Expert: Dreams - 2/1/2009

Question
Me and my friend were just having this debate and he says that you don't pronounce the "u" in the japanese language such as the name of a video game character "Marisu". He says its always pronounced "Mars", but i say for formal situations its "Marisu", but we both might be wrong. So when do you pronounce the "u" sound?

Answer
Hello,

There are actually some rules to pronounciation in Japanese, but they don't have to do with formal or informal speech. Generally, when the letter U is paired with an S, or comes in the last syllable of a word, it sounds "silent". It's actually more like the U sound gets cut off, or stopped in the back of your throat.

The letter I can also sound "whispered", most commonly when paired with the letters SH, K, H, or P. (ie, the word "shikata" will sound like "sh'kata").

There are, of course, exceptions. The pronounciation of some words have mutated in certain ways ("watakushi" sounds like "watak'shi"). And, the speaker can make words sound different (I've heard "desu" pronounced both "des" and "de-SOO").

In the case of "Marisu", it should sound more like "Maris" with the U cut off at the end. If it were to sound like "Mars", it would be written "Marusu".

Hope that helps,
Dreams