Questions tagged [pronunciation]
発音. How the Japanese language is pronounced. For questions about which readings to use for particular kanji, use the "readings" tag instead.
406
questions
9
votes
4answers
4k views
Why is 日本 read as “nihon” but not “nitsuhon”?
If I want to say only 日本 in a sentence then each character is pronounced in its onyomi version isn't it? If this is an exception and one (or all) of the characters is not pronounced in onyomi version ...
0
votes
0answers
100 views
Why 鼻血 is read as “hanaji” but not “biketsu”?
I thought when 2 kanji characters next to each other we read them in onyomi. Why is this word 鼻血 an exception?
7
votes
1answer
111 views
Looking to understand a fantasy name
This is related to Beyblade, regarding a team exclusive to a game that didn't get translated to English. Each blader has their own holy beast to command and I'm not getting the name of one of them.
...
0
votes
1answer
191 views
Is it shi or si?
When I chat using romaji, Japanese will always use si instead of shi, for example yorosiku instead of yoroshiku, siteru instead of shiteru. Do Japanese actually pronounce shi as si?
2
votes
1answer
110 views
Can native Japanese speakers pick up a distinctive accent in people whose first language contains contour tones?
First of all, I am an American, and my native language is American English. My home language or first language, on the other hand, is a contour tonal language, with multiple tones, probably 4 or 5, ...
31
votes
2answers
5k views
Why is Katakana not pronounced Katagana?
I am a beginner in Japanese and I've noticed that when two words are compounded into one word the first letter of the second word changes.
hira + kana = hiragana
ko + hayashi = kobayashi
ori + kami ...
9
votes
1answer
157 views
Pronunciation of 上下
上下 has lots of potential pronunciations:
じょうげ
うえした
しょうか
かみしも
Are there any guidelines on how to know which readings to use? I'm particularly interested in this sentence:
顔が上下に割れるかと思ったほど大きくにっこりして、....
2
votes
1answer
166 views
Deriving the “p” and “b” sound from “h”
This question refers to the hiragana notation of different syllables, where you indicate the "soft-spoken" or "hard-spoken" variants of syllables by marking them with a small circle or double strokes. ...
1
vote
1answer
154 views
What is the difference between the pronunciation of 「休校【きゅうこう】」and「急行【きゅうこう】」?
「休校【きゅうこう】」と「急行【きゅうこう】」の発音はどう違いますか。
よろしくお願いします！
1
vote
2answers
150 views
A grammar issue?
What is the meaning of the "long hyphen," --, a DASH really, for grammar, translation, and punctuation? For example :
シャワーヘッド (Shawaheddo)? Thank you
2
votes
2answers
86 views
［ターミネーター2］ How to pronouce Terminator 2 (name of the movie) [duplicate]
There is a famouse movie by James Cameron "Terminator 2"
In English it is pronounced "Terminator two".
In Wikipedia I found how the name of this movie is written in Japanese (katakana, of course)
［...
0
votes
0answers
36 views
How can I practice to pronunce the Japanese “r”? [duplicate]
How can I practice to pronounce the Japanese "r" sound? Every video I found didn't help me.
9
votes
3answers
315 views
Was 術 (as in 柔術) ever pronounced jitsu?
柔術 is often rendered in English-speaking countries (and France, Germany, and Brazil) as "jiu-jitsu" or "ju-jitsu", even though the actual Hepburn romanization is "jūjutsu".
Wiktionary's page on 柔術 ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
Is the reading 腹【なか】 neither an on-yomi nor a kun-yomi?
currently trying hard to refresh my Kanji skills and stumbled over
お腹 == おなか
To my surprise none of the Kanji dictionaries list the reading なか for this Kanji. Only フク and はら. Is there a third ...
1
vote
1answer
85 views
Name of the city 都市の名前 vs 市の名前
I feel, that 市の名前 as [name of the city] is somewhat unnatural, but I can not explain to myself why I should use 都市の名前 instead. Jisho says that 市 is a noun and no restriction to use it.
Maybe the ...
2
votes
1answer
182 views
What does center middle dot in pronunciation transcription might mean
I know only 2 sources (websited) where I can see how to pronounce Japanese words. These sites are OJAD and WaDoku.
I like everyting, but in WaDoku transcription they put middle dot, which I do not ...
13
votes
2answers
927 views
What constitutes a syllable?
