Dan forgot to add the CC to the FFML, so here you all go....

>From Andrew Huang, Taiwanese-American-German-Scot Harvard Student :P
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Oddzilla says, "Ryouga and Ukyou! Ukyou and Ryouga!"
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 11 May 1997 17:27:47 -0400
From: Dan Root <dar@thekeep.org>
To: Andrew Huang <alhuang@hcs.harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: [FFML] [C&C/MST] Nekophobia 6: A Night to Remember

Andrew Huang <alhuang@hcs.harvard.edu> writes:

Gary: Uh... senpai? Shouldn't it be sempai?
Daisuke: Maybe it's a play on words, making fun of Kuno's title.
Gary: OK, but what does it mean?
Hiroshi: How should we know? We're dubbed into English!

	Actually, "senpai" is correct. After all, the only consonant that
can be directly followed by another consonant in the Japanese language is
"n". (Note also that all Japanese words end in vowels...or the letter
"n".) 

Putting aside the doubling of consonants, this is true.  However the
sound is more nasal than the english 'n', and thus can be heard as 'n'
or 'm' depending on the speaker and/or the listener.  I tend to hear
it as 'n', though I had classmates who claimed 'm' listening to the
same speaker.  From a technical standpoint though, the 'n' is "more
correct".

(for those of you playing along at home, the correct pronounciation is
something approximating the 'n' in sing if you were pronounce it as if
you had a cold and stop before the g. :)  As I said, it's not really
quite like a sound most english-speakers make.)

       However, the pronunciation sounds out to be that of an "m", for
reasons I have not fathomed (those crazy Japanese). The effect is similar
to "konbanha" (the correct spelling) sounding like "konbanwa" (the correct

As a particle, the 'ha' is nearly always pronounced 'wa'.  (I'd say
always, but my Japanese isn't good enough to say it with certainty).

The particle that is properly spelled (and also pronounced) 'wa' is
most commonly used as an emphasis marker in effeminate speach.
(again, in my limited experience).

pronunciation, but not romanization). And on yet another note, it seems
like the syllable "su" most of the time eliminates the "u" sound
(gozaimasu sounds like gozaimas', sumo sounds like s'mo, etc.).

That's more of an accent thing, primarily in the area in and around
Tokyo.  Some regional accents do pronounce the u clearly enough to be
heard.  I've also heard speakers who whispered other vowels in
addition to u, though it was most prevelant in mora (syllables) with
an 's' or 'ts' consonant.

	-DaR
--
Dan Root - dar@thekeep.org