The Chat Thread

[Dark Samus]

Sensei, I tried to locate Zharky but he don't answer the call. I will try once more tomorrow, if I can't contact him, then I'll have to (sigh) give them to the Cyber Caffe Attender to scan them for me --///--....I'll have to hang in there.

[Socard]

アレックス
Arekusu

Hello all.
i was wondering if someone fluent in japanese could explain how the above Katakana characters are turned to these in Romanji.
I have a beginners knowledge of the Japanese laungauge but i can't figure out why it is pronounced this way. if someone could explain this i would be very gratefull.

[Mayotta]

Originally Posted by Socard

アレックス
Arekusu

Hello all.
i was wondering if someone fluent in japanese could explain how the above Katakana characters are turned to these in Romanji.
I have a beginners knowledge of the Japanese laungauge but i can't figure out why it is pronounced this way. if someone could explain this i would be very gratefull.

I'm not fluent, but I can try....

Though the spelling can depend on the romanization system (you might see "tu" instead of "tsu," or "si" instead of "shi," or even "m" instead of "n," for example) and on if the kana is serving as a particle (subject particle は=wa instead of ha, directional particle へ=e instead of he, object particle を= wo or o), each kana generally has its own consonant-vowel sound combination (or they're vowels or a plain n). レ is always "re." ス is always "su." ヒ is always "hi."

Some of these sounds can be modified, though. If you put tenten (looks like a quotation mark) on su, then you get zu (ズ); put a maru (small circle) on hi, you get pi (ピ), and tenten would get you bi (ビ). There are some interesting ones (v isn't natural to Japanese, so you might see ヴ as v O_o).

Then there are digraphs (when two characters written together make one sound). A large shi (し) and a small yo (ょ) make sho (しょ), for example. A small tsu, however, basically doubles the following consonant, so your example would actually be "Arekkusu." ア=a, レ=re, ッ=doubles following consonant, ク=ku, ス=su. As another example, "haiccha dame" ("you mustn't enter") would be はいっちゃだめ. (A note though: since chi is part of the t line, you might see t serving as the doubling of that consonant ["haitcha" instead of "haiccha"].)


If you're asking why "Alex" has to be spelled that way, 1. there's no real l in Japanese, 2. I guess they just felt that the x sound has an enlongated k-type sound in it, and 3. there's also no plain s, so they use su instead. I myself wonder why kyatto (cat) has that y in it.

[Ugetsu]

@Socard, I'm sure that @Mayotta's explanation helped a lot, but I am curious about what you thought it said -- sometimes when you are just starting, one kana can look an awful lot like another. And this word is pretty straightforward except for the "tsu" ッ acting as a doubler.

ア A
レ RE
ク KU
ス SU

I suppose that one meaning of this spelling could be the name "ALEX"

[Socard]

Both of you thx for the help.
the problem i was having was that the characters and sounds didnt match up when i compared those two words to my katakana chart.
basically the i thought that there might be something wrong with my chart because i checked the situation in different places including google translate
they all point to a problem with my chart.

(update)Found the Problem. my printer decided to be a jerk and not print the last five or so inches of the chart so i missed a few rows.
D**n You Hewlett-Packard!

[Dark Samus]

So, how was your day Newnie? I will stay here while I see if sensei send me a E-mail about he Raws. I don't think he is online but I will be here for at least 20 minutes more.

[Newnonimous]

Not bad, i got called to work for only like 4 hours so it was an easy shift. Then i got home, took a shower, played Skyward Sword and surfing the web. It was a good day.

What did you and your boyfriend(i may as well refer him that to you) do together all day?

[Dark Samus]

Not all, he had to leave at 8.00 pm, but he stayed with me for almost 7 hours in the Store. Something funny happened today, we were listen a radio station that broadcast songs from the 80´s, 90's and so, they put Jamiroquai's song "Cosmic Girl" wich is in Just Dance 2 and we started to dance in the Store as we do in the screen.....It was funny...here this is the Song that I'm talking about an the sequence in the game:

Jamiroquai - Cosmic Girl (just dance 2) - YouTube

It was so spontaneous. n n.

[Newnonimous]

Sounds like a lot of fun, did any costumers watched you two dance during the song?

[Dark Samus]

n n Sorry, not much sales today, but even so I think that I'd give a damn.n n Tee Hee hee, It was so fun today, and even the shock I suffered from the chapter has fadded away. Well, I have to go now Newnie, I will be here tomorrow after 4 or 5pm. I've saved the Raw, and now the pic showing a "Sleeping Beauty Rin" is my screen Saver. See you.