For the sake of Haiku or in general, how are syllables counted in Japanese?
Specifically, in the following cases, how are syllables counted?
かあ, long vowels - two syllables?
きゅ, addition of yō-on - ...
4
votes
1answer
189 views
日曜日，the different meanings and pronunciations of 日
I am not sure about the pronunciation rules of kanji in Japanese. I understand that there are several pronunciations for each kanji, and I am wondering how native speakers decide when to use which ...
2
votes
1answer
62 views
The pronunciation of the Japanese translation of dictionary
the pronunciation of 辞書 is jisho, however, why does it sound like jishyo in prerecorded pronunciation online?
5
votes
1answer
531 views
How to pronounce 0.11％ in Japanese?
Sometimes I heard people refer 0.11% as
レイテン イチイチ パーセント
While others believe
レイテン ジュウイチ パーセント
is more correct.
Which version is more popularly accepted?
1
vote
0answers
102 views
Listening, I mistake R for any of L, R or even D. Is there any exercise to improve my ability to hear this sound correctly?
I'm learning Japanese at an advanced age, and I'm having difficulty hearing R. Depending on the speaker, I hear one of three different consonants: R, or L but also it can sound like a D. In the first ...
3
votes
1answer
127 views
“z” sound, which to choose?
I've read about if "z" sound is pronounced /z/ or /dz/ and found the answer here that:
Typically, though not consistently, [dz] occurs at the beginning of a word or in the middle of a word ...
0
votes
0answers
76 views
Writing conventions / pronounciations for words with っ
I'm currently trying to figure out on how to do karaoke for some songs and I got a bit confused about the following. So let's say you have the words like
ずっと [zutto]
のって [notte]
How would you ...
2
votes
0answers
104 views
Pronunciations of と/ど, た/だ, ち/じ [duplicate]
I am a Japanese beginner, and a lot of times I find it hard to distinguish the pronunciations betweenた/だ, と/ど, ちじ etc. For example, わたし, the pre-record pronunciation online sounds like “wadashi” to me;...
0
votes
1answer
139 views
Pronuncation of r in Japanese name [duplicate]
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I was wondering how one would pronounce the Japanese name Reita when speaking English. Should it be [leːtə], [reːtə], or something else?
For ...
0
votes
1answer
110 views
Why are some names pronounced differently from their on-yomi and kun-yomi?
I'm learning how Japanese names work for a story I'm writing and creating names is one of the most fun things I've done in some time. However, it comes with a share of frustrations. One for me is that ...
2
votes
0answers
63 views
Why is 鬼蜘 pronuenced おにぐも and not おにくも? [duplicate]
I noticed that sometimes the pronunciation changes when combining words. An other example is 不死斬り (ふしぎり) and 腹切り (はらきり); both 斬り and 切り are pronounced きり independently but only in 不死斬り is 斬り ...
6
votes
1answer
622 views
How to pronounce 1ターン?
I've seen the phrase 1ターン1度 "once per turn" used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Card game, so it seems like ターン is a legit counter. But I'm not sure how to pronounce it. From what I've googled so far, some people ...
2
votes
1answer
75 views
Pronunciation of verbs ending in う
One of the things you learn when studying Japanese is that おう is pronounced like a long おお as in words like そうです (soo desu), but I would like to know if this rule also applies to verbs because there ...
6
votes
1answer
102 views
Are they the same: コショウ vs コショー
The question is are these two pronounced the same.
If they are how would one know how to spell them.
This applies to any case of ウ vs 一.
2
votes
1answer
158 views
Does this Kanji: 全効答 (Zen kō Kotae) mean “total efficiency” or at least convey it symbolically?
I've been playing around with using Kanji as a quick way to convey a company's goals and/or ideals. As I understand it, Zen 全 means "whole/complete", Kō 効 means "efficiency/result" and Kotae 答え means "...
0
votes
1answer
83 views
Is the し in はじめまして pronounced as “shi” or as “sh”? [duplicate]
Is this always the case for words that end in して similar to how です is pronounced "des"?
2
votes
1answer
144 views
Transcription and pronunciation of words that had “wi” in them in English and are「ウィ」in Japanese
I was looking up how the name Will Smith is pronounced and written in Japanese. Why does "Will" become 「ウィル」? I would have expected ワ to be used instead for the first sound.
I found mentions of the "...
