Poll: How do YOU pronounce "hentai"?

[MrJohnson]

Even if you're pronouncing it according to English principles (at least American English) it's hen-tie.

Seriously, how do you get that fucked up? It's like cement. It's not sea-mint. Coupon is not q-pon.

 

[Wutaiflea]

He-en-tie

My understanding of Japanese is it would be spelled "hentae" for the other pronunciation, but don't hold me to that.

Edit: Kitten on the keyboard.....

 

[UberNoodle]

Yes, it's 'Hen' 'tie', and is one of many examples of imported words from Japan being changed.

See:

'Ka-ra-te' vs 'Ka-raa-tee'
'Ka-ra-o-ke' vs 'Ka-ri-oh-kee'

And don't get me started on how messed up all the Ryus and Ryos, Ryokos and so on, are when pronounced by English speakers. Nouns change, and most of our lexicon is full of 'Hen-na' (strange) pronounciation (from the point of view of the people the words were borrowed from). But NAMES of PEOPLE should be at least said correctly. Though, one of my friends in Japan, Gary, has a funny 'name' in Japanese. His American accent makes his name sound more like 'Gery' and that just happens to sound a lot like diarrhoea! If only only he said it with an Aussie drawl.

 

[Lust]

This reminds me of a time I pronounced Yaoi as Yowie. It was a slip of the tounge.

That's......how I pronounce it.
And everyone else I know.

In fact, I can't think of any other way to pronounce it.
Care to correct me?

Other people have told me it was pronounced as Yah-Oi.

Then I found out recently, in this thread actually, that I had it right. It was pronounced as Yowie. Damn my friends for giving me misinformation.

 

[Magnalian]

Goddamn it, ninja'd.

 

[slopeslider]

This reminds me of a time I pronounced Yaoi as Yowie. It was a slip of the tounge.

That's......how I pronounce it.
And everyone else I know.

In fact, I can't think of any other way to pronounce it.
Care to correct me?

Other people have told me it was pronounced as Yah-Oi.

Then I found out recently, in this thread actually, that I had it right. It was pronounced as Yowie. Damn my friends for giving me misinformation.

NO. It's
Ya-o-i not Ya-o-u-i. There is no U in it/ ya like 'o rly? (ya),rly' and oi like 'ah(oy) me pirate mateys'
You've been misinformed twice.
Hentai is He-n-ta-i
Ninja is Ni-n-ja
Yaoi is Ya-o-i
Japanese is one of the easiest languages to understand how the words are correctly pronounced if you take 2 min to learn how.

 

[BrownGaijin]

Hen-tie. It's like Spanish, you pronounce it like you see it.

 

[wierdman51]

Hen-Tie......

This reminds me of a time I pronounced Yaoi as Yowie. It was a slip of the tounge.

i pronounce it "yeah-oi"

but anyhow, its actually hen-tie. ask a Japanese person, its hen-tie. i asked one of my friends once, and hes Japanese and said so.

 

[Kasawd]

Henn-Tie

That's how I pronounce it.

 

[Simalacrum]

...I speak Japanese, I pronounce it as 変態.

As in, I pronounce it how its meant to be pronounced

 

[Trivun]

Hen-tie. I used to pronounce it the latter way, but got corrected by someone else. And, the latter sounds too much like the Pokemon Entei, and they aren't things I want to get someone else confused about.

Probably a smart move not to mix those two.

Too late. Rule 34, remember?

Anyway, I always prnounce it 'hen-tie'. I've never heard anyone say 'hen-tay', it just seems like a really odd and illogical way of saying it to me...

 

[acosn]

The actual Japanese spelling broken down into phonetics-

He-n-ta-i

He-en-tah-i.

Or, rather, hen-tie.

Ya-o-i.
Yah-oh-ie.

Yaw-ie.

Seriously, Google Japanese Hirigana. It's their basic alphabet and it makes pretty plain how you pronounce things- one letter has basically one sound.

 

[OceanRunner]

Hen-tie. If it were the other, then it would be spelt Hentei.

 

[Macgyvercas]

Hen-tie. If it were the other, then it would be spelt Hentei.

Really? I did not know that. Huh, I do learn something new everyday.

 

[Broady Brio]

Hen-Tie

Always known it as that. As does everyone I know.

 

[Au Naturel.]

Well, it is pronounced hen-tie. Most Japanese syllables have two letters (ka, wa, sa, ra) sometimes there are three (tsu) and vowels are one (a, i, e, o, u) and also n is one, for some reason... So hentai broken down would be he-n-ta-i. The hyphens separating the syllables. BOOM BAM!! This is from some studying of the language in my own time. You may correct me if you find something amiss.

 

[Kajt]

I've always said hen-tie. Don't know if it's correct, but it feels right.

 

[Stuntcrab]

he-en-tay

 

[Gladion]

Hen-tie.

That's the correct Japanese pronunciation

That's it. End of discussion.

Hen-tay sounds too redneck or just ignorant.

I'll remind you of this the next time I hear you say "Fjuhrear"

 

[Ziggy the wolf]

um...call me stupid but i havent heard anyone call it hen-tay. i call it hen-tie like every other normal english speaking person. now if i was japanese then it would be pervert cause thats what it translate to