Like Nails on a Chalkboard

 

For the most part I am an easy going person.  Okay, that's probably an exaggeration, or probably an outright lie.  A lot of stuff bothers me.  I created this blog so I would have space to vent my frustrations with the world.  Today, it has to do with things people and their inability to pronounce things in Japanese.

What's so difficult?

I know it is already too late for words that entered English in the 1980's.  Nobody will every pronounce karaoke correctly.  The same goes for words like karate, sake,  and hibachi.  Sometimes there is nothing we could do; our inability was decided by companies and names were changed to reflect that.  Words like Mazda, Datsun, Godzilla (all of which are not written, spelled, or pronounced that way in Japan) were given to us, already altered.

The sad facts are that we change lots of words to English friendly pronunciation.  I certainly don't pronounce Volkswagen the way my German/Austrian/ Swiss students do.  I could (though I let them think it is impossible) but I don't.  It wasn't until I was in my mid twenties that I realized the word Braun, sounded exactly like brown. As a Canadian, I try a little harder to pronounce things in French--but don't we all?  I can't do that lisp like sound from Spain...though I have tried.

But I digress.....

Having a fondness for Japanese, I do wish it were pronounced better on television.  Maybe I am playing favourites, but it's my blog and I can do what I want.  And I want people to pronounce things in Japanese better.

Several things sparked this rant.  The first is that stores are now selling Japanese style breadcrumbs.  I think this is great, because the breadcrumbs are a great product.  What I don't think is great is that people can't pronounce "panko".  It drives me absolutely nuts every time that commercial is on.  It has gotten so bad that I have to quickly change the channel.

The second thing is the TV show American Ninja--no, I am not going to blather on about the word ninja, and stuff like that.  On the show, the final obstacle is called Mount Midoriyama...... yama means mountain.  Mount Midori Mountain.   It's worse than fingernails on a chalkboard.  Couldn't anyone do some research before they decided that was the title of the final obstacle.  Mount Rushmore Mountain?  Mount Everest Mountain?  Are your ears bleeding too?

Am I asking too much?