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Anonymous
How do you pronounce "Yotsuba" in english? I've been saying at its spelled... "Yote-soobuh"

But now that i think about it, it might be "Yacht-soobuh" hmmm..
>> Anonymous of the Moon !J8Ao7AFpL2
First one is right, it has a long O sound like ocean.
>> Anonymous
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no one loves a good discussion more than i. except maybe my wife. and a few of her friends. oh, yes, and captain johnson. come to think of it, most people enjoy good discussions more than i, but that's beside the point.

observe the moon runes here. the first one is "yo" pronounced 'yoh'.
next is "tsu". it's almost spat, like a scoffing sound. next is "ba" with an 'ah' sound as in 'aunt'. (not 'ant')
Yotsuba. Yo ts bah.

the fourth and last character is 'to' and it is not pertinent in this discussion.
>> Anonymous
>>740398
Really? But then "yotsuba" as a romanization makes no sense.
>> Anonymous
>>740409

AHhhh! The moon runes! God I need to learn this language. hehe.

So the "u" is silent? at least, for the most part? Sounds like I wasn't too far off. But instead of "yote-soobuh", its "yotes-bah" right?
>> Anonymous
>>740411
sometimes you see translators add the little line over the O to force it into a longer sound, but i'm too lazy to download charmap and look it up.
>> Anonymous
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>>740414
>> Anonymous
Sounds like you need to learn how to voice moras in English. tsu is like nothing in the English language so your problem with it's pronunciation is right there.
>> Anonymous
>>740422

You do realise that doesn't make any sense, right? It has to sound like *something* in English. Even if its not a commonly used sound, it still sounds like *something* for instance, just a simple "ts" like the sound you'd use to describe a cymbal (like a drum cymbal).

Thats like saying it doesn't have a sound at all, which would defeat the purpose of putting it there in the first place.

I understood it, and am now pronouncing it "Yotes-bah" which seems to be correct. I figured it wasn't as simple as I was pronouncing it. Either way, it's still rather awkward, but as long as I'm getting it close enough, then its alright. I don't like the thought of totaly murdering names. Japan has some very VERY different names than english uses, so its only a given that if you speak english, you're going to have a hard time with some Japanese names.
>> Anonymous
its pronounced YOTEs'BAH
>> Sky Render !YVKonataVQ
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http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~bestor/easy_pronunciation.htm
yo ?
tsu??
ba??

Japanese is the easiest of the east-asian languages to pronounce and romanize. The characters are easy to learn and the sounds are consistent. Like any language, however, there are different dialects and conventions, so the 'tsu' might sound like 'ts' occasionally, (try saying "republican" in English. Chances are the vowels mostly sound alike - 'ruh-puh-blu-can'. We mistreat our vowels :( ) but it can revert to being 'tsu' in more formal situations or just to emphasize.. Unless you're trying to speak grammatically correct Japanese, however, it's fine to just pronounce it the way it's written.
>> KZN
"Yotsuba"

"Yoh," long "o" sound,

then

"Tsu," as in "tsunami" (yes, I realize this is also a Japanese word, but most English-speakers know how to pronounce it.)

then

"Bah."

In this case, the "u" in "tsu" is pronounced, and the "Yo" syllable has the emphasis. "YOH-tsu-bah." So yeah, "Yote-soobah" is pretty close.
>> Anonymous
>>740458

That is fucking epic.
>> Anonymous
>>740458
I actually generally speak proper-american english (if there is such a thing)

I say it how its spelled, Re-pub-li-can (lick-an)

But yeah, I get it now. BTW, its NOT like Tsunami. you (or at least, I) say the "u" sound. "Soo-nam-ee" the oo is the u sound. In japan, they probably pronounce it differently, but in english, the "u" is commonly spoken.
>> Anonymous
Yotsuba
Yo-tzooba
>> Anonymous
Some body get some Death Note subs, they say the word a few times during the middle of the series.
>> Anonymous
The Yo is not long in Yotsuba...

and you can't pronounce it in "english" it's a japanese word.
That's like saying "how do I pronounce "garden" in German?"

You simply lack the proper phonetic pronounciations. 'O' in particular (Ocean is off too)
>> Anonymous
here's a soundclip for "yotsu"
http://www.saiga-jp.com/dic/sound/g1/e59b9b_yotsu.wav

And here's "ba"
http://www.saiga-jp.com/dic/sound/common/ba.wav