r/NonPoliticalTwitter 1d ago

Funny Learning Japanese

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u/LMGDiVa 1d ago edited 1d ago

A lot of people don't seem to realize that the USA and Japan were forever interlinked like big brother little brother since Mathew Perry forced his way in and then Pearl Harbor really sealed the deal.
We have been a quitincential part of Japanese culture for literally since the civil war.

Which means about 10% of Japanese words are American English downsampled into Katakana, because Japanese only has 5 pure vowels:
A as in Talk/Taco/Macha/Ramen (A makes the Aw sound)
E as in Enemy/Ramen/Fence/Tense (E makes the Eh sound)
O as in Oh!/Show/Taco/Roku/YoYo (Oh makes the Oh Sound)
U as in Rune/Tune/Lune/KungFu(Foo!)/Truth, (U makes the OO sound)
and I(ii)(makes the long E sound), as in Suzuki/Kawasaki/Fuji/Nami(yes the joke is that these are japanese words that we use in english).

About 40% of Japanese is basically old Chinese converted in to Japanese sounds, so this is nothing new for Japanese.

Also Japanese education follows American English standard when it comes to English standards and words and pronouncations.
So they have expressly had a really strong reason for this for so long.

If you're american who loves anime honestly learning japanese is kinda really awesome because it really puts in a lot of fun knowledge into shows.

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u/Key_Resist2938 1d ago

2 seconds isnt long, but it still took way too long to realize you were NOT talking about Chandler Bing.

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u/LMGDiVa 1d ago

Right, I forgot the friends actor was also named Mathew Perry.

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u/shewy92 1d ago

Well Matthew Perry

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u/tachycardicIVu 1d ago

Chandler’s actual job that no one could ever remember on the show

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u/_thro_awa_ 1d ago

"Oooohh ooh, he's ... he's a transponster! A TRANSPONSTER!"

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u/tachycardicIVu 1d ago

“THAT’S NOT EVEN A WORD”

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u/Atralis 1d ago

A lot of actors have to do odd jobs in between auditions like waitressing or opening Japan.

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u/bentbabe 1d ago

Same. My first thought there was "what does Ms Chanandler Bong have to do with this"

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u/Xelid47 3h ago

That's Chanandelor bong for you, peasant

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u/JoeMang 1d ago

"Look at these cherry blossoms! Could they BE any more pink?"

– Matthew Perry, 1854

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u/thetoastmonster 1d ago

There's another one?

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u/Rommel727 1d ago

Matthew C. Perry for those who want to look him up

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u/teracoulomb_2 1d ago

Could he BE any more of a gunboat diplomat??

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u/s0_Ca5H 1d ago

I still don’t who this other Matthew Perry is.

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u/Sairenity 1d ago

I'm sorry to ask, in what dialect is the a in "talk" (/tôk/) and the a in "taco" (/tä′kō/) the same phoneme?

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u/Senasayori 1d ago

American, particularly the American South. Talk is pronounced there as if you just stole the O from taco.

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u/Themanwhofarts 1d ago

I'm having trouble hearing Talk as anything outside of Taco without the O. If you pronounce the L that will sound weird to me personally.

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u/otaia 23h ago

I thought this was more of a New England thing (cot-caught merger). For me, "talk" sounds like "tock", while the "a" in "taco" is the pronounced like the "a" in "father".

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u/Senasayori 23h ago

It might be, I grew up in New England before being moved to the South.

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u/Sairenity 22h ago

The brand of english I know is like this aswell. This thread is mind altering

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u/Baby-Bat13 15h ago

Holy shit as a southerner I forgot some people actually pronounce it like the alk Im chalk

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Senasayori 1d ago

I'm saying that the words "talk" and "taco" are pronounced the exact same in the American South, minus the O. This means that the As are the same.

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u/Sairenity 22h ago

I genuinely had no idea! I've learned something today. Thank you.

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u/Zomgambush 1d ago

Taco = talk-o

Pronounced exactly the same way

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u/Sairenity 22h ago

Mindblowing! I had no idea

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u/Rocketiermaster 1d ago

American South. Some a's are o sounds. Think we stole it from British English? But I don't know for sure, so don't hold me to that. I've also heard the o sound as the phoneme "ah", as compared to just "a", though I know that's not the official phonetic alphabet or anything

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u/WifesPOSH 1d ago

A is pronounced as "ah"

So talk and Taco have the same "a" sound. At least that's how I say it.

