Pronoucation of Names

[Sofa Kingdom]

I'm sure that I've been saying some wrestlers name wrong...

so I was wondering on a few names:
-Hiroshi Hase
--I was thinking his last name pronoucation was rhymed with vase but when I hear his name annouced its sounds like Hashi
-Tatsuhito Takaiwa
--No idea how to pronouce this guys name
-Jun Izumida
--same with his last name
-Takashi Sugiura
--ditto to above
-Masashi Aoyagi
--full name with this guy
-Kishin Kawabata
--same with last name
-Akira Taue
--ditto to above

Thanks in advance.

[TRZZXQ]

All I can tell you is how I pronounce them...
-Hiroshi Hase- Hear-oh-shee Hah-say
-Tatsuhito Takaiwa- Tat-soo-hee-to Ta-Kie(rhymes with eye)-Wa
-Jun Izumida - Jun Ih-zoo-mee-da
-Takashi Sugiura- Tah-kah-shee Soo-gee-oo-rah
-Masashi Aoyagi- Mah-sah-shee Ow-ya-gee
-Kishin Kawabata- Kih-sheen Kow-uh-bah-ta
-Akira Taue- Ah-kee-ra Tow(rhymes with how)-way

Those are really just guesses, though, except for Taue, I'm pretty sure that one's right.

Thanks in advance.

[El Fiasco]

I was watching Zero-One the other day and they pronounced Takaiwas as "Taka-eee-wah"...pronouncing the i and a seperately, rather than making the ai "eye" sound...

[Muiyan]

TRZZXQ is correct in those pronounciations.

El Fiasco, if you mean the ring announcing, they only say it that way to be more dramatic by stretching every single sound imaginable.

If you mean just normal speaking, i'm sure both ways of saying it are correct. Personally, i'd think that by making clear all the syllables in a name, it's more respectful. That's just what i think though.

[thegreatdanabusa]

Well, from the little bits of Japanese I know, when you see a word represented using western script (Romaji) you don't say it as you would in English, you actually say every sound. So Hase, is not to rhyme with 'Vase' but is Ha-Se. Japanese vowels remain constant unlike English where they can change depending upon context. So:

'A' - is like the 'a' in apple
'I' - is like the 'ee' sound in see
'U' - is like the 'ooo' sound in who
'E' - is like the 'e' in the word next
'O' - is like the 'o' in bottle

When speaking though, both 'I' and 'U' often seem to be missed out or given less emphasis. For example, Kobashi is often said as 'Ko-Bash'.

The consonants are said much as their English counterparts and should be easy to manage.

I think all that I have said is correct, but someone with a better understanding of the language will likely prove me wrong (someone Japanese perhaps...).

Wow! I feel just like a teacher! Ok class, today we will...

[Tradewynd]

With romanji, there is no "official" spelling using roman characters, which is why you will sometimes see the name All Japan's allustrious leader spelled "Muto" and "Mutoh." If you ever take Spanish adapting to the vowel sounds should be easy for you as the Japanese use the spanish vowel sounds. In Japanese the vowels are pronouned "ah" "ee" "ooh" "eh" "oh" for a, i, u, e, o respectively. I even put the vowels in Japanese order for you, aren't I nice?

As Danbusa said, in romanji there are no unneeded characters, and no rules like i before e except after c and all of that type of garbage, which makes being able to read it a lot easier. You just read the sounds as they appear, which makes it very simple. In fact, the incredible simplicity of it can make it more difficult than it actually is. You have to stop your English reading instincts from taking over and just read the sounds as they appear. Think Hooked on Phonics when reading anything in romanji. Of course, the BEST way to do it is just to learn the actual Japanese, which believe it or not really isn't that difficult for the first few hundred characters. I had kana(the term applied to both katakana and hiragana) down in a couple weeks.