Japanese orthography (was Re: Grie Ka #2 : ( the weirdest? aspects of Ka ))

From: "Nik Taylor" <fortytwo@...>

> Hiroshi Kato wrote:
> > Would anyone in the list complain about it if I do this?
>
> Well, it would be confusing for us gaijin studying Japanese.  :-)
>
Well, it's not so bad as you might think.
If you know the following, you are 90 % O.K.

Traditional                                                   Pronounciation
wo                                                              o
wi                                                                i
we                                                               e
ha in the middle or the end of the word         wa
hi in the middle or the end of the word          i
hu in the middle or the end of the word         u
he in the middle or the end of the word         e
ho in the middle or the end of the word         o
gwa                                                            ga
kwa                                                            ka

Isn't it simple? And I'm sure you already knew some of them (wo, ha, he as
particle).

And in addition, if you know the following list, you are 99% O.K.

au                                                               oo
ahu                                                             oo
ou                                                               oo
ohu                                                             oo
oho                                                             oo
wau                                                             oo
iu                                                                yuu
ihu                                                              yuu
iyau                                                            yoo
ehu                                                             yoo
eu                                                               yoo
iyou                                                            yoo

Note that the latter list can be applicable when a consonant is attached in
front of them.

(ex.)
kau -> koo
kwau -> koo
kiyau -> kyoo
seu -> shoo
tehu(butterfly) -> tyoo(choo)

And note also that the latter list is only applicable when this combination of
sounds are considered to be unseparable.

(ex.)
kahu( to buy) is considered to be ka + hu, so it is not pronounced as "koo" but
as "kau"
toho( walking) is considered to be to + ho( two Kanji), so it is not pronouced
as "too" but as "toho"
But hoho (cheek) is one word and it's not separable, so it is pronouced as "hoo"

Well, there are some exceptions
(ex.)
ihu (to say) is i + hu but still it is pronounced as "yuu"
shimaseu (let's do) is shimase + u but still it is pronounced as "shimashoo"

But don't worry about it too much..Almost all the time you can guess.

Hiro

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