Seriously, is it hi•RO•shi•ma or HEE•ro•SHEE•ma?

[Bruce Wayne]

and while you're at it, let me know if you found this out...

1- by reading it
2- because that's the way your teacher/parent/History Channel narrator always said it
3- by actually speaking Japanese
4- from just following your gut instincts established by the way you read stuff off the menu while ordering sushi

Inquiring minds, as usual, want to know

[trumad]

1. Yo Batman?

You get hit upside the head by the Joker?

[Bruce Wayne]

21. I'll have to pass your question along to Batman...

...should I ever happen to come across him while galavanting about town with the laydeeeze, if you know what I mean.

[redqueen]

2. hee ro shee ma

No emphasis.

Form hearing Japanese people say it.

[PETRUS]

4. Correct

[Ellipsis]

5. It's Re•call•Scott•Wal•ker petitions turned in @3:00pm today.

[nykym]

12. Love the

photo!

[frazzled]

6. More important

How do you pronounce "Tin Tin"? (Hint: it doesn't rhyme with pin - pin; closer to tan-tan, though drop the n sound at the end).

Here are two audio files for you to listen to of the pronunciation of Hiroshima by Japanese: the syllables are evenly stressed (though to my ears, there is a very slight emphasis on the "ro" as opposed to the "shee.&quot English dictionaries permit either pronunciation.

http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ja-Hiroshima.ogg

[zorahopkins]

7. Like This

I pronounce it like this:

ThePlaceWhereAmericaDroppedTheAtomicBombandMurderedThousandsOfInnocentPeople

[Bruce Wayne]

11. Hardly the worst bombing of the war

There wasn't a lot of morality going around in the Second World War. As many people were killed in one night in Tokyo (the March '45 firebombing) as were killed by the two atomic bomb attacks combined. But neither total equals the deliberate individualized slaughter of civilians by the Japanese at Nanjing in 1937. At least the attacks on the Japanese cities had legitimate military targets--and to be morally consistant, the Japanese should share the blame for having scatter sited war production facilties throughout residential sections of their cities, thus placing civilians in the way of military bombing attacks.

None of which is to suggest that this wasn't a horrible choice or that other choices could have been made. But removing the context of the attacks and isolating the United States for moral approbation makes about as much sense as criticizing the US military for turning bin Laden's kids into orphans.

[uppityperson]

13. Things don't have to be the worst to be perceived as bad. I agree with zorahopkins statement, while

also acknowledging there were other awful things.

[Ecumenist]

8. #2, Alex...

[Snake Alchemist]

9. Correct pronunciation sounds more like Heeroshma.

Try Kurashiki .

[Iggo]

10. I don't hear many Japanese speakers, but...

...when I do, on words like that, they seem to shorten that second-to-last syllable to the point where it's almost not there, which causes my western trained ear to put an emphasis on the syllable before it that might not actually be there. (hee-RO-shma)

I'm almost certainly pronouncing it wrong. But like I said, I don't hear Japanese speakers all that much.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. That's a Tokyo-area trait

as is the accentation on the "ro" syllable.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Where you accent it depends on what part of Japan you're from

In Japan, part of a regional accent is literally where you accent the words. The most famous example is "AH-meh" vs. "ah-MEH." In Tokyo, AH-meh is "rain" and "ah-MEH" is "hard candy," but it's the opposite in Osaka and Kyoto.

Once I was visiting an acquaintance in Osaka, who was showing me around the city. As lunch time approached, we started talking about where to eat. She pointed to a restaurant and suggested "MU-koh no mee-seh." I was momentarily startled, because to my Tokyo-trained ears, it sounded as if she was suggesting her son-in-law's restaurant (and she was only in her early thirties). Then I remembered the "reverse accent principle" and realized that she was saying, "mu-KOH-oh no mee-seh," of "the restaurant over there."

In Tokyo (where I've spent most of my time) they say "Hee-RO-shee-mah."

I haven't been to Hiroshima since 1978, so I don't remember how the locals pronounced it (I'm going again this spring for a conference ) , but I'm told that they say "Hee-ro-SHEE-mah."

Similarly, Nagoya is "NAH-go-yah" if you live in Tokyo and "nah-GOH-yah" if you actually live there.

However, people will understand you however you accent it.

Also, be aware that English accentuation and Japanese accentuation are two different animals. English accentuation involves saying the syllable louder and holding it a bit longer. Japanese accentuation involves saying the syllable at a higher pitch.

In addition, Japanese has what is called "syllable-timed rhythm." That is, every syllable takes exactly the same length of time, and speech tends to flow like water.

English has "stress-timed" rhythm. We automatically and unconsciously speed up between accented syllables, so our speech sounds "bumpy." If you ever jumped rope as a kid, try your favorite jump rope rhyme, clapping at each accented syllable.

[Bruce Wayne]

17. Holy Rosetta Stone, Lydia

Good job, old chum!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. No Rosetta Stone involved

I'm a Japanese-English translator and a former teacher of Japanese.

[Bruce Wayne]

19. That's just a figure of speech I picked up...

from this Dick I used to know

[Snake Alchemist]

20. Well said.

By the way, I was just in Hiroshima last June. Still beautiful. I dream of opening an Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant in the US.

[Hugabear]

16. I used to live in Yokosuka, Japan

You could always tell the newcomers by the way they pronounced "Yokosuka". They invariably pronounced it "Yo-ko-SOO-ka", while the locals pronounced it "Yo-KO-ska" (3rd syllable silent).