Pronouncing the "Toei" in "Toei Animation"

[Savage68]

So "Toei" is a name that comes up often on this board and others, and while I've been typing it out for a while now, I don't think I've ever said it out loud. Or at least I don't ever remember saying it out loud. And I'm pretty sure that the way I pronounce it in my head is wrong. I read it as "Toh-ay." Does that sound about right?

[Pokewhiz7]

That's how I pronounce it, although I hear some pronounce it "Toy Animation".

[GotenDaisuki]

I used to pronounce each vowel as its own (to-eh-ee). I was obviously wrong and didn't know as much Japanese as I do now. The correct pronunciation is "Toh-ey".

[thedarkuniter]

I personally pronounce it like if I'm saying a girl name "Tori".

[Raithos]

I say it like "Toe-eh".

[TripleRach]

I read it as "Toh-ay." Does that sound about right?

I think so, but English is stupid for trying to spell out pronunciations.

The "To" is like the word "toe," and IIRC it comes from the first part of "Tokyo."
The "ei" is like the word "eh" or the letter A.

Anything that sounds like the word "toy" is definitely wrong.

[DemonRin]

"Toh-Eh-ee" but don't put too much emphasis on the "ee".

[MarcFBR]

I pronounce it however it comes up my brain at the time.

Which means I get corrected a lot.

I'm pretty sure in the last podcast I pronounced it at least three different ways.

[Bussani]

Toei is written in Japanese as 東映, isn't it? Google Translate, which can read it out for you, agrees with Savage and Rachel.

[Geisha]

I read it as "Toh-ay." Does that sound about right?

I think so, but English is stupid for trying to spell out pronunciations.

The "To" is like the word "toe," and IIRC it comes from the first part of "Tokyo."
The "ei" is like the word "eh" or the letter A.

Close, but not quite there.

In Japanese having an "I" after an "E" makes this "E" have an elongated sound [much like having an "U" after and "O"]. Of course there are a few exceptions to this rule.

In the case of Toei, the word should be read in 2 syllables toh.e~

"TO" as in torn
"E~" as in air
omg I'm horrible at this OTL

Examples of words with similar pronunciations that you might be familiar with are: Kirei, eien, eiga and sensei
Hope this makes sense....

Google translate pronounces those words correctly but for some reason messes up Toei. Guess not even Google can do it right >_<

For some reason I find it pretentious when people try to use proper Japanese pronunciation while speaking English though.... but that's a whole different topic ^_~

[TheDevilsCorpse]

For some reason I find it pretentious when people try to use proper Japanese pronunciation while speaking English though.... but that's a whole different topic ^_~

This I don't understand. What's wrong with pronouncing something right, regardless of which language is being spoken? Failing to do so is how we end up with problems like "Saiyan vs. Sayin".

[Shoryuken]

I read it as "Toh-ay." Does that sound about right?

I think so, but English is stupid for trying to spell out pronunciations.

The "To" is like the word "toe," and IIRC it comes from the first part of "Tokyo."
The "ei" is like the word "eh" or the letter A.

Anything that sounds like the word "toy" is definitely wrong.

The first part of the word tou (東 = East) should be pronounced as Geisha mentioned the beginning of the word torn. However ei (映 = Motion; I.e. motion pictures) should be pronounced as the ey in hey/hay. IMO there isn't anything wrong with Google Translator's way of pronouncing it (the Japanese one at least).

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the name 東映 Tōei come from 東京映画 Tōkyō Eiga (Tokyo Films, Tokyo Pictures, etc.)?

Sorry to go slightly off-topic.

[Shoryuken]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the name 東映 Tōei come from 東京映画 Tōkyō Eiga (Tokyo Films, Tokyo Pictures, etc.)?

Sorry to go slightly off-topic.

Yes, the company's initial name was at it's creation in 1949 東京映画配給 (Tokyo Eiga Haikyuu = Tokyo Film Distribution). But they later shortened it to Toei.

[Rory]

"Toe" "Ay"
Toei

[The Time Traveller]

My brother is a big Koei fan and he can pronounce Toei right, but for Koei he says "Kow-i"

[Geisha]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the name 東映 Tōei come from 東京映画 Tōkyō Eiga (Tokyo Films, Tokyo Pictures, etc.)?

Perfect example. Follow the pronunciation of "eiga" which is "e~ga" and not "ey.ga"

Or better yet watch the beginning of this clip and listen closely to the way she pronounces "Toei Animation" around the 14 second mark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10Opg_bxnwA&t=13s

Case Closed... or is it? >_<

[MCDaveG]

These discussion are always funny for me, because I have opposite problem.
I must've learned english pronounciation and some new words which are used less and I never heard of them
makes me trouble to say without seeking the pronounciation and taking the demographics as aspect (You know for example,
schedule can ba said differently if you're Britt or American and I'm using the US one. Not taking in account more difficult case
based on where are you from exactly like Cockney in London or speaking in Birmingham vs Edinburgh).
In case of Japanese pronounciation, I read it as it is in Roman.
I will write and read Toei animation as Toei eniméšon to read it as japanese, if I must write english pronounciation without japanese TOEI, it will be Toui enimejšn..... Haha, that sums up some funny trivia

[penguintruth]

I pronounce Toei /CHēp/.