3 ms·
> why is the /ʧ/ sound romanized as “ch”? There is no [tʃ] in Japanese, but English speakers approximate [tɕ] as [tʃ], so writing it as ⟨ch⟩ allows English spe
by yorwba 6y ago
> why is the /ʧ/ sound romanized as “ch”?
There is no [tʃ] in Japanese, but English speakers approximate [tɕ] as [tʃ], so writing it as ⟨ch⟩ allows English speakers without knowledge of Japanese to do their best attempt at pronouncing e.g. someone's name. Given the dominance of English in international communication, it's no surprise Hepburn won. "Makes sense to English speakers" is a feature, not a bug.