Manga, how do you pronounce it?

[ZhouYu671]

Man-ja it's really the one correct way to pronounce it. The word comes from "man" which means 10,000 and "ja" which is a different way of saying "sha"　which means a person doing a certain kind of job.

The word dates back to the Muromachi period where only 10,000 people were allowed to be illustrators at any one time.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Pretty much Man-ga and sometimes i have to try to correct some of my American friends because they call it Mon-ga because it sounds like there is no "A" in the word not that it irks me i just feel the need to correct.

Except it's a Japanese word and would be pronounce "mon-guh" not matter what you'd prefer. Japanese pronunciation of syllables is quite fixed, so there's not really a way to dispute it.

Except when i see it written over here as Manga then i tend to pronounce it the way i see it and not the way the japanese have it written.

 

[Sentox6]

Two years in Japanese studies taught me that really quick.

I had to stop and lol at this sentence a little. I hope you don't mind.

Out of interest, what's a long time for you?

 

[honestdiscussioner]

Eh-jean-com-ick

hehe . . . j\k

Mang ah

 

[Puddleknock]

I've always used man-ga pronunciation as that is what generally understood, rather than the Japanese pronuciation as most people I speak would have little idea what I mean.

When it comes to language I'd rather be understood than be 'correct'.

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

I had to stop and lol at this sentence a little. I hope you don't mind.

Out of interest, what's a long time for you?

A long time is a year or so. Six months if I am feeling particularly impatient. Not sure what you wanted out of that question, but there you go. Hrmph. That wasn't the only thing in Japanese language class I learned. I was merely using it as a point of reference.

I don't see what was so funny, but whatever.

 

[Kekkles]

I pronounce is Man-Garbage! HAHAHA, see what I did there!

No, really, I do.

No I don't. I pronounce it Mayn-gah, because I have a funny Southern-English accent that makes me sound like the Queen.

 

[Snoozer]

I don't understand how these threads continue to exist now that we have audio dictionaries.

Click here to hear the correct pronunciation. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/audio.php?file=manga01v&word=manga&text=\%3Cspan%20class%3D%22unicode%22%3E%CB%88%3C%2Fspan%3Em%C3%A4%C5%8B-g%C9%99\]

It's not manga like mango with an a on the end, though I admit that's how I read and pronounced it before I looked it up.

Audio dictionaires rule! We are already at the point of being able to hear and tranlate most languages instantly (and more or less accurate) A very underused feature though.

 

[Macgyvercas]

How it's supposed to be pronounced: mon-guh.

 

[Denamic]

Exactly like it's pronounced in Japanese.
I used to have a Japanese girlfriend, and I've found out that Japanese pronunciation of vowels is remarkably similar to my dialect of Swedish.
Write a Japanese word in English letters, and odds are that the way I'll pronounce it is exactly the same as a Japanese would.
Words like 'manga' and 'anime'.

 

[Chemical Alia]

I know how it's pronounced in Japanese, but I don't care because I'm not speaking Japanese. I call them Japanese comic books or pronounce it with a short "a" like mango, along with similar words. I also pronounce Mario "Marry-o", lol.

 

[sooperman]

It's always been "man-ga" to me. I get that the Japanese have a way of saying it, but speak a language or don't. If you are speaking English, say it the way English speakers say it.

 

[Bloodstain]

Mahn-Gah. The only right way.

"Mignogna" ...le wut?

 

[The Stonker]

I'm learning Japanese and I pronounce it MAN-GA.
Pretty easy.
Since if had a KA in it it would be written MANKA. So it would be pronounced MAN-KA.
Try for instance nihongo.
Do you say Ni-hon-go.
Or something that is bizzare and goes like this.
NI-HON-KO.
We all know how to talk people, there is a huge difference between a G and a K in English ( well I pronounce it differently people tell me because I'm a brit). And it's the same in Japanese with Ga and Ka, same with go and ko.

 

[Blue Hero]

Moi-nah-ga.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

yeah i heard it pronounced mahn-ga a few years back, but it just...sounds goofy, and i don't personally know a single person who pronounces it that way, so i just continue to say main-ga like everyone else around here.

 

[DaWaffledude]

... You're not supposed to pronounce it man-gah? My entire life has been a lie.

 

[Hollock]

It's mon guh. In japanese every letter is always pronounced the same way.a is always sounds like ah.

 

[Zetsubou^-^]

i don't know why people have trouble with this. Japanese is actually much more simple to say when reading because they kept it very phonetic. the Japanese system is based off of A-I-U-E-O. they sound like AH-EE-OO-EH-OH. most characters follow this principle. a basic alphabet looks like this,read right to left of course:

N WA RA YA MA HA NA TA SA KA A
-----RI----MI HI NI CHI SHI KI I
-----RU YU MU FU NU TSU SU KU U
-----RE----ME HE NE TE SE KE E
--WO RO YO MO HO NO TO SO KO O

N and WO are the only weird ones really. N is used in places where NA NI NU NE NO wouldn't work and just sounds like n. and WO can change its sound based on how its used.
all other letters and sounds are made via small changes(for instance, GA in Japanese is written KA",and things like KYA are written KIya, in this case a little YA)or with puctuation(extending the sound of a word with - after it or on it to emphasize the sound.)

since its written manga it is pronounced as such. there are harder words and rules i won't get into.

edit: the thing just wont cooperate lining up my little chart, but you can line it up easy enough XP

 

[TehCookie]

Oh phonetic spellings on the internet, you confuse me so. I pronounce it まんが.