Forum - View topicHow is Shoujo pronounced?
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PeaceMaker1
Posts: 40 |
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Because, for some reason, my friend keeps pronouncing it "SHO-GO" as if it's spelled Shougo or something.
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Cloe
Moderator
 Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Your friend is wrong, I'm afraid. It's pronounced sho (o as in "oh") jo (as in "Joe").
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11507 Location: Frisco, TX |
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To get more technical, let me review Japanese vowel sounds. People sometimes Romanize them in different ways, but this is my way of keeping it simple.
First, we'll start with short vowels. Unlike English, Japanese has one sound for each vowel: a = short 'ah' as in walk e = short 'eh' as in bed i = short 'ee' as in confetti o = short 'oh' as in holy u = short 'ooh' as in dude Please note that if you see Romaji (Japanese words written in English) that most vowels you see will carry a short sound. Don't emphasize them or make them longer than they actually are. However, there are also ways to write the longer vowel sounds: aa = long 'ah' ei = long 'eh' ii = long 'ee' ou = long 'oh' uu = long 'ooh' Basically, just take the sounds of the short vowels and draw them out twice as long. In this case, shoujo would sound something like (to use English equivalent sounds) "show-Joe." Just remember that the 'o' in the shou- part is the long 'oh,' while the -jo part is the quick and short sound. I don't know how your friend is confusing a 'j' to make a 'g' sound, though...  .
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PeaceMaker1
Posts: 40 |
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Also, how is "yaoi" pronounced? My friend pronounces that as "Yao-eh" but I pronounce it "Yao-ee." Which is closer to being correct?
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Cloe
Moderator
Posts: 2728 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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As Tony said, there is only one sound for vowel "i" in Japanese, and it sounds like "ee." So your pronouncation is the correct one. The word should be said with no stress on any particular syllable, and be sure not to draw out the "ee" sound (otherwise it would sound like you're saying "yaoii.") |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Or just do what my friend does. Call it gay manga. 
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Hideyuki
Posts: 50 Location: Wisconsin |
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I was wondering about yaoi too
Of course, gay manga is a lot quicker, but then people in the general area will understand what you're saying .
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 1325 Location: San Diego |
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I usually pronounce yaoi "Bee El."
Boy's Love is a more general, practical term IMO, and doesn't have the smutty/doujinshi connotations of yaoi (even though plenty of it is, indeed, smut or doujinshi or both  ).
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