How Sad. My Life is also Tragic.
Ghost Boy:
"Yamaha, Nikon, Casio, Aiwa" – You Mistake me For Someone who gives a Shit.
Ghost Boy:
"Minolta, Hitachi, Seiko, Toshiba" – I Know the secret of defeating the aliens.
Cindy:
"Buddha! Shitake Kimono!" – My God! Tell Me!
Ghost Boy:
"Tempura, Shushi, Sashimi!" – The Answer is within my father's heart! Follow the blood!

Spread

The Cindy Speaking Japanese Scene resurfaced in the 2020s, especially on TikTok, where the dialogue was turned into a viral soundbite and used in lip-dub skits.

For example, on October 19th, 2024, TikTok^[3] user @julialw posted a POV video with her husband titled, "POV: me trying to talk to my Asian husband," in which her partner only replies to her after she says, "Hello," in "Engrish" (pronounced "herro"). The video amassed over 3.6 million plays and 630,000 likes in a week.

On September 16th, 2024, TikTok^[4] user @karltentcreator posted a parody video recreating the memorable Scary Movie 4 scene (seen below), which received roughly 3.6 million plays and 713,000 likes in a month.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References