From: Robert Dober Date: 2006-11-13T00:26:23+09:00 Subject: Re: the name of Matz ------=_Part_95287_13144370.1163345180192 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline On 11/12/06, Ryo wrote: > > Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote: > [. . .] > > In message "Re: [OT] the name of Matz" > > on Wed, 8 Nov 2006 15:10:43 +0900, Devin Mullins < > twifkak@comcast.net> writes: > > > > |> Just call me Matz. > > |Question: When spoken, should it be 'a' as in "hats" or 'a' as in > "blah" > > |(or, oh, say, "Matsumoto")? > > > > Ah, I was asked same question at the last RubyConf. The official > > answer is "I don't care" (note: Japanese has only 5 vowels). English > > speakers seem to use the former. > > If anybody is curious, I think the closest sound you find in English to > the Japanese "a" sound is the standard (RP) British "u" as in "cut". > Among the "standard" American sounds (if there are such things), > "a" in "father" is closer (to my native-Japanese ear) than "a" in > "hat". The American "u" in "cut" is too narrow. I'm not talking > about how "Matz" should be pronounced, by the way. > > Regards, > Ryo It might be fun though if you could give a pointer to the "correct" pronunciation of Matz's name, like e.g. the Wavefiles available from the Merriam-Webster's website (www.m-w.com) which I found most useful (as a non native English Speaker). Cheers Robert -- The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. - George Bernard Shaw ------=_Part_95287_13144370.1163345180192--