3 ms·
Anyone where the "ou" romanization for long o vowels comes from (e.g. 少年 being rendered as "shounen" rather than "shoonen" or "shōnen")? [edit] Wikipedia sugg
by aidenn0 10mo ago
Anyone where the "ou" romanization for long o vowels comes from (e.g. 少年 being rendered as "shounen" rather than "shoonen" or "shōnen")?
[edit]
Wikipedia suggests it might be from Wāpuro rōmaji, where "u" is always used to spell the kana "う"
- kagevf 10mo agoWikipedia is right; the romanization is just matching how it's rendered in kana.
- layer8 10mo agoLook at the standard kana table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goj%C5%ABon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goj%C5%ABon
- mc3301 10mo agoBecause 少年 in hiragana is しょうねん: spelled out that is "sho u ne n" Many, but not all long vowels in japanese follow these: ああ a i -> as in おかあさん, mother いい i i -> as in ちいさい, small うう u u -> as in すう, to smoke えい e i -> as in せんせい, a teacher おう o u -> as in こうえん, a park Yes, exceptions to this exist (like おお) and some are actually dipthongs and not actually long-vowels, but easier to think of them like that.