3 ms·

You basically still have the same problem tho. Is it Ko-un-an or Kou-nan? Without accent marks it's unclear without already knowing.

timr 3y ago
No, because you never separately voice consecutive vowels in Japanese. There's no such thing as a glottal stop. Tone aside, "kounan" is pronounced as a native English speaker would pronounce the word.
- resolutebat 3y ago
  Incorrect on both counts. 追う ou "to chase" is a simple example of separately pronounced consecutive vowels. 港南, on the other hand, does not have a "u" sound of any kind, it's simply a long "ō", which doesn't really exist in English. The reason it's occasionally spelled with a "u" (although not in any formal standard) is because hiragana uses the letter う to indicate long o and u.
  - timr 3y ago
    My point was that you do not pronounce that word as "oh u". There's no glottal stop, nor are the vowels "separated". But I agree it's not a familiar concept to English speakers, nor is it easily expressed in romaji. If I were explaining it to a native English speaker who didn't know Japanese at all, I'd tell them to say "owe"...but that's not hepburn. > 港南, on the other hand, does not have a "u" sound of any kind, it's simply a long "ō", which doesn't really exist in English. Yes, that was exactly my point. It's a long vowel. The closest approximation in English is not "ko", but "kou". I disagree that this isn't in English, however. It's an easy concept to map -- we have tons of repeated vowels -- which is why "kounan" gets the pronunciation pretty close. Directly addressing the question I was responding to, there's no question about "ko un an" vs. "kou nan", because the former requires you to stop the airflow between the "ko" and "un" in a way that isn't natural for Japanese. Knowing that consecutive vowels will essentially always "smoosh together" allows you to pronounce the word -- so long as you know the vowel is long.

timr 3y ago

No, because you never separately voice consecutive vowels in Japanese. There's no such thing as a glottal stop. Tone aside, "kounan" is pronounced as a native English speaker would pronounce the word.

resolutebat 3y ago
Incorrect on both counts. 追う ou "to chase" is a simple example of separately pronounced consecutive vowels. 港南, on the other hand, does not have a "u" sound of any kind, it's simply a long "ō", which doesn't really exist in English. The reason it's occasionally spelled with a "u" (although not in any formal standard) is because hiragana uses the letter う to indicate long o and u.
- timr 3y ago
  My point was that you do not pronounce that word as "oh u". There's no glottal stop, nor are the vowels "separated". But I agree it's not a familiar concept to English speakers, nor is it easily expressed in romaji. If I were explaining it to a native English speaker who didn't know Japanese at all, I'd tell them to say "owe"...but that's not hepburn. > 港南, on the other hand, does not have a "u" sound of any kind, it's simply a long "ō", which doesn't really exist in English. Yes, that was exactly my point. It's a long vowel. The closest approximation in English is not "ko", but "kou". I disagree that this isn't in English, however. It's an easy concept to map -- we have tons of repeated vowels -- which is why "kounan" gets the pronunciation pretty close. Directly addressing the question I was responding to, there's no question about "ko un an" vs. "kou nan", because the former requires you to stop the airflow between the "ko" and "un" in a way that isn't natural for Japanese. Knowing that consecutive vowels will essentially always "smoosh together" allows you to pronounce the word -- so long as you know the vowel is long.