Okay, I'm going to look like an elitist asshole here, but I've got a pet peeve. A big one. And that is the pronunciation of the Japanese term, "yaoi" by fangirls. I honestly cringe when I hear someone talking about "Oh, that's a YOWIE book! It's sooo cool!" And they say "yaoi" as if someone stabbed them in the ass with a sharpened pencil.
Listen, I'm not an authority on Japanese. I have trouble doing vocabulary words. It can be a tricky language. I mean, they have words that look like this: gaishokusangyou, seigensokudo, and gaikokujin (god I hate romanji). Next to those, 'yaoi' shouldn't be that tough...
So, here's a break down of pronunciation (basics, since I suck):
A as in 'father' (short and crisp)
I as in 'keep' (short and crisp)
U as in 'lute' (without rounding the lips)
E as in 'prey'
O as in 'corn' (only shorter)
(long vowels are held for a longer 'beat'. For example ooki (big) or okaasan (mother). Never will a Japanse vowel make a sound like, 'i' and in 'kite', or 'e' as in 'teacher', etc.)
Vowels in Japanese are different than those in English. The word, 'ai', or love, is pronounced as two separate syllables: a-i. Another example is 'ao', or blue. It is pronounced a-o, two totally separate syllables. An exception to this rule is the 'ei' combination. It usually is pronounced as 'e', as in eiga (movie). Single vowels get their very own beat (unless they're unvoiced, but that's an entirely different subject).
Now lets look at 'yaoi'. It has a lot of vowels. It is pronounced yah-oh-i. There's no 'wee' sound in there. Nor is there a 'yow' sound either. The next fangirl that tries to tell me differently is going to get slapped in the face with my text book and have a dictionary crammed up her ass.
*sigh* I'm not an elitist. I actually hate them with a passion. However, I think I hate the fangirlese for the word yaoi because it sounds so friggen stupid. Then again, I can't stand fangirls, so that probably has a lot to do with it too...
Do you know, I've been wondering how to pronounce that for years. And I was right all along! (Which is crazy for me because I can't pronounce English words let alone those of a foreign language.)
Posted by: DR at October 31, 2005 12:29 AMOh, man, that made me laugh so hard... I just realized that I have never heard a native English-speaking person say "yaoi," so this is new to me. I still say it right (or as right as I can get), though. But, geez...yowie. [continues giggling insanely]
Anyway, I think you did a great job of explaining how the vowels are pronounced... For example, most people leave out the no-rounding-of-the-lips part with the U's, so I constantly hear things like suh-KOO-ruh (Sakura). X_x Which is wrong in so many ways...
Not that I'm an "elitest," either...or even mediocre with Japanese. But there are just some things that should never be done.
Posted by: Sharon at October 31, 2005 02:40 AMIt never fails to make me shudder. I can deal with Sa-Koo-ra or Sa-Soo-kay...but Yowie? It's wrong on so many levels...
You're right, there are some things that just shouldn't be done...
:P
Posted by: Zoso at October 31, 2005 12:45 PMHeh, Yowie??
I guess living in Belgium has its perks. The pronounciation of these vowels is exactly the same as the dutch one. So when reading these romanji, it's just like reading a complicated dutch word :) I feel great!
(Actually I don't seeing as I got operated on yesterday... *wimper*)
The pronounciation of these vowels is exactly the same as the dutch one.
Really? That's interesting! Care to share a brief break down of dutch pronunciation for us? (I love languages!)
Hope you feel better too! Operations suck! Get lots of rest!
Posted by: Zoso at November 2, 2005 06:07 AM