Re: Another note on Japanese "diphthongs"

From: Travers Naran (tnaran_at_no-more-virii-please.direct.ca)
Date: 06/27/04 

Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 16:18:17 GMT

Srin Tuar wrote:
>
>> A question for those who contend that Japanese $B0&(B sounds like English
>> "I" and $B8q(B sounds like "coy": How do your monolingual friends react
>> when you tell them, out loud, that $B$?$((B is a kapa-like cloth and $B$?$$(B
>> means sea-bream, or that $B$3$$(B refers to carp, but $B$3$((B means "voice"?
>
> The problem there is that the $B$((B does not exist in English. We do
> have similar phonemes, but there are invariably dipthonged with an "uh"
> sound (at least in american english).

The way I pronounce the first 'e' in ether (as in Ethernet) is pretty
damned close.

> I think the reason is that the English growled "r" sound is incompatible
> with the pure "o" and "e" sounds used by Spanish and Japanese. (Spanish
> and Japanese both use the same vowel set and both use rolled r's.)

Well, the vowel set in all Romance languages are pretty damned close to
Japanese vowels, which is probably why Dr. Hepburn chose the European
vowels for his romaji system. :-)

But I disagree they are exactly the same. I mean $B$"(B, $B$*(B and $B$$(B are pretty
universal vowels, but I'm not convinced the rest of the vowel combinations
are not exactly identical to any European speaker's. A Japanese native
speaker's vowels still sound a little different to me, especially when
they're speaking English.

But on the other hand, they are still very close to the European vowels.
This is probably why Cindy's passengers and colleagues think she sounds
French. She probably pronounces her vowels the Japanese way which would
sound European, especially to an American. For example $B$&(B is pronounced
like the French "u", and not the English "oo" which are completely
different mouth shapes. For example, pronouncing "pull" is a dead give
away. The French/Japanese way sounds very different than the English way.

At this point, I am grateful I studied French and learned how to pronounce
French vowels because it made pronouncing Japanese so much easier. And
native speakers have said my pronunciation is a LOT better than most
learners at my stage. I.e., they can understand me. :-)

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