Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Pronouncing Japanese Names 080/Mailbag #2

Episode Date: February 21, 2020

Sportscasters mispronouncing names of Japanese athletes has been a major pet peeve of D.C.'s. In the first half of this episode, he offers a crash course on Japanese name pronunciation. After class has ended, he opens up the Friday Mailbag to answer some of your questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariner's, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Oh, hao-go-z-a. I'm Rokutu on Merinazu no host, D.C. Rando-Bagu des. Which is at least a reasonable facsimile of Good Morning. I'm D.C. Lundberg, the host of Locked-on Mariner's. Today we're going to offer a lesson in how to pronounce Japanese names in the first half of today's program, followed by the Friday mailbag in the second half.

Before we get to any of that, though, I will remind you that you can rate, download, and subscribe to Locked-on Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, or whichever podcasting app you care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariner's podcast or Locked-on-N-N-N-N-N-A-R-G or Locked-N-N-A-R-G. You can follow the show on Twitter at L-O-O-U-U-U-N-R-G if you're scoring at Home. Well, gang, this is something I've wanted to do for a while. This is going to be a crash course on how to properly pronounce Japanese names. Not quite Japanese name pronunciation 101, more like name pronunciation 080 or something like that. And after the next six, seven or eight minutes are over, you'll find out that it's really pretty simple.

Unfortunately, I can't think of any sportscaster in any sport that seems to get this right. Winter sports announcers seem to be the worst at this. I hear Japanese names butchered all the time while watching curling, which is really frustrating because, as I stated earlier, it's not very complicated. Either people are just really lazy with pronunciation, or they try too hard and still blow it. And if anyone out there is saying, who cares? My answer to that is that these are people's names.

These are their identities. To my ears, it's just as bad as pronouncing Guillen or Rojas as Rojan. Plus, in a city with as high an Asian population as Seattle has, it's just that much more important to get this right. There are two very common mistakes that people make. The biggest one that I have noticed is trying to apply Western syllable emphasis and structure to Japanese names. It seems like most people try to pronounce all ethnic names

as they do Hispanic ones. There are so many ballplayers of Latin origin that those names are the easiest to compare. The other common mistake is over-emphasizing certain vowels, most commonly the letter U. Time for lesson number one, and that is syllable emphasis. As I stated before, trying to apply syllable emphasis common in Western-based languages to Japanese just doesn't work. Western-based languages usually have the emphasis on the second-to-last syllable in any given word, and Japanese just isn't as consistent with that.

I originally thought that this mistake had to do a syllable emphasis in languages based on Latin, but this applies to Greek and Germanic languages as well. So because of names like Altavilla, Hernandez, Surillo, Marzano, etc., people want to say Iwakuma, Kikuchi, etc. Remember when Ichiro Suzuki first came to prevalence in the United States? Before they were corrected, everybody called him Ichiro. Pretty soon after it was learned that the proper way to say his name is Ichiro. Same thing happened when Kenji Jojima was signed by the Mariners. Everyone at first said Jojima, before Jojima himself corrected the record and told people how to say his name properly.

Most Japanese players don't do this. He's the exception to the rule. Syllable emphasis somewhat ties into lesson number two, and that's vowel emphasis. A general rule of thumb to remember is this, and this might be the most important part of today's lesson. If you see a letter U in a Japanese name and it isn't elongated, then it's barely pronounced. I know that there is a lot more to it than that, but this is really just meant to be a crash course.

For example, going back to Kikuchi. Everyone says Kukuchi, but the U isn't elongated so it's barely pronounced. Kikuchi. Not Iwaku. But Owakma. Do you remember Kolske Fugdome who used to play for the Chicago Cubs? His name is a perfect example for this, and people got it right for the most part. His given name, Kolske, is romanized K-O-S-U-K-E.

The U is barely pronounced, hence Kolske. Same thing with Iwakma and Kikuchi. This also applies to the letter I in J-I-S-H-I or C-H-I, like Ichiro or Jojima, which I used as examples in the previous lesson. A third example is the letter O in D-O or T-O. On to lesson number three, and that is elongated vowels. The most common way to elongate a vowel is by doubling up the vowel. The letter O is different. There are multiple ways to do it, either by adding another O,

a letter H or a letter U after the O. It is generally up to the individual how they romanize their own name. Remember, Japanese uses a completely different writing system than we do. They've got three of them as a matter of fact. I'll use Jojima as an example here also. He spells his family name J-O-H-J-I-M-A. Therefore, the O is elongated and the I isn't. Hence, Jojima.

