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The author seems to be French-speaking, and "sinogramme" seems to be an accepted term in French: > Les caractères chinois, ou sinogrammes, sont les unités logo

The author seems to be French-speaking, and "sinogramme" seems to be an accepted term in French: > Les caractères chinois, ou sinogrammes, sont les unités logographiques qui composent l'écriture des langues chinoises. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caract%C3%A8res_chinois https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caract%C3%A8res_chinois

Freak_NL 6y ago
Ah, that would explain it.
DocTomoe 6y ago
Some additional information: France is actually a leading country when it comes to Japanese Studies, to the point where high-level knowledge of French is a relevant skill in pursuing Japanese studies elsewhere, as many papers were historically only available in French.
- mytailorisrich 6y ago
  I studies Japanese a bit in France a long time ago and was told that spoken French includes all the sounds of spoken Japanese so that a French speaker should have no problem pronouncing Japanese, apart from the accent. This is in contrast to the endless trouble French speakers have with the English 'th'...
  - yorwba 6y ago
    The stereotypical French speaker who has trouble with English [h] would definitely have the same problem with the Japanese [h], [ç] and [ɸ]. If they can't manage the tongue placement for English [θ], how are they supposed to handle Japanese [ɕ] and [ʑ]? And that's just the consonants. Usually when someone thinks that language X has all the sounds of language Y, it's a speaker of language X who hasn't yet realized that their ears are too attuned to language X to recognize the sounds of language Y as something different. Don't trust your ears!
    - mytailorisrich 6y ago
      It's only the letter H and R (as transcribed in romaji) that are not immediate for a French speaker but they are not difficult. Certainly much simpler than 'th' in English. (Source: not my ears but Japanese textbooks)
      - yorwba 6y ago
        How would a French speaker pronounce し [ɕi] and じ [ʑi]? My guess would be « chi » [ʃi] and « ji » [ʒi]. Close enough to be understood, but different enough to be noticeable.
  - anthk 6y ago
    >This is in contrast to the endless trouble French speakers have with the English 'th'... They have a whole country in the South to practice that sound...
  - kergonath 6y ago
    Japanese prononciation is not difficult for native French speakers. Off the top of my head, the main “difficulties” are the /r/ and the /h/ (which is always silent in French). That said, I am not sure it is much more difficult for native English speakers.

Freak_NL 6y ago

Ah, that would explain it.

DocTomoe 6y ago

Some additional information: France is actually a leading country when it comes to Japanese Studies, to the point where high-level knowledge of French is a relevant skill in pursuing Japanese studies elsewhere, as many papers were historically only available in French.

mytailorisrich 6y ago
I studies Japanese a bit in France a long time ago and was told that spoken French includes all the sounds of spoken Japanese so that a French speaker should have no problem pronouncing Japanese, apart from the accent. This is in contrast to the endless trouble French speakers have with the English 'th'...
- yorwba 6y ago
  The stereotypical French speaker who has trouble with English [h] would definitely have the same problem with the Japanese [h], [ç] and [ɸ]. If they can't manage the tongue placement for English [θ], how are they supposed to handle Japanese [ɕ] and [ʑ]? And that's just the consonants. Usually when someone thinks that language X has all the sounds of language Y, it's a speaker of language X who hasn't yet realized that their ears are too attuned to language X to recognize the sounds of language Y as something different. Don't trust your ears!
  - mytailorisrich 6y ago
    It's only the letter H and R (as transcribed in romaji) that are not immediate for a French speaker but they are not difficult. Certainly much simpler than 'th' in English. (Source: not my ears but Japanese textbooks)
    - yorwba 6y ago
      How would a French speaker pronounce し [ɕi] and じ [ʑi]? My guess would be « chi » [ʃi] and « ji » [ʒi]. Close enough to be understood, but different enough to be noticeable.
- anthk 6y ago
  >This is in contrast to the endless trouble French speakers have with the English 'th'... They have a whole country in the South to practice that sound...
- kergonath 6y ago
  Japanese prononciation is not difficult for native French speakers. Off the top of my head, the main “difficulties” are the /r/ and the /h/ (which is always silent in French). That said, I am not sure it is much more difficult for native English speakers.