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”)
Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)
- Mirage_GSM
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Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)
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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Sore wa himitsu desu.griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.
Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)
Wouldn't that be more: IPA: /me:ko/?Mirage_GSM wrote:Meiko - IPA: /mei ko/
(“Mei” (almost) as in “maybe” and “ko” as in “compound”)
- Mirage_GSM
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Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)
No, the "i" is audible.
Emi > Misha > Hanako > Lilly > Rin > Shizune
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
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Sore wa himitsu desu.griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.
Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)
These seem wrong and btw there is already a thread for this with pronunciation audios.
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Emi
Lilly
Hanako
Emi
Lilly
Hanako
- cpl_crud
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Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)
As far as I can tell these are correct.Autopsy wrote:These seem wrong and btw there is already a thread for this with pronunciation audios.
Can you plase point out the other thread?
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Blog: http://cplcrud.WordPress.com
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<Suriko> Crud would be patting Hanako's head
<Suriko> In a non-creepy fatherly way
<NicolArmarfi> crud is trying to dress hanako up like miku and attempting to get her to pose for him in headphones and he burns money
Blog: http://cplcrud.WordPress.com
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<Suriko> Crud would be patting Hanako's head
<Suriko> In a non-creepy fatherly way
<NicolArmarfi> crud is trying to dress hanako up like miku and attempting to get her to pose for him in headphones and he burns money
- Mirage_GSM
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Re: Pronunciation of names (including IPA spelling)
The other thread is here.
As I said, it's a bit hard to separate right from wrong there.
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
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
Sore wa himitsu desu.griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.