Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Jetcity]

Hello.
There is a Japanese popular song which has English phrases as a part of its lyrics, and one of the lyrics says �I believe in future�, which is used according to the English wording �believe in something�.

Does the phrase �I believe in future� sound natural for native speakers? I mean, shouldn�t it be �I believe in the future� or �I believe in our future�?
And if it is not natural, is it totally wrong or allowed at certain degree?

I might sing the song in near future, but I do not want to use wrong English. If the lyric is not correct, I think I should rephrase that when I sing the song.

For your information, Japanese language does not have article and basically nouns function alone, so many of Japanese do not feel questions even if English noun is used without any article or possessive case.

[pugachevV]

I believe it should be the future, but in songs and poetry, a certain amount of artistic licence is allowed for the sake of rhyme or meter.

[Jetcity]

pugachevV, thank you for your rational and comprehensible reply.
What I have been afraid of is just that "I believe in future" sounds idiot. If it is acceptable as some kind of artistic phrase, I will be able to accept it as it is.
As a reference, you can listen to the song here -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_fgmxxl_N8

[Lorikeet]

The pictures were very nice on that video. Unfortunately, the English isn't correct, but what can you do? It's such a little part of the song, and it's really a Japanese song, so that's probably why the English doesn't sound right. I don't think anyone will think your English is bad if you sing the song the way it is written.

[Jetcity]

Thank you Lorikeet, for another suggestive answer.
I think I will be able to manage to rephrase "I believe in future" into "I believe in the future" or "I believe in our future" adding a note in the song, but yes, it may turn out clumsy. I will talk about comments I got here with my team members to decide how to do it.