Iaido

[8th Samurai]

Hi All
I was Wondering How "Iaido" is Pronounced.
I've heard it Like "ee-eye-do", "Ai-eh-do", "ee-eh-do"
which is correct (if any)
sincerely
Me
Steve

[Gil Gillespie]

The first pronunciation.

Is there a little nod-nod wink-wink in your signature? Sincere full names are not a big request. If you're really Steve Kurosawa, then gomen nasai.

[8th Samurai]

Man
Thats My Real Name
i have no relation to the japanese director but my father was from Osaka and tells me the names is found fairly commonly there and in the provinces of Chosu, Satsuma, Mimasaka and Kazusa, All on Honshu. Many Men Have made the sam Ignorent Insult you did.

[Tony Peters]

ee-eye-do is the way I've heard it pronounced the most though like you said I've also heard the others

[Rennis]

"Ee eye do" is correct. The easiest way to remember how it is pronounced is the Iai version of the old kid's song "Old McDonald had a sword. I-ai- I-ai do......". Cheesy, but correct and easy to remember.

Rennis Buchner

[Gil Gillespie]

Japanese syllables converted into English lettering are known as Romanji. There are only 5 vowell sounds and they never change. a is always ah, i is ee, o is oh, e is eh, u is oo (like boost). There are no short and long vowells as we understand it. A vertical bar over the letter we usually think changing the pronunciation merely changes the emphasis---the tone is held slightly longer, which can change everything. (Oba is uncle; obaaah is grandfather).

Mispronunciations abound, even among very senior western budoka. Pay careful attention to the Romanji vowells. No matter how long the term or name it can only be pronounced one way. If this makes Nihongo (Japanese language) seem easy, just wait til you start counting!

[Gil Gillespie]

Ooops, brain flatulence. Gomen nasai (my apologies). The bar over the Romanji vowell that lengthens the emphasis is HORIZONTAL. O'course!!

[Gil Gillespie]

Thanks to venerable member of this forum whose private e corrected some inaccuracies above. To whit, it is Romaji, there is no "n." And oba and obaah are aunt and grandmother, not uncle & grandfather. "'Shpei, 'shpei." My bad. It's all about learning, so today was a good day. Sheesh you oughta see my lumpy ukemi after 12 years of trying. . .

[Sean Fogarty]

Actually, both ro-maji and ro-manji are fine. . .

[Edited by Sean Fogarty on 09-12-2000 at 05:39 AM]

[ghp]

Sean,

Actually, both ro-maji and ro-manji are fine.

Actually --- :D it is "roma-ji" -- that is, the letters [ji] of Rome [roma].

[any more "actuallys" out there???] :)

Actually ... I guess it might also be "roman-ji" -- "roman letters."

Anybody else with more information?

Regards,
Guy

[Edited by ghp on 09-12-2000 at 05:29 PM]

[Earl Hartman]

Guy:

It is just as you say. "Roma" is Japanese for Rome, "ji" is Japanese for letter(s). "Romaji" thus means "Roman letters", that is, the Latin alphabet. Romaji might be shorthand for "Roma no ji" (letters of Rome), but "Romaji" is never pronounced "Romanji" (not by native speakers of Japanese, anyway).

Earl

[Sean Fogarty]

I may not have much experience with native speakers of Japanese, but I'm going by what it says in _Easy Japanese_ (which I can't seem to find at the moment). As well, I have come across people who have been taught to say rômanji by Japanese in Japan, before coming across the ocean only to be told it is wrong. :D Perhaps it is. . .

As for the hyphens, I couldn't seem to use the extended character set (ergo the editing), so I reverted to using hyphens to symbolize macrons over the previous letter. / is an acute accent, \ is grave, ^ is circumflex, etc. Besides, katakana is written the same way. A little confusing, perhaps. . .

Usually when seperating kanji/kana I see a . used:

ro.u.ma.ji, or rôma.ji I suppose. . . but what difference does it make anyway?

All hail Rôma no shinwa Marusu ikusa no kami (sp?)! :D

[Edited by Sean Fogarty on 09-13-2000 at 03:08 PM]

[Scott Irey]

Well in the 6 years I lived in Japan I can say I never heard it pronounced "romanji" by anyone other than a shiny new Westerner testing out his or her newly aquired Japanese skills. As for Iaido, EE-EYE-DO is pretty darn close but if we want to split hairs here (hobby of mine...good hasuji training) EE-AH-EE-DO is how it do be said. The AH-EE comes close to a long "I" but is 2 syllables instead of 1.

[mokso]

It doesn't matter how you say it as long as you catch the essence and embody it.


Iaido