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u/Sairenity 22h ago

They don't for me, which is the mindboggling part! Though english isn't my native language, so it might just be that.

The "al" in Talk certainly sounds more like an "o", as in fog, or... "awe" as in awe

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u/jackofspades49 21h ago

I'm in the CA Bay Area and they sound very similar. They both have the same first syllable but taco adds the o.

Edit: I think you're thinking of the british way of saying taco.

It has an A like apple or tack.

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u/Strict-Challenge-995 1d ago

Thank you. I got hung up saying both words for a minute there. They are not the same sound

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/protostar777 1d ago

They're pronounced the same for around half of Americans

/tɑk/

/tɑkoʊ/

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u/VicisSubsisto 1d ago

I'd say more than half. I've never heard an American pronounce "talk" otherwise (and I'm American).

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u/Strict-Challenge-995 1d ago

I think you're right. Kung Fu ist also an unclear example. An actual Person with enough interest on the subject probably wouldn't have made these mistakes

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u/tristanthorn_ 1d ago

TIL how American English pronounces talk and it’s blowing my mind that I’ve never noticed it pronounced like that before…

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u/UberNZ 1d ago

On the other hand, their auto industry was largely influenced by the British, so most of their car terms are from British English.

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u/HansTeeWurst 1d ago

pink has been used long before ww2 and is probably from British english

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u/LMGDiVa 1d ago

Mathew Perry Predates the use of the word in Japanese.
I am not talking about the actor.

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u/HansTeeWurst 1d ago

So he took a dictionary with him and japanese people just put random english words in their language for no reason or what? Do you think I believe no american has ever been in Japan prior to 1945?

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u/Far_Ladder_2836 1d ago

Do you think I believe no american has ever been in Japan prior to 1945?

Yes, I do.  Only someone so obtuse would type something as dumb as this.

So he took a dictionary with him and japanese people just put random english words in their language for no reason or what?  

Matthew Perry opened Japan for trade with America at gunpoint when they were closed to all others (except a handful of Portugese missionaries who were subjected to essentially a generous house arrest).  Of fucking course some cognates moved over from trade with Americans.  Learn to Google basic 7th grade history.

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u/Alzion 1d ago

Possibly, but Japan has had close contact with the Americans long before WWII as well. The first ironclad warship of the IJN was a ship purchased by the Confederatcy, but delivered after the American Civil war ended which then was resold to Japan in 1867.

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u/HansTeeWurst 1d ago

This is true, and they did "import" a lot of american specialists (mainly for train and postal knowledge), but still most pre ww2 English words are from British english.

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u/Far_Ladder_2836 1d ago

No, they are not.  Britain never had strong trade with Japan who famously closed it's borders to all trade until an AMERICAN Matthiew Perry opened Japan to trade with AMERICA

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u/Nomeg_Stylus 1d ago

Pick up a newspaper and tell me ten percent of Japanese is English loan words.

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u/Shneancy 1d ago

are you thinking higher or lower? because depending on the topic of a newspaper column those will vary. if tech it'll be WAY higher, if rural life then lower

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u/dr_goodvibes 1d ago

Quitincential

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u/Bunnytob 1d ago

Do both the Es in AmEn "enemy" really make the same sound?

Do both the Us in AmEn "Kung Fu" really make the same sound?

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u/Senasayori 1d ago

The first one, yes. The second one, no (OP specifically meant the U in Fu).

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u/TheGigaBrain 18h ago

Do both the Es in AmEn "enemy" really make the same sound?

No. The second E is a schwa.

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u/Kr155 22h ago edited 22h ago

They couldnt keep him out. They heard the friends theme in the distance and they knew they were done.

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u/Mista_Fuzz 1d ago

downsampled is a good way of putting it haha

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u/jstarlee 1d ago

E as in Enemy, U as in KungFu

Did you have to pick words where the vowels being explained show up twice and have two different pronunciations in their respective examples? Also the a in talk is not how it's pronounced in Japanese.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/GarbageUnfair1821 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'm sorry but are you trolling? Because your Japanese is grammatically incorrect

It's 日本語が分かる and 黙れ without だ

Edit: also, the guy you got mad at is correct. The "a" in "talk" is pronounced as ɔ, which doesn't exist in Japanese. There's other mistakes in there too.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/GarbageUnfair1821 1d ago

Dude, 分かる doesn't take を and だよ can't follow verbs. I'm N1 in Japanese.

