The "how do I pronounce X" thread

[rampage]

There have been a lot of threads over time regarding pronounciation. I'm starting this sticky thread as a single place where these questions and answers can be aggregated so these don't keep popping up every week.

It's appropriate to ask about game titles, song titles, and artist names here.

Before I start, I wanted to talk a little about the Japanese language. It's important to understand a few basic things about the language and conventions used in the songs because it will only make things easier going forward. First, is the vowels, A, I, U, E, and O. They can only be pronounced one way! A - pronounced "ah", I - pronounced like the e in "eat", U - pronounced like the oo in "zoo", E - pronounced like the e in "end", and O - pronouced like the o in "ohio". There are no exceptions (to all of you who know that's not 100% true, let's just say for the purpose of this list, there's no exceptions unless otherwise noted, ok??).

A common question is about "tsu". The "t" is pronounced, it's not silent, but it's not strongly voiced. Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth and say "su", that "t" sound that comes out with "su" is how "tsu" is pronounced. "R" is pronounced somewhere between "l" and "r", sort of like how r's are pronounced in Spanish. Very lightly touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth and say "ra", that sort of "da" sound that comes out is how r's are voiced in Japanese. There is no "l" in Japanese, if you see it, it's pronounced as "r" (sana molette ne ente).

Finally, there's numbers. In the Japanese language, numbers can be used like word play. Often times when you see numbers in DDR songs, they are actually visual puns. See .59 and Orion .78 below.

For more about Japanese pronounciation, check out this web site.

Now on to the list. I'm going to note things the following way:
Song title - correct pronounciation (often the absolutely correct Japanese pronounciation), acceptable pronounciation (at times, an English-ized pronounciation), and completely wrong and people will laugh at you. Any further notes I'll add afterward.

As more questions are asked/answered in this thread, I'll add them to the list here. My intention is to keep everything aggregated here so people don't have to sift through pages of posts to find their answer.

.59 - tengoku, point five nine. This title is a pun, "." = ten, "5" = go, "9" = ku. This means heaven, which is why there's the angels in the pictures throughout the song.
321 Stars - three two one stars, three hundred twenty one stars
A (the song) - ace
AA (the song) - double ace
Aoi Shoudou/青い衝動 - a-o-i sho-u-do-u, blue impulse, any other pronounciation
Daikenkai/大見解 - da-i-ke-n-ka-i
DanDanDo/段々度　- Da-n Da-n Do, Dan like the name. You can hear Alpha saying it throughout the song.
DxY - Dixie
Gekko Chou/月光蝶　－Ge-kko-u Cho-u, Gecko Chow
IIDX - tsu-di-e-kku-su, two dee ecks, eye eye dee ecks
JANE JANA - Ja-ne-ja-na, pronouncing "Jane" like the name
Kagerow/陽炎 - ka-ge-ro-u. For some reason it's romanized "row" at the end, which is incorrect based on standards, but the pronounciation holds true.
Kakumei - ka-ku-mei
Konoko no Nanatsu no Oiwaini/恋の子の七つのお祝いに - ko-no-ko no na-na-tsu no o-i-wa-i-ni. That's a mouthful. O-i-wa-i-ni can be tough to pronounce because of its many vowels. Tangent: it reminds me of a word I always have had some difficulty pronouncing in Japanese, byo-u-i-n (hospital).
L'amour et la liberté - La-more e la lee-ber-teh. French for "love of freedom". You can hear it pronounced at the very end.
Matsuri/祭 - ma-tsu-ri, mat-sue-ree.
NAOKI (artist) - na-o-ki, nay-oh-key. And yes, NAOKI is a he, not she.
Nijiro/荷白 - Ni-ji-ro. Again, listen to how it's sung.
Odoru Ponpokorin/おどるポンポコリン - o-do-ru po-n-po-ko-ri-n, dancing po-n-po-ko-ri-n, dancing pomporkolin (how Captain Jack says it)
Orion .78 - o-ri-o-n na-ha, (English pronounciation of orion) na-ha, calling 78 "seven eight". Naha is a city in Okinawa where they make Orion beer.
PEACE(^^)v - Pi-su! (said in a girlish voice while holding up a V sign), peace. (^^)v is the emoticon for holding up the v sign as is a popular thing to do in Japan amongst the youth.
Sakura/桜 - sa-ku-ra
Sana molette ne ente/Sana morette ne ente/サナモレッテネエンテ - Sa-na mo-re-tte-ne-e-n-te, pronouncing morette "moh-rett" (and yes, I know that's how Sana says it in the song). See my above comments on how to pronounce l/r.
TaQ - tah-ku, tack - TaQ himself has said on his web site that his name is pronounced tah-KU.
Tsugaru - tsu-ga-ru. Tsugaru is a city in Japan famed for its shamisen instrument. This is the stringed instrument the characters are holding in the picture, and what's played througout. See my notes above on how to pronounce "tsu"

Any more questions? Respond to this thread and as they get answered, I'll aggregate them here.

[videoCWK]

How could you forget "Q" and how it's pronouncd "ku" as is the case with TaQ or QQQ (which is pronounced "San ku")?
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[maxx freak]

Mention that Sakura is NOT pronounced suh-KURR-uh, it's SAH-koo-rah

[rampage]

[Zonic]

Some JPN names I want to add (not entirely sure, but still) [translations] & some other songs:

DanDanDo = Da-n (not Dan like someone's name) Da-n Do (it's how they say it in the song) [Male Male Street] (should be Dandandou)

Gekkou Chou = Gek-koo chow (like when someone says achoo) [Moonlight Butterfly]

Nijiiro = Knee-Jee-Row [Color of Rainbow]

Chikara = Chi-car-rah [Power/Strength]

Tierra Buena = Tear-a Buena

Konoko no nanatsu no oiwaini = Ko-no-ko no na-na-sue (like Tsugaru) no oy-wa-e-ni (last part is what I'm not sure about) [7 Cheers for this child]

PEACE(^^)v = I think it's just "Peace"

Kagerow = Ka-Ge (like key)-ROO. It's really Kagerou, for it's changed for some reason [Dragonfly]

L'amour et la liberté = La-mo-ur et la li-bert-teh (or however we said in the original thread).

Also, you should be proud that your thread lead to another thread that got stickied.

[rampage]

I'll add these

[~unsung]

Please add songs who only have letters in their names, like DXY and NGO, and how you pronounce them.
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[DJ_QUACKQUACK]

[æ¢ é›¨]

The whole Saa-KURR-ra thing gets on my nerves.

Some of my friends say Saa-kure-ah.

It's gets annoying.

Anyways, thank you for making this thread, sticky.
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梅雨 | 私は雨を注がせる

現在の固定観念 | HETEROCHROMIA

現在の固定観念 | NOBODY KNOWS/スガ シカオ

[DAVE101]

Xepher and Xuxa?
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poop

[Zonic]

I say Xepher "Zepher", but that's just me.

[Reenee]

"DXY!"?
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[ǝɥʇʎɔs]

Think you could include accentuation? "Ender" vs. "Endear", for example.
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i'm only into irony ironically

[Zonic]

I thought of one while I was at school.

321 Stars is 3, 2, 1, not three hundred twenty-one.

[DAVE101]

Xuxa and Xepher? Please a more detailed response!
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poop

[Reenee]

Shoe-sha. Zeh-fur.
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[GackTMN]

[Razma]

[DAVE101]

Thanks!
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poop

[Zukin-Man]