Nisoko 6 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Things I have heard this winter - Rasta-su (intended meaning Rusutsu) - Sappokkoro (intened meaning Sapporo) - Haluka (intended meaning Hakuba) - Habula (intended meaning Hakuba) - Niseko (inteneded meaning Nisoko). Oops, being silly. Any more good ones. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 - Hookooba (for Hakuba) - and they argued the toss with me when I gently and politely corrected them. And the endearing mispronunciations of a friend of ours: - Higashima (Higashiyama) - Hazarno (Hanazono) - Nesko (Niseko) Link to post Share on other sites
kokodoko 67 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Tomui for Tomamu. I call Kamui Koh Samui. for a joke. Link to post Share on other sites
joshnii 2 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Noo-gar-tie. They meant Niigata. Link to post Share on other sites
ippy 66 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 shinge ga hidari desu. <taxi driver tilts head> Shinge? eeeeto - shinge? <taxi driver is killing himself trying not to laugh> Obviously i meant shingo. I found out later though that shinge means pubes Link to post Share on other sites
Tex 3 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 One of party last trip got us laughing... not like they were hard ones either Onsong who no zoo no (Hanazono) Link to post Share on other sites
best skier in hakuba 5 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Huppaba! Link to post Share on other sites
pickled mushhead 0 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Nipple. They were searching for the word Nippon. A few beers prevented that from coming out! Link to post Share on other sites
Chriselle 158 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Speaking of "nipple". I got kubi and chikubi mixed up while offering to give a massage once.....a mistake with very favorable results.. Link to post Share on other sites
Ezorisu 0 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Details please! Maybe that needs it's own thread... I always love: "She-she-me = sashimi "Shoe-she" = sushi Link to post Share on other sites
panhead_pete 27 Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 How do you say Hiroshima? Hero she ma or Her rosh e ma? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Hi-ro-shi-ma Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Funny how living here you get used to the Japanese pronounciation. Go back home and people laugh at you. Subaru, back home they don't register su-ba-ru, it's Soo-ba-roo! Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 yeah....also names. My mrs name is "Makiko", not difficult in the least, all natural sounds that are used in English too....but could my family and friends get her name right?? Makika, Makiki, Makikir.....I was getting a bit angry, so I slowed it down and said it MA-KI-KO.........the result was they called her "MAAAAAAAAAAA-kiko" Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Originally Posted By: panhead_pete How do you say Hiroshima? Hero she ma or Her rosh e ma? The trouble with trying to explain pronunciation is that the result depends on the origin of either the explainer OR the hearer. For example, I have an iPod app that gives the pronunciation for "i" as "as in hate" I would NEVER pronounce "i" like "ay" which is how "hate" is pronounced here. There are also regional differentials, as "ellen", a girl's name here is pronounced, by Victorians (a state of Aus) as "allan". Which explains why a student (Ellen) was always marked as absent on the rollcall at school when the (ex-victorian) teacher called her name. Link to post Share on other sites
RobBright 35 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 It would be interesting to see which nationalities have problems with Japanese sounds. Wouldn't be surprised if it was Australians and New Zealanders. Link to post Share on other sites
jared 0 Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 Japanese generally have the same vowel sounds as Maori so it shouldn't take too much work to teach a NZ'er japanese pronunciation. (unless they are especially white old and from the south island.) Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Originally Posted By: RobBright It would be interesting to see which nationalities have problems with Japanese sounds. Wouldn't be surprised if it was Australians and New Zealanders. I, personally, don't have a problem, but there are locals whose pronounciation is atrocious! And, I think American pronunciations of the vowels would be more problematic. (Even the word "problem" can end up being pronounced "prarblam"). But, it is not the pronunciation, rather the representation of the pronunciation in romaji, and the explanation of what the sound should be "like" that is the problem IMHO. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 yeah I can understand that.....kids in my class all wear name badges that are written in English/Romanised Japanese, not spelt by me however, but the teacher. So I call out what the badge says in english, example "Taizo", the kids snicker and the teacher says..."No his name is TaiJO"....then why didn't you write that you twit?! Some of the romanised spelling of japanese names in particular can be weird. What's worse is that it isn't standardised so from person to person the spelling is different, it reminds me of when you read excerpts of english text from a few hundred years ago. Spelling was all different from one page to another Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 I have heard Minakami called Monokimi. I thought that was quite funny. Link to post Share on other sites
onji 0 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver yeah I can understand that.....kids in my class all wear name badges that are written in English/Romanised Japanese, not spelt by me however, but the teacher. So I call out what the badge says in english, example "Taizo", the kids snicker and the teacher says..."No his name is TaiJO"....then why didn't you write that you twit?! Some of the romanised spelling of japanese names in particular can be weird. What's worse is that it isn't standardised so from person to person the spelling is different, it reminds me of when you read excerpts of english text from a few hundred years ago. Spelling was all different from one page to another I've totally been there man. One of my kids wrote 'Atutosi' on his name badge, so when I ask Atutosi to answer a question, everyone corrects me 'it's Atsutoshi!' Another kid's name is Marina. When I pronounce Marina, the kids all hear Maina (which is the name of another student in the same class), so I've had to really roll that R Italian style so they can understand me. Link to post Share on other sites
TheOrange 0 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 si, shi tu, tsu Don't get why lots of Japanese write the former at all. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 haha, today I was flicking through a Snowboard Bus Tour magazine and they had Shiga Kogen spelt "Siga Kogen". So its no wonder that foreigners get it wrong when they can't get it tight themselves Link to post Share on other sites
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