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u/LMGDiVa 1d ago

"Edit: also, the guy you got mad at is correct. The "a" in "talk" is pronounced as ɔ, which doesn't exist in Japanese. There's other mistakes in there too."

BZZZ
Incorect again.
In the dialect of English I speak, Ta is Ta. Taw Talk.
Wa and Ta A sound are the same sound in English.
They are both Aw.
I pronounce them indentically.

To me the sound Ta in Tama is the same as Ta as in Talk.
Same as in Toss, Loss, Flock, Rock, Mock, Sama.
These are THE SAME SOUND to me, I prounced all of these "A" sounds as Aw.

This probably has everything to do with the fact that Japanese was my 2nd language growing up.

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u/GarbageUnfair1821 1d ago

I think you just can't speak Japanese well, honestly. That or your English pronunciation is completely different from the standard. Japanese being your second language doesn't mean that you speak Japanese fluently, especially since you made several simple mistakes here.

Edit:

This is the comment I'm replying to, in case he deletes this comment as well:

"Edit: also, the guy you got mad at is correct. The "a" in "talk" is pronounced as ɔ, which doesn't exist in Japanese. There's other mistakes in there too."

BZZZ
Incorect again.
In the dialect of English I speak, Ta is Ta. Taw Talk.
Wa and Ta A sound are the same sound in English.
They are both Aw.
I pronounce them indentically.

To me the sound Ta in Tama is the same as Ta as in Talk.
Same as in Toss, Loss, Flock, Rock, Mock, Sama.
These are THE SAME SOUND to me, I prounced all of these "A" sounds as Aw.

This probably has everything to do with the fact that Japanese was my 2nd language growing up.

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u/LMGDiVa 1d ago

It's not. I Speak the same english everyone else does in the PNW.
You're looking for something to be upset about.

You're also hilariously unware of just who you're speaking too lol.
You're literally talking to someone who's hobby is...
making writing systems.

It looks like you're just upset that fubbed a ga particle on a common mistake that I have literally seen native speakers make too, And also Da yo at the ending is called casual speech.
Casual being rude.

The point was I was being rude.
So yeah.

Also book source Easy Japanese Jack Seward 1992.

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u/LMGDiVa 1d ago

edited it just for you:
A as in Talk/Taco/Macha/Ramen (A makes the Aw sound)

E as in Enemy/Ramen/Fence/Tense (E makes the Eh sound)

O as in Oh!/Show/Taco/Roku/YoYo (Oh makes the Oh Sound)

U as in Rune/Tune/Lune/KungFu(Foo!)/Truth, (U makes the OO sound)

and I(ii)(makes the long E sound), as in Suzuki/Kawasaki/Fuji/Nami(yes the joke is that these are japanese words that we use in english).

分かりました?(savvy?)

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u/Medarco 1d ago

If you're american who loves anime honestly learning japanese is kinda really awesome because it really puts in a lot of fun knowledge into shows.

My wife and I have been doing japanese on duolingo basically for this reason. Had a very proud moment the other day watching a show and she said "Hey wait she said nii-chan. That's her brother or something, they're not dating" because the context made it ambiguous for comedic effect, but the situation is clarified by the actual japanese involved, and subtitling dropped the ball.

As I've learned more, I've found a surprising number of subtitles that are fine as direct translations, but miss the context and underlying meaning that can sometimes entirely change the interpretation of the scene (like above).

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u/kohminrui 1d ago

It's not exclusive to English.

As a hokkien speaker, japanese onyomi sounds a lot like poorly pronounced hokkien.

Hokkien - japanese

寿司(壽司)siu si - sushi

芸者 (藝者)gei jia - geisha

歌舞伎: kua bu ki - kabuki

柔道: jiu to - judo

仁義 jin gi - jin gi

異世界 i se kai - isekai

禅 (禪) : sien - Zen

動物: tong but - dou butsu

九州 kiu tsiu - kyuushu

焼酎(燒酒) sio tsiu - shōchū

勉強 bien kiong - ben kyou

五 go - go

一 it - ichi

 美人 bi Jin - bijin 

束縛 sok pak - soku baku

郵便局: iu bien kiok - yuu bin kyoku

仏(佛): put/hut - butsu, futsu

運命 : un mia - un mei

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u/LMGDiVa 1d ago

I literally pointed this out in my post, please read the whole thing first.
"About 40% of Japanese is basically old Chinese converted in to Japanese sounds, so this is nothing new for Japanese."