Comments on: Twinings

By: Marijn Rongen

Marijn Rongen — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 04:02:10 +0000

J. is absolutely right, even a lot of dutch people seem to be able to garble it.
Shari, I think your guess comes closest to the dutch pronounciation, taking in to account that the dutch “ij” sound doesn’t exist outside of the dutch language. In katakana it should be マリジン then. I’ll have to get used to the sounds to make a better guess, but thanks very much for the replies.

By: J.

J. — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 01:05:39 +0000

Shari, the name “Marijn” is a Dutch name and the Dutch language has a special pronounciation for the “ij” combination. There is no equivalent katakana character or character combination that gets even close to this sound. Marijn probably has to live with the fact that Japanese people will always garble his name.

By: Shari

Shari — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:05:47 +0000

First, I apologize to Roy for taking up his blog comment space to post off-topic. Sorry, Roy!

Marijn: The typo was because of my bad eyes and tiny text on the screen. I simply didn’t see the “i” between the two other letters. ;-)

As for how your name would be pronounced in Japan, my best guess would be “ma-ri-ji-n”. I’d type in the katakana for you but I don’t have Japanese input enabled on the PC I’m posting from and my Mac is hooked up to my television set but you can work it out for yourself from this site: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_katakana.htm

However, since I’m uncertain of how to pronounce your name, I could be very wrong.

By: Marijn Rongen

Marijn Rongen — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:03:57 +0000

Haha, I don’t drink tea that much. I’m more of a coffee kind of guy (read “IT-codeslave”) ;)

I like your type-o in my name, would that be pronouncable for a Japanese speaker? I guess it would sound a bit like Gaijin. I’m self-studying Japanese at the moment, and I’m looking for a pronouncable variation on my name…

By: Shari

Shari — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 01:46:26 +0000

Oh, Roy. I don’t think you’re a pig. I think you’re a guy! ;-)

A note to Marjin, Twinings makes pretty nice tea. It’s pretty far from “drainwater”. :-) I think it’s a British tea company which rather helps.

By: Roy

Roy — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:20:19 +0000

Shari, you know I was just being silly and trying to drum up some commentary. I’m not a pig ;-)

By: Shari

Shari — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:48:28 +0000

My guess as a woman is that it is aimed at women and the idea is that the tea if very relaxing. The look on her face is pretty happy and not the least bit come hither.

However, your reaction shows that it seems to take aim at both men and women quite nicely. The people who designed the ad should be proud.

By: Jacek

Jacek — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 08:45:32 +0000

yeah, You’re all right that she’s a nice girl and mhm..she i s sitting on the bed, but in my opinion (and I a m a guy)this ad is very peaceful. the girl seems to be thinking: ‘what a nice peaceful moment..ideal to have some tea’ not ‘come and get me!’:)

By: Marijn Rongen

Marijn Rongen — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 07:29:48 +0000

Nice girl…
Must be aimed at guys, I mean a girl on a bed wouldn’t appeal to a lot of women. The tea probably tastes like drainwater tough…

By: Senis

Senis — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 04:56:47 +0000

Nice bed……………….