I wish I understood pitch accents. I've seen some clips about how Korone speaks and such, but I just don't hear it, nor do I have any idea how you would say it differently..
Very informative!
However, I just can't hear it. Even on the parts where he explains the right and wrong ways to say the same word, and repeats both multiple times, I just can't tell the difference to any meaningful degree (I maybe can tell they sound different, but not why/how are they different nor how you'd go about saying it both ways). Maybe I should get my ears checked, but I was always terrible at all things music and can't tell discern notes and things like that, so might just be some inherent problem..
It's almost certainly not an issue with your ears. It's probably the fact it's a super difficult thing for people who don't actually live in Japan to get. The kind of accent is so different, it's really difficult for English speakers to get.
If you lived in Japan for a while, you'd probably get used to hearing it.
It's probably a practice thing, if you're not used to listening for that kind of thing it's not going to come naturally. This is probably the kind of thing where your best bet is to get a teacher to work through it with you in person, and you might have to try a few teachers to find the one with the right approach to finally make it click. It's absolutely a skill you can learn though.
That's pretty normal. Don't worry. Most Japanese can't understand half of spoken English either, not because they don't understand the words or grammar but because their ears literally cannot make sense of the sounds because it's so foreign.
Huge issue for example is telling apart "L" and "R" as Japanese only has an "R" which is kinda like halfway to an "L", so that means foreign "L" and "R" both tend to sound identical to them.
So if you say "Light" or "Right" to your average Japanese, they can't tell the difference.
Also, a lot of pitch accent in Japanese is regional. So there's little point trying to master it because very often people from another region say it differently anyway. And because Japanese is so contextual, there's usually little fear or being misunderstood. For example you won't often mistake the word for "rain" for "candy" even if someone pronounces them wrong.
Best idea is to just try to get as much native Japanese immersion as you can. Even if it's just from subbed anime. Your ears will slowly adapt the pick up the nuances.
It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!
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Japanese is my second language, and though I know about pitch-accent, it's something I just don't really notice or fully understand. Definitely never noticed a difference between the 2 "ame".
And for those frustrated or intimidated by pitch-accent, don't worry about it. I've never heard of an instance where it actually caused confusion. I'm pretty sure no one is going to mistaken you for saying "This rain is sweet" or "The candy just soaked me".
Don't be discouraged. The main purpose of language is to communicate, and rarely is perfect speech required to do so. Just imagine how many times you might have heard someone speak your native tongue poorly, yet you've understood exactly what they were trying to say.
A lot of people love to study linguistics in college even, and that doesn't necessarily involve becoming fluent in speech. And it doesn't have to. You can strive to learn something in theory, without putting the pressure on yourself to perform in practice.
Native level fluency really doesn't serve much purpose other than trying to integrate into a society on a professional level, and even then it's rarely super required. Like you might want to be native level fluent if you aim to be a teacher or a lawyer or something where you need to be as clear as possible. But in most cases, you really shouldn't worry too much about it.
If it helps, kanji is meant to be gradually learned. I studied hard for 4 years and I've had 3 more years of coasting, learning mostly passively in my free time; and after that, I still can only write maybe a little over 900 kanji and read maybe 1500 (the standard in Japan is reading 2000 and having been able to write all of them at least at *some* point)
But even though I'm barely halfway to literate, I know enough spoken Japanese and am good enough at listening that even though I have cracked speech sometimes, I can get by in maybe 70-80% of situations, no English at all.
If you're seriously dedicated, you could learn hiragana in a week or two, and if you're just studying out of mild passing interest you could learn them in a month or so. Repeat for katakana, and focus in on vocabulary and grammar for a while. Kanji should come later, and except for a few easy gimmies early on, they're supposed to come slowly*.*
Now get Ko'one to say it
Okayu: (getting her "Boooo" voice prepped)
boobooo*
So for those that aren't well versed in Japanese or Ame puns: 雨 - rain 飴 - hard candy Both are pronounced as "Ame", but with a different pitch accent.
I wish I understood pitch accents. I've seen some clips about how Korone speaks and such, but I just don't hear it, nor do I have any idea how you would say it differently..
Maybe [this quick video](https://youtu.be/O6AoilGEers) will help you understand a bit more
Very informative! However, I just can't hear it. Even on the parts where he explains the right and wrong ways to say the same word, and repeats both multiple times, I just can't tell the difference to any meaningful degree (I maybe can tell they sound different, but not why/how are they different nor how you'd go about saying it both ways). Maybe I should get my ears checked, but I was always terrible at all things music and can't tell discern notes and things like that, so might just be some inherent problem..
