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Disclaimer: LoveForTraveling. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This site also participates in other affiliate programs like booking. During this period, Japan had its first contact with China and Korean countries through the introduction of Buddhism. It was during this time that Japan gradually started to be called Nippon.
Like when Japanese athletes are cheered, the NHK announcers always. Interesting that the article didn't mention that the 10, yen note has "Nippon Ginko" written on it. I've heard from my senseis that nihon is what people usually call it, but in official cases like sports, politics etc they use nippon. Just another reason why I despise Japanese mangled use of Chinese characters.
Things are way more complicated than they ever had to be. Seeing as how both Korean and Chinese labialize the initial consonant of the second syllable ilbun, riben without strongly strongly aspirating it, the most natural way to pronounce those two characters would be Nipon, not Nippon. Call it "Nippon" in English, but "Nihon" in Japanese. For example, "nippongo," "nipponshoku," etc.
Romaji is not here for us native speakers of Japanese, but there for non-speakers of Japanese, so "Nippon Ginko" is OK. Japan would do well to simplify their language quite a bit, and go with hiragana only. Most Japanese tell you that would be impossible since the deeper meanings of kanji disappears but if we take a look at Korea, they manage pretty well with hangul. Also, Vietnam used to be a kanji country but they seem to survive well with roman letters only. I gave a lecture to adults at a small conference once and talked about some of the histories of Canada as well as relations past and present with Japan.
She said it infuriated her and her husband that Japan is the 'only' her words nation in the world with different names in different language. I explained WHY the names were different, and calmy said Japan is certainly NOT the only country with different names, citing Germany as a prime example. Anyway, one of those reasons, as the author pointed out, is because when it spread through Europe the name different slightly. It first appeared in English as 'Giappan' in the s or something.
I like the detailed history, although I had heard the name Japan originated from a kind of Cantonese dialect "Jat Bang" from traders on the island of Malacca when they were asked where they got such beautiful silk. Anyway, I hear of course hear a whole lot more 'Nihon' than 'Nippon', but I when I hear the latter it is usually older people saying it, or like I said, nationalists. I can say that it is a lot more fun to shout at sports the exception when the majority use Nippon, I'd say , and stronger phonetically, than "Nihon".
Sounds like a nutcase to me. I hope she realizes that Igirisu sounds nothing like United Kingdom, and that the word Nippon would never have existed had the Japanese not adopted Chinese characters. Japan would still be called Wa or Yamato, or are we allowed to write the country's name in roman letters?
Pukey2: I knew she was a bit of a nutbag. Strictly speaking, I think Igirisu is supposed to mean UK although I have a sneaky feeling that they got it confused with England. In football, you see England being called Ingurando in Japanese. Some very interesting points here. I studied Chinese in college remember well that devilishly difficult "re-" sound, halfway between a J and an R. I'd also postulate that the difference in pronunciation between "Nippon" and "Nihon" is related not to nationalism but to the sense of refinement generally attributed to soft consonants in the Japanese language - e.
I think in the end, it comes down to this: the original pronunciation-- Nippon --came from older dialects of Japanese from the Kyoto area, while the more modern pronunciation-- Nihon --came from the Edo dialects dating from the 's. And both pronunciations are still commonly used even now, even with the many dialects spoken around Japan.
It appeared that the Ministry of Education almost settled this argument in , but the objections of the people in the Kanto Plain region e. Regardless of how you think it should be used, I've found that the way that it's actually used is pretty interesting. Basically, anytime there is an element of patriotism, nationalism or jingoism that is expressed in the statement, whether it's implicit or explicit, then you'll hear the "Nippon" version.
When the country is being named in a more ambivalent or neutral tone or being used to speak generally about things related to the nation or its government, then you'll hear "Nihon. The name change can even be as fluid as to use "Nippon" when "Nihon" would otherwise have been used, when the context is one that is tinged with national chauvinism. This isn't something I was taught, but it is something that I learned. The government replied that both terms were in wide usage and it saw no reason to take an official side on the matter.
It's cool. Smith and Raymond, you guys are on the right track -- certainly ahead of the author of this article. In ancient times, words that are today pronounced with [h] in certain positions particularly at the beginning of a word had [p] there. A flower was a pana ; you mother was your papa. The legendary empress of the 2nd or 3rd century AD answered to "Pimiko". If you Google for images of the Portuguese dictionaries produced in the early s, you'll actually see this intermediate stage of the language right in the title, which is Nifon no Cotoba.
Similarly, the legendary Heike Monogatari was called "Feiqe" back then. He mentions that some people today, all people when the following vowel is anything other than [u] use [h] there.
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