Addendum to 荒野流転
I noticed that some sources put the pronunciation of the title as ‘Kouya Ruten’. This is not wrong if one goes on the basis of a contemporary interpretation of the words themselves, and I personally have no idea what the ‘official’ pronunciation is. I shall attempt to explain why I chose ‘Ryuuten’ although using this romaji won’t produce the word in a standard word processor.
The on reading for 流 is normally ‘ryuu’. That much I know. However, to type the word the pronunciation ‘ruten’, which is a sort of special reading for 流 (’ru’ in place of ‘ryuu’), is required.
According to my dictionary, ‘ryuuten’ is CORRECT. It is probably an old reading for the word. Also, look at the first two words of the title, 荒野. The correct and common if not the only reading is ‘Kouya’, which has a long sound for the ‘Ko’. Now, try pronouncing the two variants: ‘Kouya Ryuuten’ and ‘Kouya Ruten’. Which sounds smoother? It seems odd to have three ‘mora’ (basic unit of sound in Japanese) in the first part and then just two in the second (’n’ in this case doesn’t count as an extra mora). Knowing the Japanese fascination for ‘balance’, it seems odd for ‘Kouya Ruten’ to be the pronunciation. Even to the unschooled in Japanese, it just doesn’t sound as smooth as ‘Kouya Ryuuten’.
Hence, I put forth that the pronunciation is ‘Kouya Ryuuten’. Unless there is official proof that I am wrong, I’m standing by this.
November 24th, 2006 at 9:57 am
Ryuuten sounds a whole lot better, slicker, and smoother and Ruten, which sounds like a German swear word. You are right.