Why Natural Language Prompts Beat Keywords in Midjourney V5 – An Experiment

Many beginners start using AI tools by feeding a list of keywords, hoping to generate beautiful images, and some even purchase keyword libraries. However, a common misconception exists about how to best prompt Midjourney (MJ) V5.

According to MJ’s user guide, the latest model released on March 15, 2023, emphasizes natural language prompts , offering higher resolution, better coherence, and advanced features like --tile.

We conducted an experiment with three prompt styles:

A: Chinese keyword list 东方美女，长发，早餐，餐桌，简单的美食，优雅的餐灯，清晨的阳光，开心幸福，电影级别，高画质，8k壁纸；

B: English keyword list Oriental Beauty, Long Hair, Breakfast, Dining Table, Simple Food, Elegant Dining Lamp, Morning Sunshine, Happy Happiness, Movie Level, High Picture Quality, 8k Wallpaper

C: English natural‑language prompt An enchanting scene of an Eastern beauty with long flowing hair, enjoying a delightful breakfast at a tastefully set dining table, featuring elegant food plating and a charming pendant light, basked in the soft morning sunlight, radiating happiness and contentment, cinematic quality, high‑definition 8k wallpaper, capturing the essence of a blissful morning

Results:

A: Chinese keywords

B: English keywords

C: English natural‑language prompt

Observations:

Chinese keyword prompts produce a very grounded, almost rustic look; they can yield good traditional‑style results but may lack polish.

English keyword prompts generate images with richer aesthetics and more elements, though some details appear slightly stiff.

Natural‑language prompts deliver the highest detail, strong overall coherence, and cinematic quality, clearly outperforming the keyword‑only approaches.

Conclusion: For Midjourney V5, crafting prompts in natural, expressive language—linking desired concepts logically, adding emotional tone and atmospheric description—helps the AI understand and render the scene more effectively. Use concise keywords for fixed attributes like style, composition, or subject orientation, but rely on natural language for the narrative part.

Overall, treat AI as a conversational partner rather than a simple keyword search engine; it can grasp nuanced information when spoken naturally.