Same thing with Shohei Oatani of the ancient. angels. O-H-T-A-N-I. The O is elongated. Otani. There's a Japanese curler whose family name is Ishigoka, who chooses to romanize her name by adding an extra O to the elongated O. So, of course, the curling commentators refer to her as Ishiguka, which is wrong on so many levels, because there's an S-H-I and the I isn't elongated, so it's barely pronounced. Ishigoka. Another difference is the letter E, which is generally elongated with the last. letter I to avoid mispronunciation. There's another Japanese curler whose given name is Sena spelled S-E-I-N-A. That's an elongated letter E. Lesson 4 is going to be rather quick,

and that's double consonants. Japan in Japanese is N-I-P-P-O-N, as in N-I-P-O-N-P-O-N. I cannot think of an athlete off the top of my head who has a double consonant in his or her name, but the general rule of thumb here is that it's somewhat like you would pronounce the K sounds in bookcase. Well, gang, that's pretty much it. There are several rules to keep in mind, but they're all pretty simple. If you take only one thing away from today's presentation, I hope it's the rule about the non-alongated letter U. That's really the key to most of this. And really, this is not meant to call anyone out specifically just to address some common mistakes and try to educate people. And now we're going to move on to the League Commish Fantasy Minute. And you know, my fantasy is coming into

tens of millions of dollars, listing my occupation as rich eccentric, and then finding some cute little 19-year-old with daddy issues. But since that's never going to happen, let's talk fantasy baseball. Today's featured fantasy player, for obvious reasons, is you say Kikuchi. In his rookie season, Kikuchi started off okay, then his ERA just went into orbit. After putting up ERAs of 454 and 432 in April and May, respectively, he posted a 703 ERA in June with a whopping 2.055 whip. His July ERA was 556, and the rest of the way out, he posted a 604 ERA. He gave up a ton of home runs, 36 of them, and ended the season with a 1.515 whip and a 546 ERA. He has got to keep the ball in the ballpark to be effective, and his walk rate for the season was 2.8 per 9, which isn't terrible, but certainly could be better.

His 10.9 hits per 9 innings isn't good either. Those numbers have got to improve. The jury is still out for me if he can put it all together. I'd be scared to draft him for my team simply because of the home runs and the plethora of runners he put on base last season. And he doesn't strike out enough hitters to make up for it in terms of 50. fantasy points, but as I said yesterday, I couldn't care less about strikeouts in real life. Well, that was today's fantasy minute sponsored by League Commish. What are you doing for the game? A universal question.

Whether the casual follower, the tweets everything, the beginner, the diehard, the stat nerd, the smack talker, the appetizer guy, the couldn't care less, or that makes everything into a competition person, we all have our place in the sports world. The same personalities apply to fantasy sports, and league commish exists to ensure your fantasy sports experience is the best one for you. We match managers to leagues as we lay the foundation for your new league. It's as easy as sign up with your preferences, get matched, and approve of that match before any commitment on your end. Sign up with League Commish by Leap Day, February 29th, and receive 15% off by entering in the code locked on in the referred by section of the sign-up form. The first 25 people to sign up using our code receive their first match for free.

What are you doing for the game? Find your next fantasy sports league at league commish.com. And now today's Mariners trivia question. Ichido Suzuki was not the first Japanese-born player to play for the Mariners. That distinction is held by a pitcher who appeared in one game in 1996, six more in 1998, and 16 in 1999. Name the pitcher. I'll tell you who it is after the break. But remember, if you've got a question for me or a comment on the show,

please send an email to Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com, and I'll consider using the question or comment in the Friday mailbag segment. And remember, the question doesn't have to be about the Mariners, doesn't have to be about baseball, you can ask whatever you like as long as it is family-friendly. Mailbag segment coming up right after the answer to the trivia question. Locked-on Mariners will continue CM Gashu Riosita Toki. This is Jason J.D. Hernandez, the host of Locked-on Anaheim Ducks. It's hockey season, but it's also spring training time.

And you're listening to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network. And now here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, J.D. Yeah, spring training is here. Can you believe it? There are four games today, and then a whole slate of games tomorrow. The Mariners' first game, incidentally, is tomorrow against the San Diego Padres at 12.10 p.m. Pacific time. Wow, time does fly, doesn't it? Anyways, the answer to the Mariners trivia question.

First Japanese-born player to play for the Mariners. It was not Ichero. It was a pitcher who played in 1996, 98, and part of 1999. The answer is Makoto Suzuki. And it's Friday, so it's time to dip into the old mailbag. No Twitter questions this time around, just emails. Lots of questions left over from last time. A plethora of those asked from John and Fife will lead off with him.

He asks, should the Mariners use openers, why or why not? First of all, opener is a contrived, made-up term. And teams that use openers are really just trying to hide the fact that they're starting rotation is garbage. No, I don't think any team should use openers. Some team have gone to using a reliever to start a game, pitch an inning or two, and then go with a long reliever. Some of whom they treat as starting pitchers as a rotation and everything. The Meriters did this last year with Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Malone. But my question is, if they're not good enough to pitch the first couple innings, why are they in any rotation at all? Why aren't they just used for mop-up work?

The other part of it is this. A size of it. from a team's closer, your bullpen is going to be filled with failed starters, and any pitcher that's going to be used as a quote-unquote opener is chosen out of the bullpen. No, the Mariners should not use openers, no team should use openers. I agree with Tom Hamilton, the Indians broadcaster on this, who said, I think last year or the year before, I don't recall, but that the opener is a, quote, cute little gimmick, which will work for a while, but teams will still need strong starting rotations in order to contend. A perfect example of this is the two World Series teams last year. The Washington

Nationals had a strong rotation. The Houston Astros, for whatever it's worth, had a strong rotation. Those are the teams that are going to be successful, those with good deep rotations, not those who use relievers as starting pitchers, and I'm glad to see that the Mariners are trying to put together an honest-to-goodness rotation. I hope this fad is done. and Fife also submits the following question. Do you think MLB should look to add more teams in Canada and maybe contract some of the teams in the U.S. that have a history of not drawing fans?

