Is that one of the Kansai dialects? I didn't realise we have stress accent.It has two stresses: one in ka, and a stronger one in te.
Sorry if I sound a little picky. In 標準語 pitch accent comes both in the second and third syllable.Is that one of the Kansai dialects? I didn't realise we have stress accent.
The way I pronounce karate is;
pitch accent on the second syllable, ra.
Writing karate with an accent (karaté) is an interesting question.
Those who know japanese also know that e in japanese is always pronounced é . Those who don't may not find it so obvious. The problem can also be found with the word kamikaze that french speakers (and many others) will pronounce as kamikaz (or kamikazi) whereas it should of course be kamikazé. Same thing with saké.
I think that puting an accent aigu on each japanese e as a rule would be a good idea.
The change in pitch between syallables in a language such as English is extreme in comparison to Japanese. I would suggest that for a beginner it is best to think of pronunciation as "flat", (as mentioned in the linked article), but with subtle variations that can really only be picked up with careful listening.Not picky, Cheshire!
Having read the Wiki article that Outsider has undertook to provide us with (supra #4), I now think that karate is an accentless word. Here, I am speaking about the downstep accent mentioned therein. The article also mentions that Japanese words without a downstep accent tend to have a gradual rise of pitch towards the end of the word. I opine karate gets high pitch on the second and the third syllable because of this tentency. As Hiro Sasaki has mentioned, the pitch rise is very slight. Many Japanese natives might think karate has a "flat intonation" (forgive the oxymoron).
勉強になりました、ね!!
With due respect, it's quite misleading to say that all "e" in Japanese are pronounced é .<Originally Posted by Aoyama>Those who know japanese also know that e in japanese is always pronounced é . Those who don't may not find it so obvious. The problem can also be found with the word kamikaze that french speakers (and many others) will pronounce as kamikaz (or kamikazi) whereas it should of course be kamikazé. Same thing with saké.
I think that puting an accent aigu on each japanese e as a rule would be a good idea
It's rather a matter of idiosyncracies. One can usually say it with no accent nucleus, but when you accentuate it, it might have a nucleus; especially when two items are being compared.I have Merriam Webster's Japanese-English Learner's Dictionary which is not very complete but I bought it because it shows intonation, i.e., downstep or, as they call it in a fancy way, accent nucleous. It confirms Flaminius' last post that the word karate has two different meanings but doesn't have accent nucleous in both of them.
The question was made by an Italian.
All the Japanese dipthongs are pronounced with è, definitely not with é.
Even if he was, would it be correct to say that all "e" excluding dipthongs are pronounced with é?Yes, dipthongs have their own rules of pronunciation.
I think that Ayoama was speaking of the simple 'e' , excluding dipthongs.
Are you going to "GRE 3000" on me too, like Flaminius?Italians can speak japanese quite well, provided they master (or give up) some intonation "tropisms".
This question may be rather a trivial matter, but how is chauvinism related here? Also, can you back this statement of yours with any insightful websites?As far as I know (and puting aside all unwanted chauvinism), saying that the japanese e is pronounced as the french é is a proven fact.
"e"?
This question may be rather a trivial matter, but how is chauvinism related here? Also, can you back this statement of yours with any insightful websites?
Reed the highlighted part and you'll agree that I'm not defying the laws of phonetics.Japanese diphthongs are perceived as sequences of two different vowels. These vowel sequences are phonetically different from the diphthongs that occur in languages like English.
[edit] Oh, finally you admitted it. Thank you very much.When it comes to nasal vowels (えん), that is different, the え becomes è as in french mène because of the rule :è consonant e (problème,élève, piège). The ん is pronounced in japanese, even if there is no vowel at the end. めん will thus be pronounced like men in english or mène in french.