A Note on Romaji

Japanese words written in the Roman alphabet as opposed to in Japanese characters are called romaji. To take something that was originally written in Japanese characters and write it in the Roman alphabet is called romanizing, and the process of doing this is called romanization. There are many ways of romanizing Japanese, but there is really only one way that makes sense. I consider this method the best because it clearly shows pronunciation of words to non-Japanese speakers while simultaneously showing those who do speak Japanese how words would be spelled in kana.

I have romanized the particle 「は」as “wa.” Though it is spelled with the hiragana “ha,” it is pronounced “wa.”

Similarly, I have romanized the particle 「へ」as “e,” because again, though it is spelled with the hiragana “he,” it is pronounced “e.”

I have romanized 「を」as “wo” rather than “o” simply because I think it looks better. In modern Japanese, this particle is sometimes pronounced “wo” or “o” depending on the person and the dialect.

Instead of inserting dashes or long marks, I have indicated long vowels by doubling the vowels (“aa” instead of “a-” or “a”) because it is more faithful to the way Japanese is written. I have romanized 「おお」as “oo” and「おう」as “ou” for the same reason.

I have romanized 「じゃ」「じゅ」and「じょ」as “ja,” “ju,” and “jo,” respectively, NOT as “jya,” “jyu,” and “jyo.” Since the syllables are pronounced “jah” (like the “jo” in “job”) “ju” (as in “jujubes”) and “jo” (as in “joke”) I feel that this way of romanizing them is more correct.

I have Romanized 「し」as “shi,”「じ」as “ji,”「つ」as “tsu,” and「づ」as “zu.” I did NOT write them as “si,” “zi,” “tu,” and “du.” The syllables are pronounced “shi,” “ji,” “tsu,” and “zu,” and only a fool would spell them the other way, because it simply doesn’t make any sense.

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