Hey whats up every one. I was just watching yu yu hakusho and I was wondering how do you know if you pronounce the words or phrases right. because i want to learn japanese but i dont want to make an ass out of my self.


side note. (I thought it was cool) " Did you konw taht hmunas dnot raed ecah letetr of a wrod jsut the frsit and the lsat....wired huh

You could always take a class with a teacher, and yeah.

About the second thing, that's kinda old.

Originally posted by 4g10muzik@Jul 9 2005, 11:37 PM
Hey whats up every one. I was just watching yu yu hakusho and I was wondering how do you know if you pronounce the words or phrases right. because i want to learn japanese but i dont want to make an ass out of my self.


side note. (I thought it was cool) " Did you konw taht hmunas dnot raed ecah letetr of a wrod jsut the frsit and the lsat....wired huh
get books or like sondagger said get a teacher. but i dont think there are many teachers that teach it. (I am learning japanese too. Im teaching myself.)

there are plenty of websites that are japanese dictionaries- as in, they teach you common phrases. The way to pronounce it... just watch more anime! or, you could take classes... but if you want to self learn, watching anime and japanese movies are probably your best options.

ok thanks guys and girls... lol peace

You You Hah-kew-sho, is about as close as I can help you.

Originally posted by Nightmare@Jul 10 2005, 11:52 PM
You You Hah-kew-sho, is about as close as I can help you.
...it's yoo yoo hah koo shou.

The way a person prounounces the word `you` in English is the equivalent of how you pronounce the `yu` in Japanese. But yeah, sometimes I get a bit confused on how to type the pronounciation, so thanks for clearing it up for me.

"yu" and "you" are not pronounced the same. Even I know that =P

Yes, they are. I am sorry, but you are simply wrong. English is my native language, and I am in Japan right now, hearing the language being spoken 24/7 while taking courses. I have been studying Japanese individually for nearly 2 years as well. It is a fact that `you` in English is pronounced the same as `yu` in Japanese.

Edit: I guess technically it depends on where you live, but for most, if not all of America, it is pronounced the same. I have never in my entire life heard a `you` in English sound differently than a `yu` in Japanese, but I would love it if you could type down the way you pronounce `you`, as it is obviously different than the way millions of americans and myself pronounce it.

English doesn't even have the Japanese "u" sound, so what on Earth are you talking about?

Please, read my post, Angelic. You are correct in saying that English does not have the Japanese `u` sound for the English letter `u`. But that is not the point. I didn`t say the Japanese letter `u`, I said the Japanese word `yu`. They are prounounced very differently. In English, `you` is pronounced `yoo`, and the Japanese `yu` is pronounced `yoo`. They are pronounced the same. How you pronounce the English word `you` versus how you pronounce the Japanese `u` is different. But compared to the Japanese `yu`, it is the same.

I'm sorry, but a name like "Yukari" doesn't sound like "yoo-ka-ri" or "you-ka-ri" at all. Maybe the lack of the actual "u" sound in English makes you incapable of hearing the difference but I hear it.

I actually agree with Angelic. I don't know if you are asian or not but you would understand better if you were. It may sound the same but it's just minusuculy different that I'm not sure you'll realise. There are different ways of saying the same sound that gives it a different meaning. It's a very small difference which kind of makes this argument irrelevant so it doesn't really matter. Both of you win.

Originally posted by Nightmare@Jul 11 2005, 01:51 PM
Please, read my post, Angelic. You are correct in saying that English does not have the Japanese `u` sound for the English letter `u`. But that is not the point. I didn`t say the Japanese letter `u`, I said the Japanese word `yu`. They are prounounced very differently. In English, `you` is pronounced `yoo`, and the Japanese `yu` is pronounced `yoo`. They are pronounced the same. How you pronounce the English word `you` versus how you pronounce the Japanese `u` is different. But compared to the Japanese `yu`, it is the same.
The English word you is pronounced several ways, depending on where you're from. But there's only one way to pronounce yoo in English.

Again, I have yet to hear a new way of the word `you` being prounounced, but as one of my previous posts suggested, I didn`t rule out the fact that there could be other ways to pronounce it. Anyways, I`ll see if I can find some websites or books on pronounciation to back up what I say.

Personally, I have heard it pronouced "yo", "ye", and "yeh".

I never heard it being pronounced as "yu" though. Maybe Scottish comes a bit close to it but still.. no X_X

Originally posted by Nightmare@Jul 11 2005, 08:17 AM
Yes, they are. I am sorry, but you are simply wrong. English is my native language, and I am in Japan right now, hearing the language being spoken 24/7 while taking courses. I have been studying Japanese individually for nearly 2 years as well. It is a fact that `you` in English is pronounced the same as `yu` in Japanese.

Edit: I guess technically it depends on where you live, but for most, if not all of America, it is pronounced the same. I have never in my entire life heard a `you` in English sound differently than a `yu` in Japanese, but I would love it if you could type down the way you pronounce `you`, as it is obviously different than the way millions of americans and myself pronounce it.
You've obviously never been South of the Mason-Dixon line, where "You" is almost invariably pronounced "Y'all"... ^_^

That is correct. I haven`t traveled much across the United States. I suppose that we are both correct, then, as it all depends on what accent you say it in. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

I suppose many do pronouce it "yiu", but that's subtly different from the Japanese "yu".