Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)

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Mirage_GSM
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Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)

Post by Mirage_GSM »

Since the question comes up quite regularly, I thought I’d provide a comprehensive guide to the pronunciation of the names in Katawa Shoujo.
I realize there already is a thread for that, but there the correct pronunciations are mixed in with just as many (if not more) wrong ones, and it’s quite hard to tell them apart.
Trying to write English phonetically is a moot effort as nearly every writing is ambiguous one way or the other, so I tried to give a phonetic example of each syllable in addition to the official IPA writing (see links below).
I do not claim that everything in this thread is 100% correct – especially where there are no exact English equivalents – but I will edit any corrections, improvements as well as additional helpful links into the OP so the current version will always be easy to find. I also might add surnames later.

For those who want to learn more here are a few relevant links:
The International Phonetic Alphabet
Hiragana and their pronunciation
Audio version of Hiragana pronunciation

Hisao - IPA: /çisao/
(“Hi” as in “hero”, “sa” as in “Saturday” and “o” as in “oxygen”)

Emi - IPA: /emɪ/
(“E” as in “element” and “mi” as in “mineral”)

Hanako - IPA: /hanako/
(“Ha” as in “hard”, “na” as in “nasty” and “ko” as in “compound”)

Lilly - IPA: /lɪli/

Rin - IPA: /ɽin/
(“Rin” as in “rinse”)

Shizune - IPA: /ɕizu͍ne/
(“Shi” as in “ship”, “zu” as in “soup” and “ne” as in “negative”)

Shiina - IPA: /ɕi:na/
(“Shi” as in “ship” (with a long "I", “na” as in “nasty”)

Kenji - IPA: /kend͡ʑi/
(“Ken” as in “Kent”and “ji” as in “gelatin, only with i instead of e”)

Mutou - IPA: /mu͍toː/
(“Mu” as in “muslim”and “tou” as in “Tokyo”)

Yuuko - IPA: /ju͍ːko/
(“Yuu” as in “jurisdiction (only long)” and “ko” as in “compound”)

Meiko - IPA: /meiko/
(“Mei” (almost) as in “maybe” and “ko” as in “compound”)

Akira - IPA: /akiɽa/
(“A” as in “America”; “ki” as in “king” and “ra” as in “bra”)

Sae - IPA: /sae/
(“Sa” as in “Saturday” and “e” as in “element”)

Nomiya – IPA: /nomija/
(“No” as in “November”, “mi” as in “mirror” and “ya” as in “yak”)

Hideaki - IPA: /çideaki/
(“Hi” as in “hero”, “de” as in “Denver”, “a” as in “America” and “ki” as in “king”)

Jigoro - IPA: /d͡ʑiɡoɽo/
(“Ji” as in “gelatin, only with i instead of e”; “go” as in “golf” and “ro” as in “rock”)
Last edited by Mirage_GSM on Fri Nov 09, 2012 8:33 am, edited 2 times in total.
Emi > Misha > Hanako > Lilly > Rin > Shizune

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Dawnstorm
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Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)

Post by Dawnstorm »

Mirage_GSM wrote:Meiko - IPA: /mei ko/
(“Mei” (almost) as in “maybe” and “ko” as in “compound”)
Wouldn't that be more: IPA: /me:ko/?
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Mirage_GSM
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Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)

Post by Mirage_GSM »

No, the "i" is audible.
Emi > Misha > Hanako > Lilly > Rin > Shizune

My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.
Sore wa himitsu desu.
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Autopsy
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Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)

Post by Autopsy »

These seem wrong and btw there is already a thread for this with pronunciation audios.
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cpl_crud
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Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)

Post by cpl_crud »

Autopsy wrote:These seem wrong and btw there is already a thread for this with pronunciation audios.
As far as I can tell these are correct.

Can you plase point out the other thread?
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Mirage_GSM
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Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)

Post by Mirage_GSM »

The other thread is here.
As I said, it's a bit hard to separate right from wrong there.
Emi > Misha > Hanako > Lilly > Rin > Shizune

My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.
Sore wa himitsu desu.
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