Gatchamania.net - Print: Name pronunciation

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Posted by WadeInLincoln on 22-03-2010 at 04:31:

Name pronunciation

I will be the first to admit
that sometimes my ability to hear things isn't always the best,
but I swear I'm hearing Ryu's name being pronounced 2 different ways.
I have never met anyone named Ryu so I ask you all....

(Rye-oo)
OR
(Ree-oo)

Heck, I even heard Ken call him (Roo) like he was some character from Winnie-The-Poo

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Posted by green on 22-03-2010 at 04:45:

Ahhh, do you want the Japanese pronunication or just how it can be said?

If Japanese, then the 'R' sound is softened to an almost 'L' sound - put your tongue in the position of saying "Lee" but attempt to say "Ree" without changing the position of your tongue. Then add the 'oo' sound.

The "Ree" bit is quite short because you have to blend in the 'y' part, but it would sound more like "Ree-you" than "Ree-oo".

Hopes this helps!

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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 22-03-2010 at 06:44:

'Ryu' is also one syllable. The same with the '-kyo' of 'Tokyo' (or the 'Kyo-' of 'Kyoto').

One problem is that 'R' is not pronounced in the English/American manner in many other countries (including the Gaelic nations of Britain). Most English and Americans can't manage the 'r' of either Spanish or German.

Whenever I try to pronounce a foreign word or name, I remember what I learned about vowels when I took German. And that 'r' is pronounced differently. I still sound just like an American. (Although I once managed to pronounce the Russian male name 'Valery' correctly, to the delight of said individual.)

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Posted by amethyst on 22-03-2010 at 16:14:

I think it is actually supposed to be pronouced Rue, but the source where I got that information could be wrong.

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Posted by green on 22-03-2010 at 16:26:

Rue is a fair estimation, but it's a hard one to say properly. It's not a syllable as such - more of a contraction of "Ree-you". It's actually a blend of a softened "Ri" (pronounced as R/Lee) and Yu (easy one - you!). It uses two hiragana (um, Japanese 'alphabet' that uses syllables rather than letters). A normal sized "Ri" and a half sized "Yu" to denote that it's meant to be blended...

Sorry if I'm confusing anyone....

Here's the wikipedia version of the hiragana chart for anyone who is really interested. "Ryu" is near the bottom in the diagraphs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana

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Posted by amethyst on 22-03-2010 at 16:57:

Which would explain why even the Japanese voice actors seem to have their own pronunciation of the name, but they are consistent in their pronunciations, the American voice actors aren't so much.

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Posted by UnpublishedWriter on 22-03-2010 at 22:53:

Regional variations in Japanese pronunciation, perhaps?

As for the Americans - we don't have the same sort of naming and pronunciation here. 'Ryu' looks like it should be two syllables, and pronounced a bit like 'Rio.' We just aren't used to making a single syllable out of it. (But they do a better job than a dub of 'Devilman', in which the name 'Akira' is pronounced like 'Acura' -- a brand of car!)

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