Hello
I have a question about double-length hiragana vowels -
in case of double-length "I" and "E", how do we know the correct reading, eg that せんせい is sense(e), not sensei?
or when I see E-I, I should ALWAYS read E(E)?
Tanks
Double-length Hiragana vowels

Elena-S
November 1, 2010

CatPanda
November 2, 2010
My suggestion is to learn to read Hiragana properly and then just forget about using romaji ever again. Only use Romaji to help you learn Hiragana at first... Using romaji for too long may end up slowing you down.

Sayaka-Matsuura
November 2, 2010
Elena-san,
Reading japanese can be tricky - as you have already noted. Just as a tip - if you were to pronounce say せんせい as sensee OR sensei - both will be understood by Japanese people. The problem arises when you have words like 'Obasan' and 'Obaasan' or 'Ojisan' and 'Ojiisan' where they actually mean separate things (aunt, grandmother, uncle, grandfather - respectively).
-Hope that helps!

Elena-S
November 3, 2010
Thanks Sayaka :)
To Derek - I wasn't talking about romaji, but kana reading here ;)

Sayaka-Matsuura
November 14, 2010
Do itashimashite Elena-san!
- sayaka ;)