Mangled pronounciations of Japanese words
Until fairly recently, Japanese words were not imported much into English, as opposed to the hundreds of English words that have entered Japanese culture. In recent years though there are an increasing number of words that have entered into common use. However, in most cases the pronounciation of the words gets changed from the original.
(Pronounciation is 発音 はつおん hatsuon)
One or two-syllable words are less likely to get mangled, though they can be sometimes. For instance 'manga' is pronounced without any particular emphasis on a syllable, but it's usually pronounced by English speakers with an emphasis on the MAN part. Here's my scratchy voice saying it correctly, then English-speaker style:
When there is a three-syllable or more word, for some reason English speakers always put the emphasis on the second or third syllable, never the first one. This is so prevalent that when Japanese people want to pretend to be (and making fun of 'gaijin', they do this themselves. For example, the correct pronounciation of my first name, Makiko, is MA-ki-ko with the emphasis on the first syllable. But most if not all English speakers, say it like ma-KEE-koh. That is, if they don't mangle it totally! (I've heard Makako, Mukoko, Mikiki, Mukaka, etc., always with the emphasis on the 2nd syllable.) This is just one reason why I usually prefer my shortened nickname, Maki, which is a lot less likely to get messed up.
One word that is totally messed up in English is shiitake (as in the mushroom.). It is pronounced SHI-i-ta-ke in Japanese, but has become shi-TAH-kay in English. I guess it's better to regard it now as a fully fledged imported word in the English vernacular and accept that horrible pronounciation of it. Anyway, here's how it is pronounced in Japanese vs. Nihonglish:
A couple more examples. Here's sa-shi-mi vs. sa-SHEE-mee:
And that Japanese name that makes English speakers giggle, Matsushita (I've tried to say the English-speaker version in the way Japanese people pretending to be gaijin might say it):
So, the lesson to be learned here is that if you want to get the correct pronounciation, never assume that the English version of the word is right!
