how do you say this????

[gunblade007]

hey everyone,
it's Joe i got a question how do you say usagi's full name? when i ask for the comic i just say the comic book with the samurai rabbit. i don't know how you say usagi i think i know how to say yojimbo. thanks.

[takematsu]

U as in "Ooh, what a cute baby!"

Sa. Just as it looks. Like "sat" with a t-ectomy.

Gi as in Guitar.

...and of course Yojimbo IS pronounced as if greeting your hillbilly friend James.

[Todd Shogun]

Check out http://usagiyojimbo.com/pronunciation.html

[Mr Wowtrousers]

"sat" = boo (buzzer noise)

Remember that Japanese sounds are quite clipped (short)

u = 'oo' as in 'shoot' or 'toon' (but shorter)
sa = 'sah' or 'suh' (like the 'u' in 'cup', not 'ar' as in 'tarp').
gi = 'geese' (but shorter, don't draw it out)

Oosahgee Yohjimboh

It's hard to tell someone by writing how to pronounce Japanese, because you might pronounce it completely differently. Eg, I have read that the 'a' sound (ka, sa, ta, na etc) sounds like the 'a' in 'father'. Which is OK if you are from the UK or Australia, but not if you have a nasal Bronx accent, he he

Also remember, that the stress on the syllables is not very strong at all. Most of the syllables are said at the same speed.

EG: Suzuki, not Su-ZUU-ki (as pronounced in Australia - drawn out in the middle)

This is according to my study of Japanese and living there for only a year, so feel free to correct. My Japanese still sucks!

[takematsu]

"sat" = boo (buzzer noise)
Remember that Japanese sounds are quite clipped (short)

<putting on very melodramatic quivery-lower-lip-of-the-unjustly-wronged>
Well, "sat" when said with a very flat Canadian plains accent....

Good point about regional variation. I should have been specific. On the other hand, if the guy at Gunblade's comic shop thinks it's pronounced "Yew-saw-jee Yo-jumbo", or "Throatwobbler Mangrove", then all our tutoring won't help much.

[Mr_Wowtrousers]

ROFL. Ahhh, good old "Throatwobbler Mangrove", hee hee.

That pronunciation above was atrocious! Yojumbo?! These people watch too much badly recorded anime Seriously, I sometimes go to anime screenings with all these people running around yelling out "anime Japanese" to each other, having no idea what it means and generally mangling it.

Of course, being Australian, my poor Japanese friends had great trouble distinguishing between certain 'i' (as in 'eye') and 'a' (as in 'hay') sounds . . . a particular thing with the Aussie accent. My mate Kato-san could not tell the difference between me saying:

lighter; and

later

I thought I was really overpronouncing, but apparantly my accent is still pretty strong in English. I have been told that my Japanese accent is pretty good though (probably just humouring me).

[Todd Shogun]

I think another acceptable pronunciation of Yojimbo is "Yojinbo"... comments?

[Mr Wowtrousers]

I think it is being written as it is said, as in there is no 'm' sound in the hiragana/katakana . . . it's like a soft 'n'.

I think that the 'n' sound is sounded like an 'm' if it's followed by a 'b' or 'p'.

Example:

"newspaper" is written in Japanese as "shinbun", (しんぶん - 新聞) but is pronounced more like "shimbun" (PS, you need Japanese fonts installed to see this!)

[Glennosuke]

Yep, that is correct Shogun-sama, you and Mr. Wowtrousers have it correct. One of the limitations of one language not having exact equivalents in the other.

[Qion]

Why always write "gee- as in geese"? Can't you just write it "Ooh-sah-ghee"?

[takematsu]

Why always write "gee- as in geese"?

Because of the soft "g" from the French influence in English-- someone might think to pronounce it as the 'gi' in "giant", which of course would sound a lot like the start of the French "geant" rather than the German "gigant". <sigh>

Frankly, it astounds me anyone ever tries to learn English. Most people who grow up with it do a miserable job.