In my pre-pubescent years, I was part of a close-knit crew of 4 boys. One of my friends in that crew, John, is a Japanese-American who got us all into anime back in the late 80's / early 90's before it was cool to like anime
We got together every weekend and played
AD&D (
Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition) and NES. Some of the games we used to play extensively were
Romance of the Three Kingdoms,
Nobunaga's Ambition and
Ninja Gaiden.
My two other friends (Clint and Mark) and I used to pronounce Japanese words incorrectly all the time. John couldn't really speak Japanese but was always exposed to it at home (his parents speak it in the house and watch a lot of Japanese TV). He always pronounced the words correctly and would try to correct us.
Mark: Whaddya wanna play?
Me: I dunno, wanna play
Ninja Gay-den?
John: Dudes, it's pronounced "
Ninja Guy-den."
Clint: Shuddap John, you're stupid. It's "
Gay-den." Everyone says it that way.
Me: You up for some
No-BUNG-ga's Ambition?
Mark & Clint: Yeah, fire it up.
John: Man, you're saying it wrong. It's "
No-BOO-na-ga's Ambition."
All Three: Shuddap John, it's "
No-BUNG-guh."
Mark:
*snickers* "
No-BOO-na-ga," LOL! Who
says that??
*While playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Kara-Tur campaign*
Clint: Dude, stop attacking my
show-gun! ("
shōgun," with "gun" incorrectly pronounced the same way as in "handgun")
John: How many times I gotta tell you it's "
show-goon!"
Me: (In stupid mocking voice)
Show-GOON LOLOLOL that sounds retarded!
Mark: Yeah, shuddap John, what do you know about
show-guns anyway!?
*Again during Kara-Tur*
Clint: I'm gonna create a new character. I think I'll play a
day-mo (he was trying to pronounce "
daimyō")
Me: You're pronouncing it wrong, it's "
day-myo."
John: You're both wrong, it's "
die-myō."
All: Shuddap John, that sounds dumb!
Mark: I think I wanna be a
day-mo, too.
Those are only a few examples of many Japanese mispronunciations of which we were guilty. And every time John tried to correct our pronunciation, we would say "Shuddap, John. That's stupid." and then proceed to make fun of the word by pronouncing it correctly (the irony).
Back then I couldn't possibly know that I would go on to master the language of the ninja, realize how wrong we were all those years, and eat a huge piece of humble pie.
I'm not sure if John even remembers that. Every now and then I meet up with him for lunch when we both have time. The next time I see him, I should probably bring it up and apologize to him