Quote:
Originally Posted by Jorg
What does the small イ mean in katakana? eg: フィ. Or, rather, how do you pronounce it?
I know what all the other small ones mean but I'd never seen this one before.
Thanks.
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We pronounce it like "hwi" but so many Japanese-learners pronounce it like "fi", which only helps them sound foreign.
There is no "f" sound in Japanese. It is "Mt. Huji", not "Mt. Fuji", believe it or not.
The 「フィ」 mora originally did not exist in Japanese. We created it later on to write loan words from European languages that contained "fi", "fee", "fea", etc.
フィラデルフィア = Philadelphia
トロフィー = trophy
フィールド = Field