This is gonna be a short thread...

[Kirie_Maiden]

But can somebody help me please?

How in the hell do you pronounce Yaoi???

If one more person tells me off for saying Yowie... I don't know what I'm gonna do. How do you pronounce it?

 

[masaegu]

Now it's not easy to explain how a word is pronounced in words, but let me try.

How about Yah-Oh-Ee?

Better yet, if you are British pronounce that Oh part as the o in the word 'hot'. 'Yaoi' is a three-syllable word, and that's why 'Yowie' can sound very different because it would only have two syllables in it.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I always thought it was..............

like boy with a "Y" in front and the "b" is silent of course?

Uncle Frank

:?

 

[masaegu]

That won't make the word a three-syllable one, would it? In Japanese, Yaoi is written as ヤオイ. That is ya-o-i. If you knew how all the Kana are pronounced, there should be no problem saying 'Yaoi'.

 

[Clawn]

Yowie
Yow-ie
This is how I've always pronounced it and heard it pronounced. Hope this helps!

 

[masaegu]

If that's the case, you guys have completely changed the original Japanese pronounciation of the word.

 

[Mars Man]

And, as the OP so clearly stated. . . that's it folks !! It's as easy as open vowel ('a' as in father, 'o' as in open, and 'i' as in the 'ee' of feet) laid out just as masaegu san has fully explained.

 

[JimmySeal]

Split it down the middle and it shouldn't be so hard to grasp:
ya-oi. Now just smooth it out a bit without going into the yowie zone, and you're all set.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Thanks everyone. I was a bit sick of my japan-fanatic friend telling me it was pronounced Yay-oh-eye. Don't know where she got that from.

Thanks for the help. I officially love you all. xxx

 

[JimmySeal]

In which context did this word come up? "Yayoi" is also a relatively common word in Japanese.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

I was talking to a friend about Fanime conventions and how all the fan girls in the audience screamed at the Yaoi skit of Ouran High School Host Club. I pronounced it Ya-oh-ee and she said, "It's yay-oh-eye."

 

[epigene]

In which context did this word come up? "Yayoi" is also a relatively common word in Japanese.

"Yaoi" is type of manga/anime where the leading characters are beautiful boys who fall in love with each other--juvenile, cleaner version of gay porn??

It stands for:
山なし: Yamanashi (no climax)
オチなし: Ochi-nashi (no denouement)
意味なし: Imi-nashi (no meaning)

 

[Tomii515]

I hate when people think they're all that and say 'yow-ie'. Well, basically everyone answered the question.

It's 3 syllables, yah-oh-ee (ヤオイ = yaoi). If people say 'yow-ie', you should tell them off and be a smart :] And if someone tells you therwise, make a bet. Good way to get money haha

Even though this is off-topic, some of my friends are obsessed with anime and yaoi and manga and blah blah (whihc,I personally don't like any of them), and it's funny how I ask them if they're learning Japanese, and they say "I know a little" and I guess the words they know, and it's basically "yaoi" "ai" "oniisan" "kawaii" etc. It's funny. And my friend got mad at me because I corrected her when she said "kawaii" wrong. She said "cow-ah-ee". And i was like "uh... no." and then she's like, I speak American, and I laughed at her. Sorry, im mean XD lol not really... btu yeah

hope that helps lol

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Out of interest aswell... how do you pronounxw Kawaii and Kowaii??? They are extremely similar words and annoy me when I try to say them ad they sound the same. Is it "Kah-wa-ii" and "Koh-wa-ii"???

 

[SushiShin]

try it like this:

Kha-Wa-ii and like you said Koh-wa-ii?

i like this thread, its very educating indeed! Why didn't i came up on this idea?

well yeah its because i allready now how to pronounce it

take care Kirie Maiden and i wish you the best!

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Thank you. You're a very helpful member.

 

[ajmd20]

Kowaii???

I think you mean kowai there. Only one i.

 

[masaegu]

That's right. Single i in 'kowai' and double i in 'kawaii'. And these words sound VERY different from each other. (they should because they have almost opposite meanings!). So I recommend that Kirie Maiden treis and learns how to pronounce the Japanese syllabary (a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, etc..). This would not take too long because it won't involve learning any words or grammar. Once you have the syllabary pronunciation right, you will be able to pronounce any Japanese words forever even if you don't know what they mean.

 

[SushiShin]

this is a thread to pronounce words, and i think its good to help her how to pronounce the words, if we must translate and pronounce everything literally then this wasn't necessary and it could be placed in the 'Need word/phrase translated thread'

so let her do, she is bringing some amusement into learning japanese, and i think she is doing a very good thing to make not mistakes like i do sometimes

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Thank you, Shin.

While it is true that learning pronounciations of a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, etc... would help, you could still be doing it wrong, so it doesn't hurt to ask. I knew all the welsh pronunciations and I still can't properly pronounce that stupid 56 letter train station (that I typed on the banning thread).

 

[dark_secrester]

say yowie as you already are. But, cross over them.
The position of these is important below:
ya
o
i
ya-o-i

say them slowly. Don't say it quickly. Ya then o then i.
then speed up ya oi then yaoi
I don't think it sounds too different when you are speaking quickly, however, as an englishjin like me, you will probably be speaking slowly right now.

Afterthought.
A cat goes miao
The same noise but make it yah-ow-i

hope Ive helped a bit. You can't really write it down, it has to be said.
I would say watch some animes. You will be able to hear pronunciation. Plus podcasts, television... Any audio possible, you don't even need the translation, just practice saying it and listen to it and you will nail it down.

sumimasen, bademasu. watashi o kitaemashita. Therefore I also fear my Japanese wasn't too god just then.

 

[SushiShin]

ICHIGO! hmm so any other questions Kirie Maiden?

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

Not yet but I will probably have some soon. Haha.

Actually, could somebody reccomend some Japanese Learning books for me? I tried my local library and I have one on a 70 pence reserve, but that's about it.

 

[dark_secrester]

You have to pay to reserve? What rip-off library is that?

There are some good topics in some sections that say which the best books are. You will have to google around, get yourself some shidis and look on eBay and Amazon for some.

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

I'll have a bit of a browse then.

It's the Bolton Central Library. It's free reservations unless the book you reserve is currently out on loan for some reason. I don't see why else you'd reserve something but, oh well.