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-   -   Ryokan (https://www.fodors.com/community/asia/ryokan-673229/)

peggionthego Jan 24th, 2007 04:35 AM

Ryokan
 
Can someone tell me how to pronounce "ryokan"?

harsha Jan 24th, 2007 05:10 AM

Rio (as in Brazil) Khan (as in Kublai Khan)but not much stress on the 'h'.
Hope I explained it right.

peggionthego Jan 24th, 2007 08:18 AM

Thank you! I was certainly pronouncing it incorrectly.

jlaughs Jan 24th, 2007 11:08 AM

It's not quite "ri-o" as in Rio de Janeiro. Try to pronounce the "ryo" as one syllable rather than two.

FYI - If ryokan were, in fact, pronounced as "Rio" and "Khan", it would be spelled riokan (ri-o-ka-n).

Manisha Jan 24th, 2007 11:09 AM

The "r" in the "Rio" is not very pronounced either...almost silent. When folks in Japan said it, it sounded like eee-o-kan or using this example io-Khan (not much stress on the 'h').

Hope this makes sense.

jlaughs Jan 24th, 2007 12:26 PM

One other thing -- try to roll your "r" a bit. It's not really a pronounced "r" sound. With rolling it a bit (softly), you're able to make "ryo" one syllable and it does, as Manisha pointed out, make the "r" less pronounced.


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