Wednesday, February 01, 2006

What's in a name?

JP. That's me. Or at least what I joke about. I am a 3rd generation Japanese American. JP stands for "Japanese Pollack." So what's that about you may ask? Let me share. It has been my experience that people have a really hard time saying my last name for some reason. For example, let's say my last name were Kawasaki, it's not, but you'll get the idea. Anyhow, when people try to pronounce my name, it comes out like Kawanski, Kawaski, or Kawamski. It's especially fun when you're at a restaurant and they call your name. After a while you just smile and nod and accept all the iterations of your name. So you see, a good Japanese name becomes a proper Polish name in no time!!! My wife always joked that I am the "Japanese Pollack," so JP is a good pen name I think.

I'm actually surprised that people cannot do better with my name. It's really not that hard you know. Here's the secret to Japanese pronunciation, take everything in two or three letters. So if you were trying to pronounce Kawasaki, break it by every two letters, Ka-wa-sa-ki, then say each syllable individually and there you have it, instant Japanese. And if you had a name like Nishita, you would break it to Ni-shi-ta. Pretty much all Japanese syllables end in a vowel or are a vowel. Get the idea?

5 comments:

The Q said...

I used to work with a guy who later became one of my better friends. His last name was Kobayashi. It didn't seem that complicated to me but when we'd go out to lunch and they'd ask for his name, I was STUNNED to hear what people would come up with.

Perhaps it's just easier for some of us...I was a "Hooked on Phonics" baby. Not to brag or anything.

*snort*

JP said...

Hey Sozieq, thanks for visiting from the land of Sharkey! Hope I don't bore you with my incessant ramblings and mindless drivel.... =) As for me, I've always been more of a "Chisenbop" kid!!!

ieatcrayonz said...

Okay, so I have a question. How do you say kaizen?

People at work pronounce it two ways:

kigh zahn

or

kigh zen

Do you know which is correct?

Nice to meet you, J.P., and I'm dying laughing over the secret behind your pen name. I know your real name, and I kept thinking, where in the heck did J.P. come from!?

JP said...

crayonz kaizen would be correctly pronounced:

kai zen

so it "kai" is like saying "Hi" in English and "zen" is is like "Den" in English. In Japanese, e's are pronounced like "eh" in English.

Glad you like the pen name!!! =)

Anonymous said...

ieatcrayonz must work at my company...same issue here with Kaizen pronunciation...my research says it should rhyme with dry pen.