The diabolical nature of English pronounciation is getting some attention in the book world now. The author of THE DIABOLICAL DICTIONARY OF MODERN ENGLISH, R. W. Jackson, has a new book coming out soon titled “YOU SAY TOMATO: An Amusing and Irreverent Guide to the Most AWE-fun Mispronounced Words in the English Language” – for anyone who’s ever wondered if “vase” is pronounced VASE or VAHZ, if “forte” is FORT or FOR-tay . . . or sat in sales conference and thought to herself, It’s
NITCH publishing, not NEESH publishing. Or how about brouhaha or haute couteur or other words here on forumosa.com’s boards.
What are the words your Taiwanese friends, relatives and loved ones have the most trouble pronouncing? In any language?
For example, Taiwanese say OREN instead of the correct Japanese ODEN for that special Japanese dish called ODEN. In English, there must be many mispronouncables heard here. Dish!
okay, we Germans usually say “se” instead of “the”, which sounds terrible. I usually manage it correctly.
But my wife (local) is saying “le le le le le” usually. Seems to give her some tongue stall leading to a loop. I wonder why she repeats this one so many times. I first thought she wants to speak French!
f[quote]or anyone who’s ever wondered if “vase” is pronounced VASE or VAHZ, if “forte” is FORT or FOR-tay . . . or sat in sales conference and thought to herself, It’s
NITCH publishing, not NEESH publishing. Or how about brouhaha or haute couteur or other words here on forumosa.com’s boards.
[/quote]
Most of these words are bloody French anyway. Who cares how they’re pronounced?
Is that mispronounciation or adoption of a word into another language?
For example ‘‘ra-men’’, the popular Japanese noodle dish comes from the Chinese characters for ‘‘la mian’’, so does that make it incorrect pronounciation?[/quote]
In the case of OREN instead of ODEN, it is a case of mispronouncation.
Same with DAI JO GOO instead of the correct DAI JO BOO for the Japanese term for “okay.” Taiwanese say DAI JO GOO, mispronouncing it. I think it is not intentional, but happened when the Japanese occupiers came over and lorded it over the locals, making them take Japanese name and speak nihongo. But many locals could not master the Imperial lingo, so out came ODEN and DAI JO GOO and a host of others. But they are cute, let them stay. Languages evolve.
As for ramen, yes, that is a case of the Japanese stealing a perfectly fine Chinese word and mispronouncing it. And now it comes back to Taiwan as LA MEN. GO figure.
One that comes to mind is ‘sah-vee-si’ (service). Usually older people say that I think. Ｉthink it’s a Japanese thing, too.
Never heard of “DAI JO GOO” being said by a Taiwanese though. I wonder if it’s actually a Taiwanese thing. “DAI JO BOO” i’ve heard. "DAI JO GOO? No. I don’t recall ever hearing anyone said that for some reason.
This is probably off topic, I’m not sure. But I hate the Japanese misprounciation"Tofu" when it really should be “Dofu”.
[quote=“Dave’s girl”][quote=“lane119”]
For example, Taiwanese say OREN instead of the correct Japanese ODEN for that special Japanese dish called ODEN. In English, there must be many mispronouncables heard here. Dish![/quote]
One that comes to mind is ‘sah-vee-si’ (service). Usually older people say that I think. Ｉthink it’s a Japanese thing, too.
Never heard of “DAI JO GOO” being said by a Taiwanese though. I wonder if it’s actually a Taiwanese thing. “DAI JO BOO” I’ve heard. "DAI JO GOO? No.[/quote]
No? Listen closely next time: most people in Taiwan say DAI JO GOO instead of DAIJOBOO. Listen!
As for service, yes, that’s another good example from Japan. It means “here is a free sample of our delicious food, for you!” so the Japanese-English is “service” (for free service, or sample) and it comes out in nihongo as “SA BA SOO” [‘sah-vee-si’] and it’s been corrupted a bit here.
One hardly ever hears that though. In Japan, almost every sit down restaurant offers customers at least one or two “service” dishes, free. I hardly ever get that here, though. Once in a blue moon. But it’s good PR and Taiwanese shop owners should do it more often.
Some other Japanese-“inspired” terms here I have heard are:
‘‘DO RAI BA’’ = driver = and really means “screwdriver”
‘‘HAN DA ROO’’ = handle = really means steering wheel, steering handle
and of course
ATAMA CON-GREE = atam concrete = atama is nihongo for HEAD, so this means “concrete head” (his head is made of concrete, i.e., stupid, low IQ. FUNNY ENOUGH: this term is NEVER said in Japan. It is Taiwanese-Japanese-English concoction, as is:
ATAMA SHO-TO = head + shoto (shorto) means “short” as in Short Circuited" so this means his head is short circuited, so he is INSANE, Crazy, silly
…I hate the Japanese misprounciation"Tofu" when it really should be “Dofu”.[/quote]
You are right and you are wrong, Dave’sGirl. The Japanese do say TOFU when it’s a single word, but when it’s tofu cooked with spicy tomato sauce, it’s called MABU-DOFU. The T becomes a D when it’s the second word of a phrase.
just like the S of SAKE becomes a Z when it’s a compound word like NIGORI-ZAKE (cloudy white sake, delicious by the way).