Boston Red Sox
Here's how to curse the Yankees in Japanese
09:50 AM EST on Friday, December 15, 2006
Just how do you pronounce the name of Boston’s new pitcher from Japan?
We wanted to be sure we had it right, so when word of the Red Sox deal with Daisuke Matsuzaka came down, we found a native Japanese speaker to help us out.
A graduate student in Brown University’s engineering program, 24-year-old Hayato Urabe, was glad to help us out – and to give us some Japanese cheers that we could use when we’re at a Red Sox game and want Matsuzaka to feel right at home.
Turns out, Urabe’s not just a big baseball fan but a real Red Sox fan. [Yes, that means he harbors negative feelings toward the Yankees and is even known to taunt his friends who are Yankees fans long after the season’s over.] Urabe was here in the States watching when the Red Sox won the World Series back in 2004 – and he’s hoping Matsuzaka brings great things to the team.
Let’s turn to that ever-pressing question: Just how do you say this pitcher’s name? Listen to Urabe say Daisuke Matsuzaka for us.
You probably noticed right away that he said what we Americans think of as this man’s last name first. That’s because in Japan, you always say a person’s surname before you say their given name. Urabe tripped over his own words when he tried to transpose the way he says this pitcher’s name.
Urabe knows how many Americans are pronouncing this man’s name, and he tells us what pitfalls to avoid in doing that. But he also acknowledges that the American pronunciation adds a nice cultural twist.
When the season starts and Matsuzaka takes the mound, Urabe will be cheering in English, for the most part – unless he’s at Fenway and Matsuzaka might be able to hear him cheering or it has gotten really tense at the end of the game. What we wanted to know, though, is what those Japanese cheers sound like.
Finally, we couldn’t end the interview without asking about that phrase that every Red Sox fan loves to utter – the one on T-shirts and on the tip of every fan’s tongue, particularly when the Sox face off against their hated rivals, the New York Yankees. Urabe struggled to match the distinctly New England insult.
And then, three hours after we sat down with him, he told us it had finally dawned on him. He had the Japanese equivalent.
|
More top stories
Sloppy Sox fall into second place
Nothing pretty, as Beckett and bats fail in Red Sox’ loss to Angels
Most viewed yesterday
Woman who cleans AG’s office doesn’t show up after immigration raid
Number of jobless Rhode Islanders continues to grow
Court raids put focus on companies suspected of hiring illegal immigrants
Big Papi up to his old tricks at McCoy, homers in first rehab start
An uncertain future: 31 workers expected to face immigration charges
Most active surveys
How would you rank these Top 10 ice cream places?
Did Yankee fans' treatment of Red Sox at the All-Star Game bother you?
How secure do you feel about your job?
Has society become less compassionate in its treatment of the mentally ill?
With Ortiz coming back, are you confident that the Red Sox will repeat as division champions?
Most e-mailed in the last 24 hours









