Stupid pronunciation question, I know... but which is it? k-eye-rin or k-ear-in?

"kay-rin" (approximately).

So now that we know how to say it, what does it mean?

So now that we know how to say it, what does it mean?

"Racing wheels" literally, or "bike race".

It means "funny little Japaniese guys dressed in sweet colored cycling clothes, wearing shoulder pads, racing around a track at mach 10 looking like little super heros"

its japanese, the british say it key rin

I'm Japanese here. But it's Keh-E-Rin (say the "E" portion a little faster than the rest).

I'm Japanese here. But it's Keh-E-Rin (say the "E" portion a little faster than the rest).

...with a hard R

now i'm confused

If it's Japanese, why isn't it kay-REEN along with the minor amplification by bianchiboy?

KEIRIN : kei-ri-n it's sound looks like Ke-rin
meaning :"KEI" is racing,"RIN" is wheels

This is KEIRIN Japanese letters

About Keirin
http://nougaki001.fc2web.com/link.html
Please use it English > Japanese translate website
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

as long as we all understand each other thats ok, lol

Japanese: kay-lin
Nihongo doesn't allow for an "rrrrrr" sound.

Trivia: Did you know Mazda is pronounced something like Matsooda?

lol, how does that work then? matsooda? its mazda?
strange

lol, how does that work then? matsooda? its mazda?
strange
It's endless I tell you. Karaoke, Tempura, Kyoto.....

Yes, and Toyota is actually to-YOH-tah, not toy-oh-tah

lol
i suppose they think we say the words wrong etc

Japanese: kay-lin
Nihongo doesn't allow for an "rrrrrr" sound.

Trivia: Did you know Mazda is pronounced something like Matsooda?
Thats not true. Japanese doesn't have the 'l' sound. l's come out as r's, so it is kay-rin.

Thats not true. Japanese doesn't have the 'l' sound. l's come out as r's, so it is kay-rin.

Ohhhh, is that right?

Lets keep this civil.....

It is great to have feedback from people all over the world..

I think I am going to have to go with Tomity on this one...since he is an actual native Japanese Keirin competitor.

Lets keep this civil.....

It is great to have feedback from people all over the world..

I think I am going to have to go with Tomity on this one...since he is an actual native Japanese Keirin competitor.

Sorry, please forgive me.
Sumimasen, gomen nasai. m(_ _)m

Sorry, too!

Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro = sweet keirin footage

:beer:

While you guys are practicing how to say "keirin", repeat this sentence 3 times, fast.

Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kaki ku u kyaku da...

Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro = sweet keirin footage

:beer:

I loved that movie. I saw it in Australia on TV. I loved the little kid's Keirin Outfit. Check the trailers here:
http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/kikujiro/stillsandclips/clips.html
Steve.

I saw that on SkyperfectTV a few months back and dragged my wife in to see it. Like many Japanese, she rolls her eyes at the mere mention of keirin because of the seedy gambling aspect of it and I maintain this vain hope that I can show her it's not all bad if there's a serious, thoughtful movie based on it.

Anyway, as far as the L/R thing is concerned, most people, Japanese or foreign, without a background in linguistics will occasionally voice some pretty inaccurate ideas about the subject.

The Japanese language actually has both L and R but to Japanese they are the same thing (well... sorta, kinda). In English, they are considered seperate phonemes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoneme). This means they are completely seperate sounds in laymans terms. However, in Japanese, they are the same phoneme but different allophones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allophone) of that one phoneme. Depending on the other sounds in a word, the characters you're taught to recognize as ra, ri, ru, re, ro in elementary Japanese language textbooks can come out as la, li, lu, le, lo or even a version sounding more like a D than a R or an L. Hence, the words that have been anglicised as keirin, ramen and arigatou come out more like KAY-RIN, LA-MEN and A-DI-GA-TO. The key point is that they all sound the same to native Japanese much the same way the Ps in PIN and CAP sound to us. They are all different at the allophonelevel though.

The hallmark of a great Japanese ESL student is when they can consistently get the L and R distinction right. I have never met even one Japanese who got it right all the time unless they had at least one native English speaking parent. It's hard stuff.