Something I've never known - how is "Zuiko" pronounced? (Apart from in
hushed
and respectful tones, of course)
I've never learnt Japanese, so can't get clues from there. I usually rhyme
it with "psycho", but with a soft z, and people seem to understand. But
trying to work it out is impossible.
The "-ko" bit is fairly straightforward, then the fun starts. The "ui" is
often "wee", but not always (how about "suit") and I think in
Holland/Belgium it is "ow" ("uit" = out, "huis" = house). In Europe the Z is
a speaker's nightmare. It starts in the west (Spain/Portugal) almost as a
soft "th". In France and Britain is is usually like a soft "s", as in
"praise" but sometimes as in the middle of "treasure", seems appropriate.
In Germany it becomes "ts", as it does in Italy when there are 2 of them
(think "pizza"). And by the time we get further east all sorts of strange
things happen - it gets accents put on top of it, it gets combined with "r"s
and "g"s to make consonants that only native speakers can ever pronounce,
and so on.
Yours, baffled,
John
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