Toyota = Abundance of rice

[Yaris Hilton]

Changing "Toyoda" to "Toyota" was done for the Japanese market when the auto company was separated from the parent Toyoda firm in 1937, not when they started exporting to the U.S.
http://www.toyota-industries.com/cor...tory/1930.html
There are several online references saying it was done because "Toyota" is simpler to write in Japanese, and they thought it looked better.

[yarisugi]

Originally Posted by Yaris Hilton

There are several online references saying it was done because "Toyota" is simpler to write in Japanese, and they thought it looked better.

True. And Japanese people in their homeland pronounce it TO-YO-TA. Most westerners pronounce it TO-YO-DA.

Why westerners pronounce "karaoke" as ka-ree-O-kee baffles me.

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by yarisugi

Why westerners pronounce "karaoke" as ka-ree-O-kee baffles me.

There aren't many Japanese words that westerners know well. One of them is "Hara-Kiri", which is pronounced "Hairy Carry" by many Americans. Unfortunately Americans came to know that term because our Veterans from the Pacific theater got to witness this act being carried out, when motivated members of the Imperial Japanese Army exercised their perversion of Budo and killed themselves rather than go home and help lead Japan's recovery.

Could also be that Americans first heard the word "Karaoke" being spoken by drunk folks and the mispronunciation "stuck".

I think this goes both ways.... I've heard some Japanese pronounce "McDonald's", it comes out sounding like "Mac Don-Al-Da". A little patience and respect for the speaker's dignity goes a long way in communicating.

Gene

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by GeneW

I think this goes both ways.... I've heard some Japanese pronounce "McDonald's", it comes out sounding like "Mac Don-Al-Da". A little patience and respect for the speaker's dignity goes a long way in communicating.

Gene

Yep, but in this case that's to do with the limitations of their language, if there's no phonetic "DZ" kinda sound in Japanese, they have to approximate with the closest native sound. Same reason why it took me years to pronounce "the" properly (no TH sound in French)

seeing KARAOKE and pronouncing it KARI-OKIE is just... er...

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

Yep, but in this case that's to do with the limitations of their language, if there's no phonetic "DZ" kinda sound in Japanese, they have to approximate with the closest native sound. Same reason why it took me years to pronounce "the" properly (no TH sound in French)

seeing KARAOKE and pronouncing it KARI-OKIE is just... er...

....seems kind of natural, ne c'est pas?

French is a great language in which to sneer or curse. It was also once the scientific language of Europe, especially at the turn of the 20th century, when Poincare and others were leaders in Math and Physics. I have two years of University French and two years of Spanish. The two together in one head with marginal fluency in both can cause amazing gaffes.

Gene

[eTiMaGo]

Originally Posted by GeneW

I have two years of University French and two years of Spanish. The two together in one head with marginal fluency in both can cause amazing gaffes.

Gene

Haha yes I know what you mean, when I went to Italy last month and tried to use whatever limited vocabulary I had, I subconsciously fell back to trying to speak Thai

[GeneW]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

Haha yes I know what you mean, when I went to Italy last month and tried to use whatever limited vocabulary I had, I subconsciously fell back to trying to speak Thai

Probably confused the hell out of the poor things. Some of the northerners I've met can speak French. Probably not a lot of them who can speak Thai.

Gene