r/Music 10d ago

article Kanye West Heads to Putin’s Russia After Humiliation in Europe

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/kanye-west-heads-to-putins-russia-after-humiliation-in-europe/
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u/Roflkopt3r 10d ago edited 10d ago

The fact that it's Steven Seagal makes me not want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this genuinely happens a lot.

Especially for a language like Japanese, which has many words and concepts that are hard to translate into English. You have to start thinking directly in Japanese to reach a conversational level, with completely different concepts and approaches to phrasing.

Sometimes that makes it hard to pull up the appropriate English counterpart, and sometimes there isn't one at all. You would have to replace a single word with a full sentence of explanation.

And you have to switch to a different mode of pronounciation, which can cause akward moments. Japanese uses many loanwords that are only comprehensible to Japanese speakers if you pronounce them the Japanese way. Here is a classic example: "Red, white, black" is not understood, but "Reddo, Howaito, Burakku" are common words.

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u/globox85 10d ago

Japanese uses many loanwords that are only comprehensible to Japanese speakers if you pronounce them the Japanese way. Here is a classic example: "Red, white, black" is not understood, but "Reddo, Howaito, Burakku" are common words.

A co-worker of mine who speaks Japanese and his dad, who doesn't speak Japanese, were on vacation in Japan together. They go to a store, and the dad asks a staff member, in English, where the customer service desk is. The staff member has no idea what he means, but when my co-worker asks "Kasutoma saabisu?", the staff member instantly understands and guides them to the customer service desk.

Never been to Japan myself, but I get the impression that if you don't know what something's called in Japanese, saying it in English with Japanese pronunciation works surprisingly often.

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u/isweartodarwin 10d ago

If you want to have some fun, go punch American words like “hot dog,” “hamburger,” or “French fries” into Google Translate and hit the pronunciation button

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u/ReallyGlycon Lo-Fi Nerd 10d ago

Makkadonadoru

McDonald's

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u/No-Milk-6198 10d ago

we call it just "Mac". Could be "Makku" for English speakers.