Q; pronouncing "Fukushima"

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:26 PM -0400 3/28/11, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 3/28/2011 03:19 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>At 3:08 PM -0400 3/28/11, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>>Is it FOO-koo-SHEE-mah (large accent on SHEE) or foo-Koo-shih-MAH
>>>(small or no accent on Koo, larger but still slight on MAH)?  I had
>>>heard only the former until once hearing a Brit (perhaps from BBC,
>>>perhaps only CNN international) use the latter.
>>>
>>>(My presumption is that the latter is correct, given what I think I
>>>was told once about hi-Roh-shih-MAH.)
>>>
>>>Joel
>>
>>The latter may be "correct", but the former is inevitable.  I suppose
>>we Americans could manage
>>fu-KU-shi-ma if we were asked to, maybe even with secondary stress at
>>the end, but fu-ku-shi-MA?  Doubtful.
>
>If the Brits can, why can't we?  Would we have to think too much?
>
We Americans are very impatient and wouldn't want to sit around with
a stiff upper lip waiting for that last syllable.  We'd also be
afraid the stress would go bad before then.

LH

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