J knife question

[Dave5440]

Can anyone tell me how to pronounce Tojiro and the proper way to say Gyuto

Thanks

[smkit]

Jon Broida from Japanese Knife Imports has a few good videos for pronunciation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZrmHOz5LAE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=...!

[Dave5440]

Thanks I'll try those too, no matter how many times I listen to yanabi it always sounds like coheba to me, like the cigar

[rosetown]

LOL
Japanese is sorta phonetical, but still difficult.

Man, when it comes to Scotch (the drink):
Islay - which I pronounced 'Is-lay'

I was corrected and told to pronounce it: 'Eye -Lah'

and corrected again to pronounce it: 'Eye-Wah'

Who would have guessed.

[Chemicalkinetics]

I want to talk about my Scotchs...

[rosetown]

But where? So do I. Perhaps in Spirits?

[Dave5440]

Good idea chem, start drinking your scotch,, and start posting

[Chemicalkinetics]

I am only learning. I have drunk a few from bars and at friend house. At home, I now have Johnnie Walker Black (blended), Johnnie Walker Double Black (blended), Cardhu (single malt) and Dalmore (single malt).

:D

[rosetown]

Here's to you - cheers

[Chemicalkinetics]

Wow, we have the same "Scotch" glass (similar if not same).

[rosetown]

Absolutely identical - what a hoot. ;D

[rosetown]

Thanks for that - the best pronunciation I've heard to this point in time. Great links!

[TeRReT]

right well my girlfriend got here 4 days ago but i've been a bit busy to be on the computer :P I will ask her tomorrow how to pronounce them and if somehow they are different then have been explained i will let you know, but i'm sure everyone else is correct

[Dave5440]

I'm sure you are aware of how eastern canadians speak? It's english but there's a lot left up to the imagination, as is in every language

[jkling17]

I studied Japanese for a few years and used to go there on business. Tojiro is the easy one. It's To ji ro (Toe - gee - roe). Mateo is quite correct - the "gee" is short. The T isn't as firm as our "t". it's still a t but it's softer.

Gyuto is more difficult to me to properly describe how to do. Some of the phonetics of Japanese don't translate quite so well into our writing. For instance, their r is a mixture of r and l. I used to be able to do this but now am terrible at it. I can say Gyoto properly but I'm less sure how to write it out in english that would quite work out for you. Tecnically, it's "gyu to". The ending To part is easy - that's just To as in Toe rather than "To". But again their T isn't as hard as ours.

But the Gyu part is rather tricky to describe in writing - well for me it sure is. The Gyu is one smooth pronounciation. It can be gyoo or gyoh, depending on context. I'm really sorry that I'm not more helpful. Just try and say the gyu part so that you smoothly go through all 3 letters, with no break and only slightly more emphasis on the starting G (as in gee, not "go"). The "toe" at the end will be distinct from the Gyu but not harsh.

I hope that this helps, rather than adds to your confusion.

[Dave5440]

Yes it helps thanks

[mpad]

If you speak Spanish, the vowels in Japanese are similar--there are only five pure vowel sounds and always pronounced the same, except for the length--we'll get to that in a minute.

Tojiro is indeed the easier one. Three distinct sylables. To-ji-ro. Toe-gee-roh is pretty close, though the vowels aren't as "rounded" as in English.

Gyuto is two syllables. The GYU is pronounced together and the U is held a bit longer than normal--GYOOO. When written in roman letters there should be a bar above the U to indicate the longer length. The TO is is short and is the same as in Tojiro.

Really Japanese pronunciation isn't that hard--at least it isn't intonated like Chinese or Vietnamese. Just remember that when romanized the consonants are all hard and the vowels are all pure. Try pronouncing as if is Spanish.

[TeRReT]

you beat me to it, but this is completely correct, I asked my girlfriend about it and she explained, though they'd spell it tou-gee-roh, but the way she said it sounded toe-gee-roh to me

[tanuki soup]

Hope this link works for you -- it's to Google Translate, but I entered Japanese characters that might not display properly on your screen.

Just click on the little speaker icon at the lower-right corner of the "Japanese" box. A nice Japanese lady should pronounce it for you.

http://translate.google.com/#ja|en|%E...

PS. Google translate is a great place for checking the pronunciation of foreign words in pretty much any language. It even has on-screen keyboards for entering foreign letters.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Damn, I was using that tool yesterday too for these names, but I completely forgot the "speaker" thing. Ha.

[Dave5440]

That's a great link tanuki, she says Tojiro to fast for me but it sounds a lot like like everybody said, gee oh to is spot on. thanks guys

[Chemicalkinetics]

Not 100% sure, but I believe

Tojiro is To-ji-ro, but more like Tou-zi-roo. The beginning sounds of the following words: Toe, Jeez, roar

As for Gyuto, I think it is Gi-yuu-to.

[TeRReT]

if neither of these are correct i will let you know monday when my girlfriend arrives from japan :P but gyuto should be like tokyo or kyoto, g-you-toh i would expect

[Chemicalkinetics]

I was suspecting my error for Gyuto, and in fact, I was incorrect.

It should not be Gi-yuu-to. It should be Giyuu-to. Just two. I don't know if anyone here has play Street Fighter video game. The character Ryu should be pronounced as Ryu, not R-yu.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia...

Same here, I suppose. Gyu should be pronounced Gyu, not G-yu. I should know better. :P

[mateo21]

I pronounce it Toe-jer-row gee-YU-toh (with the "gee" being very short.