jimbob
Senior Member
Ok, clarification please. In disagreement with mate.... Yoshikane- yosh-eee-cane? Takeda- ta-kee-da? Those are the main two in contention, i hope im right! (there is a meal riding on it).
koh noh skeh
http://www.forvo.com/word/matsushita_konosuke/ (nevermind matsushita in the link provided, lol)
here the "U" in the name konosuke is silent
hoh neh ski
http://www.forvo.com/word/honesuki/
same goes with the "U" in honesuki.
certain vowels become silent. like the vowel "i" in the name matsushita. (not relevant, but might be worth including).....
but when these vowels are at the end of a word or name, they no longer become silent and must be pronounced as spelled.
One difficult one is Suisin because of spelling. Suisin should be 'Suishin' with a 'shhh'
Suisin: soo-ee-sheen
yep. this is because of writing in japanese is confusing.
you can't write the name suisin in japanese, it's spelled suishin in japanese. and should be pronounced as such.
like the way mazda is spelled in japanese. it's spelled as matsuda, not mazda.
"tsu" and "zu" can be interchangeable sometimes in pronounciation, sometimes it's regional (i think) on how it's pronounced.
the japanese kept the name mazda in romaji (what they call roman writing or western writing) coz it's easier for westerners to pronounce mazda than matsuda.
again the "u" in matsuda is silent, which is why sounds like mazda or matsda when pronounced.
The "tsu" and "zu" characters are completely different in Japanese. In Japanese, it looks like it's spelled "ma-tsu-da" in Katakana so it is definitely not "zu." And, in Japan, it's definitely pronounced "ma-tsu-da." The "u" is clearly pronounced in my experience in Japan. Also, whether or not a sound is silent or not can simply depend on the speed one says a word.
So is it true as I have been told that the 'u' in Matsushita is almost silent because the vowel is pronounced so fast that it's sort of rushed over?
Same with "Matsushita." The "i" is part of the "shi" character and is pronounced "she", not "sh." It's not silent. If it were, it would be pronounced "ma-tsu-sh-ta", which it's not.
So is it true as I have been told that the 'u' in Matsushita is almost silent because the vowel is pronounced so fast that it's sort of rushed over?
Yes, but this is not most important. In principle, Japanese has no natural stresses of syllables, like Spanish for example. So anyone understands Konosuke as 'koh-no-soo-kay' even if some stresses naturally happen and a u can be 'eaten' when people speak, like desu become 'des' and mashita is usually 'mashtah'. Just remember: a='ah' like 'Bah' Humbug, e='ay' like 'say', i='ee' like 'see', o='oh' like the US anthem, and u='oo' or 'ou' like 'you'
Yes, but this is not most important. In principle, Japanese has no natural stresses of syllables, like Spanish for example. So anyone understands Konosuke as 'koh-no-soo-kay' even if some stresses naturally happen and a u can be 'eaten' when people speak, like desu become 'des' and mashita is usually 'mashtah'. Just remember: a='ah' like 'Bah' Humbug, e='ay' like 'say', i='ee' like 'see', o='oh' like the US anthem, and u='oo' or 'ou' like 'you'
What about "suke" and "suki"? In the Japanese shows I've watched with sub-titles, I've never heard them pronounced "soo-keh" or "soo-kee", it's always shortened "skeh" or "skay" or "ski".
Here's Murray again;
[video=youtube;8daxlCwXunc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8daxlCwXunc[/video]
Sure good idea. You can pronounce the Japanese vowels you see written as a,e,i, o,u as these sounds /ɑ, eɪ, i:, oʊ, u:/ There are just 5.Please, guys there is an International Phonetic Alphabet
Yes, but this is not most important. In principle, Japanese has no natural stresses of syllables, similar to Spanish for example. So anyone understands Konosuke as 'koh-no-soo-kay' even if some stresses naturally happen and a u can be 'eaten' when people speak, like desu become 'des' and mashita is usually 'mashtah'.
I completely disagree. Japanese has words that are spelled the same but have different meanings because of different stresses of characters/syllables.
Murray says he's reminded by his wife to say "Ho-ne-su-ki" and make sure to pronounce the "u" in "su", not "ho-ne-ski" which is how he says it and is incorrect. ... You're taking sample of the language and trying to apply it universally. (Which is, ironically, one of the biggest problems of Japanese people learning English; there are so few universal rules that apply to the English language, unlike Japanese, that Japanese people often times have trouble pronouncing words in English because Japanese is based on a phonetic alphabet and if you say every letter, you will be able to enunciate the word, unlike English, e.g., "the" vs. "their" vs. "them" vs. "thermometer," which all start with "the" but all sound different.)
Did you watch the whole video?
blah blah blah
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