How do you pronounce some J-artists
 

I have always pronounced Gackt as "Gacked" instead of "gakuto" and Dir en grey as "Dir EN grey". Although I head it's supposed to be "Dir ON grey". Any suggestions?
Any other artists name I should be aware of pronouncing it right? Thanks

I think that Dir en grey would be Diru An Gurei~
Alice Nine = Arisu Nine
An Cafe = Antikku Cafe / An Cafe

I'm not sure for anyone else, but if I have a list then I will know~

AHyOOmEE HAHmAHsAHkEE
NAHmEE-EH AHmOOrOH
YOOnAH EEtOH
MEEkAH NAHkAHshEEmAH
KOHdAH KOOmEE
SEEfOHw
SOOzOOkEE AHmEE
MAHkEE GOHtOH
AHEE(?) OHtSOOkAH

^ ROFL. I had problems with my eyes after that xD

Not AHEE~ Aye.
: D

I guess I pronounce them wrong... x)
I said to Dir en Grey: Dieeer en graaaay, L´arc ~en~ciel: L -----ark-en-ziel (o.k that is wrong!!!!>_<)

Oh～ L'arc～en～ciel!
Can be LARUKU EN SHIELLE.
In French, it's totally different thing xD
*I post in here too much /cough/*

LOL. I have problems with this, too. Though there are Japanese ways to pronounce them and English/Americanized ways to pronounce them. Like, people overseas usually pronounce Gackt as Gahkted, but in Japan it's Gakuto.

Sorta like anime is an-ih-mey and in Japan it's ah-nee-mey.

:shrug

(Note: All IPA transliterations are approximations. Please use audio charts found at http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/charts.html for better understanding of proper sounds.)


If the artist/group have a foreign (non-Japanese, non-English) name, you should pronounce it the way it is meant to be pronounced in the original language.

Gackt [gækt] not [gakuto] as in ガクト
L'arc-en-Ciel [lɑʀk ɒ̃ sʸel] not [ɾaɾuku aɴ šiɛɾu] as in ラルク・アン・シエル
Antique Café [æntik kæfɛʸ] not [aɴči:ku kaɸɛ:] as in アンチック・カフェー
Dir en grey [diʀ ɒ̃ gɹɛʸ] not [diɾu aɴ guɾɛ:] as in ディル・アン・グレー

This is because the Japanese transliterations are, themselves, approximations. Obviously most English speakers won't pronounce them "properly", because many of these sounds don't occur (at least commonly) in English. So at the very least, you should pronounce the foreign name as you would approximate it in English (ie. [dɪɹ] instead of [diʀ]).

Pure-Japanese names should be pronounced as in Japanese, or your nearest English approximation.

浜崎あゆみ [hamasaki ayumi] or [haməsaki ayumi]
安室奈美恵 [amuɾo namiɛ] or [amuɹo namiɛʸ]
椎名林檎 [ši:na ɾiɴgo] or [šina ɹɪngo]

Exactly.

I don't call the brilliant green "buriguri". I just call them how they called themselves, the brilliant green. As for other J-artists, I don't really have a problem with their names. I find it easier to pronounce Japanese words since I talk French.

The only artist I always mess up the name is Namie Amuro, I always say Na-Mee... instead of Na-Mee-E haha

lol

english speakers do have lots of problems with the pronunciation xD

It's a French word for rainbow. I think most English speaker can't pronounce it well. XD I'm lucky I'm fluent in French and almost fluent in English.

okay, for ayumi, i prounounce it "ah-yoo-me". for namie amuro, i prounounce namie as "nay-me". that's all i can think of, lol.

