unraveling the katakana words is fun...I was reading Detective Conan and saw the word マスコミ for the first time and it amused me.

CharleyGarrett wrote:

When they say it like that, they are not incorrectly pronouncing an English word.  They are correctly pronouncing a Japanese word that was originally borrowed.

I agree wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, many Japanese people don't appreciate the difference between an assimilated word and a foreign word. So, when a Japanese person asks do if you like "sakkaa" or "badominton", what he may see as English words, you may see as Japanese. It would be akin to an English person thinking that every English words of French roots still had the exact same pronunciation and meaning in French. Indeed, to take the analogy a step further, imagine if there were some English people thought that every loanword in English was from French and thus used them whenever possible in conversation with French people as a way to ease beyond the language barrier.

Last edited by Django (2008 January 22, 10:12 am)

danieldesu wrote:

Quick question... how do you type the "ディ" character?  (I had to copy from the post title)  If it makes any difference, I am on a mac.

On a my work MS IME on Windows box (and anthy on Linux back at home), this will get you there:

d e x i
d e y i

I've never used a Mac but there's a chance it's the same.

d e l i
or
d h i

will also do the trick.  But "d e y i" doesn't work for me and that's the first time I've heard of it.  Are you sure about that?  Personally I prefer "d e x i."

Thanks guys!  On my mac, both "dhi" and "dexi" work.  I've been having the hardest time trying to type "パーティー"

And just to show you that katakana can teach you something sometimes... I was very confused as to why Prince Harry was being called ヘンリー王子 on the news. I thought Harry was short for Harold but it turns out that his name is in fact Henry...

No doubt I'm being very ignorant by not knowing this before.