4
votes
2answers
235 views
Pronunciation difference: イオ/イヨ
Is there a sound difference between イオ and イヨ (I can't hear a difference)?
When asked to spell baiorin in katakana I tend to mistake バイオリン with バイヨリン.
1
vote
1answer
121 views
How do I pronounce/Translate this last name: マッキェネン into english?
I'm translating this book, and the character's full name pops up as " クロウディア＝マッキェネン". I managed to translate the first name as Claudia, but I don't know if I should use McCunnen, McCullen, or some ...
3
votes
1answer
144 views
How to read mp3 in Japanese?
If I read it word by word in Japanese, it would be 'em pi san'. But, I once heard someone read it quite differently. How is it read in Japanese?
0
votes
2answers
189 views
Unvoiced vowels in katakana: special case?
When foreign words or proper names are used in Japanese, some modifications are necessary, in particular a lot of vowels are introduced. E.g. 'plastic' (two syllables) becomes プラスチック (five). In this ...
2
votes
2answers
273 views
Are words always pronounced as spelled?
I came across the word ケーブルカー, or cable-car.
Based on the pronunciation I have, the ブ and ル are pronounced like one syllable (like 'brr') instead of two like I expected ('bu ru').
Is this an ...
1
vote
1answer
168 views
How to Read 醤玉子?
I know that 玉子 is read "tamago". I also know that 醤油 is read "shouyu". I can imagine that 醤玉子 refers to the boiled egg that is submerged in soy sauce. How do you read it though? I assume it's read ...
1
vote
1answer
84 views
Difference between おじいさん and おじさん
I'm wondering if there is much difference in the pronunciation of the words or intonation of them. Is it just the long vowel?
3
votes
1answer
154 views
Is it common for Kanjis to have several pronounciation like for 乾?
While doing introductionary courses of Japanese, I stumble on a fact that afrights me about the difficulty of the language.
When congratulating each other around a drink: 乾杯
the Kanji 乾 is ...
3
votes
1answer
166 views
Are there many occurances of elongated syllables throughout the language?
I've been studying Japanese through Duolingo and I wouldn't say I've progressed very far. I've learned some of the basics of Hiragana and it's beginning to transition into Kanji. While learning ...
1
vote
2answers
103 views
Do words differing only in the voicedness of consonants act as functionally homophonous?
In Japanese, there are some sound differences that clearly distinguish words from one another, such as falling on a different 行 or 段 on the 五十音 ([傘]{かさ} vs. [風]{かぜ} or [友]{とも} vs その); while other ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
What's the difference between these two names?
オタ
オター
I want a name translated but not sure which to pick, what sounds the best and what's the difference between them? The name which I'm trying to translate is "Oter".
10
votes
1answer
299 views
Do native speakers pronounce long vowels えい or おう as one long vowel, or two different vowels?
In Japanese, long vowels ā, ī, ū are written as ああ (aa), いい (ii), うう (uu). However, ē and ō, in most cases, written as えい (ei) and おう (ou), but in other cases as ええ (ee) and おお (oo).
For example:
先生{...
0
votes
0answers
109 views
What's the difference between “on”, “oto” and “ne”
I've seen some various examples where the kanji "音" has different readings (おん, おと and ね) and couldn't found out when to use each one. Is there a general rule to know each one should I use in an ...
1
vote
1answer
149 views
On hiragana, romaji and pronunciation
I have heard a Japanese teacher explain how long vowels should be pronounced and how they should be written when using hiragana. That's what I saw on the whiteboard:
がっこう - gakkoo, (not gakkou)
Is ...
3
votes
1answer
145 views
What are the common practice of reading names of modern Chinese people?
From what I've seen from the Japanese Wikipedia, names of communist figures (Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Xi Jinping) seem to be read with on'yomi (Mou Takutou, Tou Shouhei, Shuu Kinpei). On the other ...
6
votes
1answer
192 views
Pronunciation Troubles with トラブル and トラブる: Loanwords with both noun and verb ending in ru mora
Following this comment:
What is the difference in pronunciation or pitch accent between:
トラブル and トラブる
ダブル and ダブる
What are the regional differences (if any)?
Is the pronunciation rule ...
0
votes
1answer
75 views
Why the pronunciation of some words is different than their components? [duplicate]
美味しい is being pronounced おいしい, but it is not the sum of the way its kanji components are being pronounced. I think I have also seen it in some other words. So why is that the pronunciation of some ...