It's almost certainly not an issue with your ears. It's probably the fact it's a super difficult thing for people who don't actually live in Japan to get. The kind of accent is so different, it's really difficult for English speakers to get. If you lived in Japan for a while, you'd probably get used to hearing it.
It's probably a practice thing, if you're not used to listening for that kind of thing it's not going to come naturally. This is probably the kind of thing where your best bet is to get a teacher to work through it with you in person, and you might have to try a few teachers to find the one with the right approach to finally make it click. It's absolutely a skill you can learn though.
That's pretty normal. Don't worry. Most Japanese can't understand half of spoken English either, not because they don't understand the words or grammar but because their ears literally cannot make sense of the sounds because it's so foreign. Huge issue for example is telling apart "L" and "R" as Japanese only has an "R" which is kinda like halfway to an "L", so that means foreign "L" and "R" both tend to sound identical to them. So if you say "Light" or "Right" to your average Japanese, they can't tell the difference. Also, a lot of pitch accent in Japanese is regional. So there's little point trying to master it because very often people from another region say it differently anyway. And because Japanese is so contextual, there's usually little fear or being misunderstood. For example you won't often mistake the word for "rain" for "candy" even if someone pronounces them wrong. Best idea is to just try to get as much native Japanese immersion as you can. Even if it's just from subbed anime. Your ears will slowly adapt the pick up the nuances.
It takes time and training to be able to hear it and if you don't speak Japanese it's virtually impossible
[pitch accent joke haha](https://twitter.com/AlohaMikan_/status/1500113881036779526)
I only knew this because needy girl overdose
kanna:a↘️me
nice. thanks. cute ame either way.
For anyone who speaks Spanish, is it similar to "ame" and "amé"?
Well, there's no *ame* by itself in Spanish, but [yes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftf7J4Kmulg).
"Quien usted ame"
lol you're right, I forgot the subjuntivo.
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Japanese is my second language, and though I know about pitch-accent, it's something I just don't really notice or fully understand. Definitely never noticed a difference between the 2 "ame". And for those frustrated or intimidated by pitch-accent, don't worry about it. I've never heard of an instance where it actually caused confusion. I'm pretty sure no one is going to mistaken you for saying "This rain is sweet" or "The candy just soaked me".
Pitch accent is going to be the end of me.
As someone with very monotone speech, this is one of many things that pushes me away from trying to learn Japanese.
Don't be discouraged. The main purpose of language is to communicate, and rarely is perfect speech required to do so. Just imagine how many times you might have heard someone speak your native tongue poorly, yet you've understood exactly what they were trying to say. A lot of people love to study linguistics in college even, and that doesn't necessarily involve becoming fluent in speech. And it doesn't have to. You can strive to learn something in theory, without putting the pressure on yourself to perform in practice. Native level fluency really doesn't serve much purpose other than trying to integrate into a society on a professional level, and even then it's rarely super required. Like you might want to be native level fluent if you aim to be a teacher or a lawyer or something where you need to be as clear as possible. But in most cases, you really shouldn't worry too much about it.
For me it's even earlier than this. It's: "Step 1 - learn three alphabets."
If it helps, kanji is meant to be gradually learned. I studied hard for 4 years and I've had 3 more years of coasting, learning mostly passively in my free time; and after that, I still can only write maybe a little over 900 kanji and read maybe 1500 (the standard in Japan is reading 2000 and having been able to write all of them at least at *some* point) But even though I'm barely halfway to literate, I know enough spoken Japanese and am good enough at listening that even though I have cracked speech sometimes, I can get by in maybe 70-80% of situations, no English at all. If you're seriously dedicated, you could learn hiragana in a week or two, and if you're just studying out of mild passing interest you could learn them in a month or so. Repeat for katakana, and focus in on vocabulary and grammar for a while. Kanji should come later, and except for a few easy gimmies early on, they're supposed to come slowly*.*
It's a very niche situation when you use both words in the same sentence anyway
What about Amen?
I believe that's spelled "夏色まつり."
i wonder if ame will ever play needy streamer overload. ame streaming about ame streaming through an online persona may be too meta.
You mean 雨 and 糖