Re: Pronunciation of a word if you only know Kanji/Romaji spelling possible?
- From: Bart Mathias <mathias@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 14 May 2005 00:41:06 GMT
TGOS wrote:
Hello everyone!
I guess that is the right group to finally ask some questions about the Japanese language ^_^
I know very little about the Japanese language. I can count to ten, know a few common phrases and maybe 30 words. I can't read Kana; not even Kanji. And as you will see in this post, I even have my trouble with Romaji.
But I like the Japanese culture. I like para para, I listen to Japanese radio stations all day long, I love animes, I could eat sushi daily, I read a lot about Japanese history, I like traditional clothes... I could go on like that forever.
So I should get more in contact with the language. But far more important than being able to read or write the language is understanding the language to me. I don't even care to speak it (I have nobody to talk with), it would be enough if I would understand it well enough to understand maybe 60% of a Japanese song.
My question is about pronunciation. Does every word has an own, unique pronunciation, only partly related to how the word is written in Kanji/Romaji, or are there pronunciation rules to follow, maybe with exception?
In detail: I'm currently addicted to a Japanese song. It's the greatest song I've ever heard. I heard it again and again and again. It's in an endless loop for more than 2 hours and I don't get sick of it! ^_^;
After a while I was able to sing along the refrain, but I still had no idea what she sings about. I didn't even know the title of the song. It took me two days to figure out the title:
Suki ni Nattara Saikyou!
And once I had the title, finding the lyrics was very easy. The refrain, according to a non-native Japanese speaker (who spent some years in Japan) is:
suki ni nattara saikyou! Anata no koto aishichattara saikou! Hyaku paasento suki!
And he also provided a translation:
After I fell in love with you, I got stronger! After I fell in love with you, my life’s been a blast! I love you 100%!
Seems to be a very "free" translation if you ask me.
It's probably about as close as you can get, if you really want English.
"When" might be a bit closer than "after." "Saikyou" (as B. points out) is "strongest," rather than stronger.
So the title seems to be "I'm strongest when I've fallen in love with you." Sounds weird to me.
This Romaji text arised several questions:
1) What mans "Anata no koto" really? [...] doesn't it mean something like "You my thing"?
No. It's closer to "your thing," but much, much closer to "(stuff about) you." Women (in particular; do real men do it too?) always say "you" that way when they say things like "I love you." "Koto" isn't really "thing," except as in "things that happen, things to talk about," etc.
2) How comes suki is twice pronounced in a different way? The first one "suki ni" is pronounced like we'd say "skini". [...]
Songs distort pronunciation, depending on whether a syllable is a 16th note or a half note, for instance. In ordinary speech, "u" and "i" vanish after "s," "sh," "ts," "ch," "h," and "f," and also followed by one of those sounds or "k," "p," or plain "t." This isn't anything to memorize--it's a natural physiological process, resulting from the fact that the vocal cords aren't used for any of those sounds, and the fact that the sounds preceding the "u" or "i" can be drawn out, which in these cases they will be, to make the "s" in what you hear as "ski" just as long as it would be if the "u" were pronounced--that's very short in speech.
If the "u" or "i" comes after "k" or "p" and before any of the sounds in the lists, it is *sort of* whispered. You still might not hear it.
3) Is there a rule when a vocal is not spoken and when it is spoken? If
something ends with "u" (e.g. "desu"), the "u" seems to always be
silent. Is this a good rule of the thumb? But what if it is in the
middle of the word?
Whether it is pronounced, or sort of whishpered, or fully pronounced at the end of a sentence (i.e., before a pause) depends largely on whether there is an "accent" (drop in pitch) preceding it in the last word ("-desu" must be understood as a suffix--the end of the word--to apply this rule). There can be much variation here, depending e.g. on how politely one is speaking. And of course, it doesn't apply to songs, where every vowel is either voiced ("hyakupaasento suki!") or left out ("skini nattara").
I know how each Kanji sign is pronounced [...]
I sort of doubt that. There are some 2000 in common use, and most have at least two pronunciations. I bet you're talking about kana.
4) I'm not too happy with the translation of the refrain above. Is it really correct? What is the verbatim translation of the lyrics? (make it sound stupid and gramatically wrong, I don't care, but stick to the words that are really there). I only can confirm myself that the last sentence mentions 100%.
That game is hard to play, since as muchan points out, Japanese words won't necessarily have matches with the same meaning in English. B. probably comes as close as possible, yet it can be done otherwise. I'd probably play the game thusly:
"if/when become like(d)/love(d), strongest--(every)thing about you. "if/when completely love, best. 100% like(d)/love(d)."
It's a silly game to play. Much better to learn what words and phrases really *mean*.
Sorry you asked?
Bart .
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