I'll address the first part of that first, and the answer is absolutely yes. I think Montreal is hungry for a team again. I think they'll support a team. I think that would be a perfect location. Prior to last season, at the very beginning of last season, Commissioner Rob Manfred discussed the possibility

of expanding to 32. teams, Montreal was listed as one of those locations. I think that Manfred, for whatever problems that he's created, he's onto something with this one. I think MLB should expand to a couple more markets. I think Canada would be a great place to go. And as for the second part of the question, remember, MLB goes around the globe already. They've gone to Mexico, they've gone to Australia, they've gone to Japan. I would love to see them go into more Canadian cities. Montreal being one of them, Montreal already hosts Blue Jays spring training games, the final two Blue Jays spring training games of every season,

and those games tend to draw pretty well. You know, but maybe host a series in the Prairie provinces, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, and see how it works out, maybe in Nova Scotia somewhere. Yes, I think that's a great idea. Continuing with the John from Fife questions, do you think the player's weekend jerseys should be worn all year, perhaps, as alternate jerseys?

Depends on which ones your end? asking about the ones that they had two seasons ago, the ridiculous multicolored ones, or last year's jerseys, the black and white ones that made the players all look like gang members. No, to both questions, they're hideous, and having nicknames on the jerseys is stupid. One final John from Fife question before we move on to the others. When do you think Lou Penella will make the Hall of Fame? That's a really good question. I'm not sure if he will or not.

He came really close last time in the Veterans Committee, following just one vote short, 12 votes are required out of the 16 members, and he received 11 votes. That tells me that he's got a chance next time his name comes up in the Veterans Committee. They have three different eras that they look at, and I forget which one he is in, but they go one era, then the next season. They look at the second one, the third year. They look at the third one, and then they go back to the first. And off the top of my head, I don't recall when his name is going to come up again,

when his era is going to come up again. But I think he has a chance. I can't say with certainty he'll get it. I certainly hope he does. I think he's deserving, as I think most Mariners fans do. Got time for a couple more questions before we wrap up for the week. This one comes to us from Glenn in Oakville. Should we have awards named after players or executives?

Why do we call some by name like the Sayung Award and not others like the MVP? To answer the first part of the question, I don't have a problem with awards named after players, particularly the Edgar Martinez Award. As for the second part of the question, I don't know why we have some that are named after players, some we don't. I think with the MVP, it's kind of more like an all-encompassing. A lot of leagues have an MVP that they just call the MVP.

And the rookie of the year, remember, is the Jackie Robinson rookie of the year. So it is kind of named after somebody, although everybody just calls it the rookie of the year award. Fred from LaPush checks in from the peninsula. Who is the single season singles leader? I hope you set me up for this one. The answer, of course, is Ichiro in 2004 with 262 hits, breaking George Sistler's 84-year-old record of 257. He hit 372 that year.

Fred, I kind of hope you already knew the answer to that question, but just wanted to hear it on the air. Thank you for checking in nonetheless, and we have one final question today. This one comes to us from Frank in Kelso, who asks, what is or was your favorite position to play? Full disclosure, I never played on an organized team, except for T-ball when I was seven and that does not count. However, when I'd go out with my friends to hit the ball around the yard and hit each other ground balls and fly balls and pitched to each other,

first base was my best position. I had a knacket kind of picking balls out of the dirt. I liked playing second base and shortstop, though, third base too. I guess the answer is really any infield position. I liked being on the infield. I was never that much of an outfielder, to be honest, and I could not play center. field to save my life. I always would misjudge the ball. If the ball was hit at me over my head, I would always start in and then have to go back, which is a common mistake that natural infielders make when they try to transition to center field. Ladies and gentlemen, that's going to wrap up the mailbag for this week. Thank you very much for sending in your questions. I enjoy this mailbag segment,

and I hope you do it home also. Remember that if you have a question you would like me to answer in this email segment or just have a comment on the show that you'd like to make, Send an email to Lockedon Mariners at gmail.com. And also please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to Lockedon Mariners on Google Podcast, Apple Podcasts, Sit Your Radio, Spotify, or whichever podcasting app that you prefer. Ask your smart device to play Locked on Mariner's podcast or the other programs here on the Locked On podcast network or T-L-O-P-N or T-Lopin. Follow the show on Twitter also at L-O-U-U-Skor Mariners, and remember that I am. on Twitter also. You can find me there at DC underscore Lundberg. That's going to wrap up the show for today and for the week. I hope you enjoyed this week's programs. We'll be back with you on Monday. Hopefully it's a little bit of a heavier news week than it was last week. We got some spring training games to cover, so I'm sure it will be. Until then, ladies and gentlemen, have a great weekend and happy birthday, mom. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked On Mariners, part of the Locked On podcast network.