It's supposed to be nah-mee-eh. :P

i know, lol. i only found out recently. :laugh but it's easier the way i prounounce it, i guess. :P

LOLOL!!!
I used to pronounce it Nami too...until a few years ago I realized the EE was on the end XD

LOL. I know I should pronounce it Nah-Mee-Ee, but I'm already used to just say Nah-Mee. XD

for ayumi well I pronounce it like : Ah-You-mi (but the Ah is like more A XD)
koda it's KO-DA KOU-MI but that one isn't really hard
Sifow I'm really not sure = Shee-fo-w or see-fo (?)
d'you make a sound with the w or not?
it's really sifow who causing me problems XD because for the others I follow the pronounciation of the sounds that are composing the noun in japanese

but my biggest problem sometimes is the title of songs (like A Song for XX d'you pronounced the XX or it's A SONG FOR...)
but it's not really in the subject :laugh

^ I say seef-ow. But that guy on TV called her shee-fohw. I think he just couldn't pronounce it though, just like us. Who knows?

I remember in the CM of love & peace he says SHEE-FOW
so this would mean nobody knows how it's pronounced except her? :laugh
we could ask her on her blog XD

I always just pronounce sifow like Shiho, haha.

i pronounce many of them correctly, except for Gackt...i say it how it looks...Gak-tuh...

and btw, sifow isnt pronounced SEE-fOH...its more like SEE-HO, because the "f" in Japanese is kinda a blowing-through-the-hole-yu-make-with-yur-mouth sound

for example, "futari" isn't pronounced FOO-TAH-REE...its more like WHOO-TAH-REE

You don't pronounce the XX and you pronounce the A like the beginning of the word "eight". So basically you say [ei song for], not [uh song for].

This one is stumping me lately: Sifow. It just sounds like how you'd pronounce STFU and it's quite distracting.

I also mess up Namie's name, sadly--but I'm glad to see I get Dir en Grey's name right D:

Most of the time I pronounce MALICE MIZER as Marisu Miseru (mah-ree-su mis-eh-ru). If I'm feeling a little lazy I'll just pronounce it as it's spelt.

I also haven't the slightest idea how to say L'arc-en-ciel--I end up saying Lark-N-Seal and as a result rarely, if ever, make a verbal reference to that band.

I've once heard from a friend who was into j-rock that despite many bands have french names - like L'arc en Ciel - you don't use the original french pronounciation, but the pronounciation declared by the band themselves...

Not sure if it's solely becouse the Japanese can't really pronounce French well (like English) and people would use their 'own' pronounciation (rarukku an shieru) anyway, or if it's becouse they consiously adopt the Japanese pronounciation...

oh thnks! I was really pronouncing it in the wrong way :laugh
now I will know:yes

I pronounce Japanese words and names how they're pronounced properly. If its quite obviouly not a Japanese word, I pronounce it like it looks...

The only exception is Namie Amuro, I say Name-ee because its just easier. *lazy*

I am still confused to to pronouce Jyongri(JONG-Li?) and Sowelu( pronouced SO-WELL?)

i think it's JEE-OON-GU-REE. but i never heard her name actually being said, so =\

Thanx I was wondering how her name was pronounced :innocent

For Jyongri, I don't really know her but everytime I pronounce it;
JEE-ON-GLI or JEE-OON-GU-REE (Like Sora~~)

I'm surprised so many people don't pronounce the last syllable of Namie's name. Saying "Na-mee-ay" isn't much more difficult than "Na-mee". And I've always pronounced sifow as "sif-o", which is probably wrong, though we only hear the Japanese way of saying it since there is no "si" syllable in Japanese, rather, it would be "shi" (so "shi-fo").

I've always pronounced the names like L'arc en Ciel and Dir en Grey as they are in the original language, not as in the Japanese transliteration. Anyone who isn't Japanese speaking in the Japanese pronunciation for a French word sets off the weabo alert big time :laugh

If anything, I would end up pronouncing like the Japanese announcers. Of course, I wouldn't have trouble with Japanese names, but with English names (or otherwise), I pronounce it in "Engrish" cause it just sounds cooler.

C-ute - Kyuuto.
Morning Musume - I pronounce the "Morning" like any other Japanese person. Ahaha.
NEWS - Nyuu-su.
Dreams Come True - Doriimuzu kamu tsuruu. Ahaha.

But yeah. It's also a way for me to practice speed talking, so I don't sound so stupid otherwise.

I know she's not Japanese, but Elva Hsiao confuses me greatly. I haven't the slightest idea how to pronounce Hsiao O_o