Which do you prefer?

先輩

Teacher

>>119914072
Or. Or is a more useful word which can apply in all kinds of sentences and situations.

File: 1379702872373.jpg (48KB, 600x600px) Image search: [Google]

48KB, 600x600px

>>119914072
Senpai because that's how my sensei taught it.

Senpai, I don't know where sempai comes from

>>119914072
Upperclassman, because more syllables is better.

>>119914400
>I don't know where sempai comes from
ganjins

Senior.

>>119914346
>not semsei

>>119914400
バーガー人

n

I don't have a preference either way, but I wish they would pick one and go with it.

>>119914400
Senpai is the proper way to say it, however the English language dislikes putting the "n" and "p" sounds together, so an English speaker with little or no practice with Japanese will more often make an "m" sound. You can see the concept happening with the words "incomplete" and "impossible," which both use the same negating prefix.

>>119914730
kawaii in the streets senpai in the sheets xDD
i'm such a hikki rofl!
XD

>>119914400
because the M and N are really close together, just like how r and l.

>>119914072
why would i give a shit

>>119915074
Native Japanese speakers pronounce ん as m when preceding certain other consonants too; kana do not have unique pronunciations.

>>119914400
The Japanese tend to use ン(n') to approximate English and other non-Japanese uses of the letter M when it isn't immediately followed by a vowel. They do this rather than use ム(mu) or モ(mo). -u and -o syllables being the usual Japanese way to handle the first in a pair of consecutive consonants: to=t, su=s, etc... At some point someone must have thought it would work in reverse as well -that if M→ン, then ン→M, but that's not the case.

We've been pretty retarded in just trying to figure out romaji for a lot of basic sounds
>ジ→ji
>ヂ→ji
and not ジ→zhi for both clarity and closer approximation, but then even just "zi" would be closer to the general phonetic sound of ジ than "ji" is. Then there's ヂ→dji which is phonetically closer to ヂ than "ji" with the added clarity of fitting into the d- syllable set.

Then there's,
>ズ→zu
>ヅ→zu
ズ→zu is obviously as straight forward as it gets but ヅ could stand to be romanized as "dzu" both for clarity and a closer phonetic approximation.

Then shit like,
>オオ→ō
>オウ→ō
>オー→ō
fucking why

It's senpai, anything else is just wrong.

Who cares.

Sensei is always better.

>>119914400
a hentai artist known for drawing traps shota hentai and Pokemon

>>119916419
because the person who started trying to fit moonrunes to the latin alphabet was probably a hobbyist who didnt do it very well and other people started with his work without improving it causing a wave of retardedness that is now in every book and is impossible to get out.

Same with chemistry, people didnt know what they were doing and started naming shit, it became part of the common vocabulary and you now have to deal with retarded shit.

Same with that electrons go from - to + but current goes from + to -. They missguessed which way the static charge went when you stroked a bar with a piece of cloth so now we still have to deal with that bullshit.

Tenpura
or
Tempura

Which do you prefer?

File: 1408254537269.jpg (62KB, 435x450px) Image search: [Google]

62KB, 435x450px

>>119916772
or is it SEMSEI?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7LsBCSM3YA

>>119915074
>no, it's not glorious nipponese fault, firthy gaijin say it wrong

>>119916933
More like semensei amirite

>>119914072
Don't care about pronunciation, but seeing it written as "sempai" makes me cringe.

>>119914072
The one that notices me.

>>119914072
I don't give a fuck as long as it's consistent.

But that's asking too much of crappy anime translators. I can't even ask for name order consistency if they can't get this right.

File: Asuka anta baka Evangelion 2.0.jpg (126KB, 1280x720px) Image search: [Google]

126KB, 1280x720px

>>119916948

>implying it's not AYY-VAN-GELLY-UN

File: 1375004380229.jpg (44KB, 421x292px) Image search: [Google]

44KB, 421x292px

>>119917755

>>119914072
Senpai.

Is it really a matter of preference when one is wrong?

>>119915074
http://note.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/detail/n42557
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%93
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2138772688764656301

Depending on which Japanese linguists you ask, there are up to 10 different ways ん is pronounced depending on the next syllable.

Some examples:

m if followed by p, b, or m
n if followed by t, d, z, or n
ŋ (the ng in sing or king) if followed by k or g
ɴ (uvular nasal) if at the end of a word

semper fi

>>119918495
>when one is wrong

>>119917222
You. I like you.

>>119914130
The only answer

>>119914400

same shit with nanpa and nampa (ナンパ)

that's picking up amateur girls to fuck, by the way

File: suzuka.gif (3MB, 480x270px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 480x270px

SENPAI

>>119919423
That scene was too teasing

>>119914400
Phonetically, the ん (n) is closer to an "m" sound than "n" in this case. ん can have different pronunciations depending on the word. Japanese phonetics are slightly fucked up like that (but still miles better than English phonetics).

File: 1364425050904.jpg (45KB, 600x409px) Image search: [Google]

45KB, 600x409px

>>119914247
Top kek

>>119914072
Senpai.

I ain't a pro or anything, but I don't think nippers have a thing for a single 'm' like they do for 'n'.

File: 1337076194160.jpg (201KB, 541x458px) Image search: [Google]

201KB, 541x458px

>>119915074

File: [Bunny_Hat]Macross_01_(2EBC32A8).mkv_snapshot_09.41_[2015.01.16_20.18.32].jpg (47KB, 960x720px) Image search: [Google]

47KB, 960x720px

sempai

>>119914400
There's plenty in this thread about how ん isn't a perfect match for n or m, but whether or not that's true is irrelevant here.

Really it's just from the shape your mouth makes when you talk, and you should be able to see it just from saying the word to yourself a few times. The sounds for n and m are made basically the same way, but making an n sound requires the lips to be parted, whereas m requires them closed. Since the next letter in 'senpai' is p, which also requires them to be closed, when you say it your n is going to be blurred into an m unless you say it very slowly.

File: 1421175832855.jpg (22KB, 683x383px) Image search: [Google]

22KB, 683x383px

I hope sempai will break out of his depressive cycle and love me again ;_;

>>119915074
>dunning kruger in full effect
the japanese actually pronounce it "sempai",

english speakers with no knowledge of japanese pronounce it "senpai" in a misguided effort to be consistent.

Go-men-a-sai
or
Su-mi-mo-sen?
or both?
or all three?

>>119928174
Go men! Go men!

>>119914072
センセー

>>119914072
Upperclassman. Complete with footnote detailing its cultural importance.

>>119914072
SEMPAI
The N becomes a voiced M before a consonant.
It's not fucking rocket science.
If I see "senpai" then I know the person who typed that is retarded.

"SEMPAI" MOTHERFUCKER