Pronounce "Matsushita"
Allen Brown
>>> saying Mat-sue-sheet-a. Most no-brain store clerks say Ma-shoe-sta. One
>>> guy said this was correct and I was wrong. Anyone know?
>> I was at an "unveiling" of the new Technics line by a bunch of engineers
>> at a place in Detroit called "Crazy Jack's" when Panasonic was trying to
>> extend its line past the "K-Mart" line about twenty years ago. All the
>> engineers (about six guys, I think) were Japanese, and told me that
>> Panasonic was owned by "Mat-soo-sh-ta".
> Japanese speaking friends tell me it's "ma-TSOO-sh-ta". The third
> syllable is unstressed and almost inaudible to English speakers.
Close. Much closer than any of the other suggestions in this notes
string. Japanese does not emphasise any syllable. Furthermore they
use a different alphabet (actually alphabets, they have three). The
pronunciation is more clear if the word is spelled in Hiragana. But
thats not possible here. Roughly translating the Hiragana into our
alphabet gives
ma-tsu-shi-ta
However, the i sound in the shi character is generally silent (or
virtually silent). So the pronunciation comes closer to
ma-tsu-shta
Three sylables. The a in ma and shta are pronounced like the o in
'mommy'. The u in tsu is long, like 'who'. The ts in tsu is
basically one sound. There is no english equivalent. Likewise the
sht in shta has no english equivalent. But in both cases you can come
close by simply trying to pronounce it the way I have spelled it. By
the way, the Japanese t sound is more like the t in Spanish than
English. There is no air expelled with it.
The last detail I will add is that the time length of syllables in
Japanese is important, unlike english. This word is simple. Just
make the three syllables the same length.
In case you are wondering I studied Japanese for a short time. Not
enough time to develop much of a vocabulary, but enough to pronounce
it. When I traveled to Japan the people I met often complemented me
on my pronunciation. But then, the DO Japanese tend to be polite.
--
Allen Brown abr...@cv.hp.com or abrown%hpc...@hplabs.hp.com
or hplabs!hpcvca!abrown or "Hey you!"
Not representing my employer.
Robert L. Edwards
writes:
*> Japanese speaking friends tell me it's "ma-TSOO-sh-ta". The third
*> syllable is unstressed and almost inaudible to English speakers.
*
*Close. Much closer than any of the other suggestions in this notes
*string. Japanese does not emphasise any syllable.
Not exactly true. Japanese has a tone accent, and the second (and to a
certain extent, the third) syllable should be pronounced in a higher
tone than the others. English speakers usually interpret this as stress.
*Furthermore they
*use a different alphabet (actually alphabets, they have three).
Also not exactly true. There are two scripts used in writing Japanese:
hiragana is used in most cases, katakana is used for foreign words,
emphasis, etc. Chinese characters are used for roots of words. This
is a simplification.
*
*However, the i sound in the shi character is generally silent (or
*virtually silent). So the pronunciation comes closer to
* ma-tsu-shta
*
*Three sylables. The a in ma and shta are pronounced like the o in
*'mommy'. The u in tsu is long, like 'who'. The ts in tsu is
*basically one sound. There is no english equivalent. Likewise the
*sht in shta has no english equivalent.
Vowels between unvoiced consonants (such as the ts- in tsu and the
sh- in shi) are unvoiced. This sounds like someone whishpering the
vowel sound. The u is tsu is NOT 'long'.
*The last detail I will add is that the time length of syllables in
*Japanese is important, unlike english. This word is simple. Just
*make the three syllables the same length.
Four.
*
*In case you are wondering I studied Japanese for a short time. Not
*enough time to develop much of a vocabulary, but enough to pronounce
*it. When I traveled to Japan the people I met often complemented me
*on my pronunciation. But then, the DO Japanese tend to be polite.
Maybe too polite.
* Allen Brown abr...@cv.hp.com or abrown%hpc...@hplabs.hp.com
-Robert
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Edwards redw...@viar.com
Viar & Co., Alexandria, VA GEnie: R.EDWARDS4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
gaf
Interestingly, it depends on the person you are addressing. A fellow named
Hiro Matsushita now drives Indy cars (moved up from Formula Atlantic),
and is directly related to the huge Japanese electronics company with
the same name.
He says that the rest of his family prefers the pronunciation "mat-SHU-sta"
(or something very close to that), but he prefers to be called "mat-su-SHI-ta".
--
Guy Finney It's that feeling of deja-vu
UUCS inc. Phoenix, Az all over again.
ncar!noao!asuvax!hrc!uucs1!gaf sun!sunburn!gtx!uucs1!gaf
Allen Brown
>* string. Japanese does not emphasise any syllable.
> Not exactly true. Japanese has a tone accent, and the second (and to a
> certain extent, the third) syllable should be pronounced in a higher
> tone than the others. English speakers usually interpret this as stress.
Japanese accenting is MUCH more subtle than english. If you try to
stress as Robert has told you hear you will sound comical to the
Japanese. If you try to pronounce it without stress as I suggested,
it will be closer to the Japanese way.
> Vowels between unvoiced consonants (such as the ts- in tsu and the
> sh- in shi) are unvoiced. This sounds like someone whishpering the
> vowel sound.
I respectfully disagree.
> The u is tsu is NOT 'long'.
'Long' was a poor choice of words. I was using it in the sense that
an english teacher uses. It has nothing to do with temporal length.
In fact the u at the end of the word (in fact all vowels at the end of
words) is temporally short, shortened by a glottal stop. That sound
is the t in bottle as pronounced by the Cockney.
>* The last detail I will add is that the time length of syllables in
>* Japanese is important, unlike english. This word is simple. Just
>* make the three syllables the same length.
> Four.
If you pronounce Matsushita with four syllables it will sound wrong.
If you try to pronounce it with three, or as close as possible to
three, you can come very close.
>* Allen Brown abr...@cv.hp.com or abrown%hpc...@hplabs.hp.com
> -Robert
My pronunciation instructions were designed to tell a speaker of
English how to pronounce Matsushita. A native speaker of Japanese
would probably get weird results if he used these instructions.
Sometimes it is better to have a system which works than one which is
perfectly 'correct' and doesn't work.
Another thing I should mention. It may not matter just how you
pronounce Japanese names as long as you are in the USA. I found that
when speaking English while I was in Japan the Japanese who spoke some
English understood me better if I spoke English with a Japanese
accent. That was because they had learned English from Japanese
teachers who had learned from Japanese teachers. :-) :-) :-)
I wouldn't be suprised if some Japanese do the same thing with us.
--
Allen Brown abr...@cv.hp.com or abrown%hpc...@hplabs.hp.com
or hplabs!hpcvca!abrown or "Hey you!"
Not representing my employer.
"No matter where you go... there you are." --- Buckaroo Bonzai