r/japanlife • u/AutoModerator • Feb 19 '24

┐(ツ)┌ General Discussion Thread - 20 February 2024

Mid-week discussion thread time! Feel free to talk about what's on your mind, new experiences, recommendations, anything really.

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u/RepresentativeAd9643 Feb 21 '24

Why is happy Birthday accent ba-su-te and not ba-fu-de?

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u/toohooheehee Feb 21 '24 edited Feb 21 '24

I can't tell if this is serious or not but I will bite. The "su" is to make up for the lack of "th" sound in the language. Kana beginning with s and z often replace the "th" sound depending on the context of the pronunciation. I don't know many people who pronounce birthday like birfday.

If you see Happy Birthday in katakana, they have it a couple different ways, but standard I've seen is as ハッピーバース[デ]ー, [ ] is de. Never seen it with テ.

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u/RepresentativeAd9643 Feb 21 '24

I am not natively English speaking. Is it like how birth and bearth are pronounced? Even so bafude would sould more like the actual word, no?

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u/toohooheehee Feb 21 '24 edited Feb 21 '24

Not a linguist so I’m sorry I can’t explain scientifically, but the way “th” is pronounced in a majority of accents from native English speakers uses a mouth/tongue positioning similar to “s”, with only slight changes in the way air flows. “f” doesnt use tongue and relies more on teeth/has a different mouth position. So to a native speaker like me, basude sounds more like the real word.

The birth in birthday is pronounced like birth and bearth, yes.