Re:English-friendly Romanization system proposed for Japanes...
by tokinonagare on Sunday January 05, 2025 @10:49PM
(#42607481)
May help some foreigners with the consonants, but the vowels will probably still pronounced incorrectly due to English's Great Vowel Shift. Kunreishiki will still be used in linguistics as it fit better the phonology, and some kana are easier to type this way when using alphabet input.
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Re:English-friendly Romanization system proposed for Japanes...
by Spivak on Sunday January 05, 2025 @11:19PM
(#42607626)
I don't understand, does Japan use a scheme to romanize words that is based-ish on a version of English that is long dead? That seems like a lose lose for everyone.
Re:English-friendly Romanization system proposed for Japanes...
by autumnstwilight on Monday January 06, 2025 @12:45AM
(#42608050)
Japanese vowels are simple and consistent, for example 'e' is always the 'e' sound in 'bed', but (due to the history of the English language) English speakers are used to taking in the context of the vowels and pronouncing them in a variety of ways. When reading Japanese (in which the surrounding letters do not provide any hints as to how to pronounce the vowels), English speakers often end up guessing at random, sometimes pronouncing 'a' like in 'cat', sometimes pronouncing it like in 'father', etc.
Since Japanese has simple and consistent rules for vowel pronunciation, and Japanese people aren't used to hearing much deviation from these rules, this often means what the English speaker is saying is entirely incomprehensible to them.
Re:English-friendly Romanization system proposed for Japanes...
by Tainnor on Monday January 06, 2025 @01:15AM
(#42608175)
There's simply no reasonable way to base a transcription of another writing system on English phonology because the latter is highly irregular. It would also confuse literally anyone else who uses Latin script.
English speakers who want to pronounce words in any other language correctly will probably just have to get used to the fact that they need to unlearn some habits.
Re:English-friendly Romanization system proposed for Japanes...
by DemocracyFTW2 on Monday January 06, 2025 @04:06AM
(#42608957)
A transliteration or transcription scheme that uses <ch> for [tʃ] and similar sounds and <j> for [dʒ] is obviously influenced by English habits, yes. Doesn't mean the same scheme can not use <u> for [u]...[ɯ] and <e> for [ɛ], though.
Re:English-friendly Romanization system proposed for Japanes...
by DemocracyFTW2 on Monday January 06, 2025 @04:08AM
(#42608971)
Nobody suggested to write 'Fookoosheema', but maybe someone should... no?