Tell me more ×
Japanese Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

According to the rules of Hepburn, (http://www.halcat.com/roomazi/doc/hep3.html) しいたけ is correctly romanized as "shiitake". What is the correct romanization of イー as in シート? Should it be "shiito" or "shīto" or "shi-to"?

share|improve this question
1  
By "correct", do you mean "according to the rules described by the particular version of Hepburn linked to in this question"? – snailboat♦ Feb 13 at 7:51
@snailplane The page I linked to does not say anything about イー, I don't think. – user18597 Feb 13 at 7:55
Then what do you mean by "correct"? – snailboat♦ Feb 13 at 7:56
2  
1) You link to the rules. 2) The rules do not define this case. Hence, there is no solution to the question. What am I missing? – Dono Feb 13 at 7:58
@Dono - yes, there is no solution on that page. I want to find if there is a solution other than on that page. – user18597 Feb 13 at 8:01
show 3 more comments

1 Answer

up vote 1 down vote

Of course it depends what romanization system you use, but Hepburn seems to romanize しいたけ as shiitake, but シート as shīto.

More generally, the 長音 "ー" is always romanized with a macron over the vowel before it. (Reference: Kenkyūsha's New Japanese-English Dictionary)

(Other systems (I stick to Wāpuro rōmaji) use si for し, whence si-to. Kunrei-shiki uses a circumflex and would romanize シート to sîto.)

share|improve this answer
The "loanword" section of the Wikipedia article you point me to is completely unreferenced, so it could just be a speculation on the part of whoever wrote it. – user18597 Feb 13 at 7:51
Do you agree that in Hepburn ローマ字 is romanized as rōmaji? – user1205935 Feb 13 at 7:56
yes, like ろうそく is romanized as rōsoku, but this is a different case, because しいたけ is romanized as shiitake. – user18597 Feb 13 at 7:59
Re: "(I stick to Wāpuro rōmaji) use si for し"; in my experience input of either "si" or "shi" will produce し. (I prefer "shi" because that is how it sounds in English.) – Tim Feb 13 at 13:21
Japanese sh is halfway really between s and English sh. Shi doesn't feel closer than s to me. – Eric Dong Feb 14 at 19:50

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.