3 ms·
Except romaji isn't used to teach pronunciation, it's meant to help the student read while they are still getting familiar with kana; much like furigana for kan
by alirazaq 10y ago
Except romaji isn't used to teach pronunciation, it's meant to help the student read while they are still getting familiar with kana; much like furigana for kanji.
Japanese characters have one pronunciation in all circumstances (excluding diacritical modifications). Respectively in romaji, consonants and vowels will always have the same pronunciation. Compare that to American English where accents have been removed and even native speakers can have trouble pronouncing new words.
- ue_ 10y ago>Except romaji isn't used to teach pronunciation I know, but students will continue to treat it as a pronunciation guide anyway, unless told specifically how to pronounce otherwise. It's especially bad when the Japanese is supported by romaji way into the course, which fosters laziness in the student.
- empath75 10y agounvoiced vowels at the end of sentences sometimes get dropped in Japanese 'です' (more 'dess' than 'desu'). So it's not entirely consistent.