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Venti
Joined: 19 Oct 2006
Posts: 171
Location: Kanto, Japan
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 Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:57 am Post subject: |
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| furiousmilksheikali wrote: |
| Venti wrote: |
| Instead of eliminating katakana, why not modify it or make another syllabary that includes sounds from all the major non-Japanese languages and teach it to kids from early age on up. This probably won't happen any time soon, but in the future doing so might be necessary. |
Venti, sorry but this is just ridiculous. It mistakes the way that native languages are learned. You can add all kinds of letters to your alphabet and tell people the way in which they are supposed to sound but people won't pay any attention. The Japanese language won't gain new sounds simply by inventing new squiggles. The verbal form comes first and the letters merely symbolize the existing sound, not the other way round.
Even if Japanese could be changed in the way that you propose why should it?
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I'll admit it's ridiculous. I was just proposing something a little less ridiculous (maybe?) than completely doing away with katakana altogether, which is what 2 or more posts in this thread have suggested. I certainly wasn't proposing that it was a sure-fire fix to the pronunciation problems of the Japanese. I just asked the question "why not?" so that minds with greater capacities for rational thought could consider it and set me straight on what's flawed with the idea. 
| kdynamic wrote: |
But Venti, come on. English speakers are pretty bad at pronouncing Japanese too. Of course there is the Japanese R/L issue, but I think the major area where English speakers mutilate Japanese is in intonation and vowels. |
| Venti wrote: |
| Of course, this doesn't mean every native English speaker learning Japanese will develop perfect, or even decent, pronunciation |
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Tomasama
Joined: 18 Mar 2005
Posts: 18
Location: au
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| Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:16 pm Post subject: reform |
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It would be nice if Japanese English teachers refrained from using katakana when writing down English words. It's not necessary.
Maybe cut off one of their fingers each infringment.
These kids should already know the Alphabet and some basic phonics. Maybe I'm a puritan but it sure would stop these kids from starting nasty habits and maintain a proper perception on how they should operate with English. |
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jerjer
Joined: 09 Jan 2007
Posts: 9
Location: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
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| Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Hoser wrote: |
| Coming from Toronto it sort of bugs me that they call it Toront, but then again I guess I should get my wrists slapped for referring to it as "Turrana" |
I'm also a Torontoian, and I thought the rest of the country (ie. VANCOUVER people  ) made fun of us by insisting that we pronounce Toronto as "Trannah"  |
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