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How do you pronounce JAL?

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How do you pronounce JAL?

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Old Aug 15, 2015, 10:32 pm
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How do you pronounce JAL?
Always wondered this, do you say it as one word, rhyming with pal or Sal? Or say each letter at a time?
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Old Aug 15, 2015, 10:43 pm
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They call it 日本航空.
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Old Aug 15, 2015, 11:38 pm
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One letter at a time.
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Old Aug 15, 2015, 11:52 pm
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Old Aug 16, 2015, 12:17 am
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Originally Posted by brabb12
They call it 日本航空.
Yea, that or say it as one word.


You can hear the official pronunciation at around 0:26
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Old Aug 16, 2015, 12:59 am
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Thanks for that video, but who sleeps with a tie on?
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Old Aug 16, 2015, 6:51 am
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Old Aug 16, 2015, 8:21 am
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Originally Posted by Matthew330Ci
Thanks for that video, but who sleeps with a tie on?
It's quite common to see people sleeping wearing ties on trains in Tokyo...

In casual contexts, I never hear NIHON KOUKUU 日本航空. Instead, JAL (ジャル) is the more common thing to hear. So common that if you have a Japanese input method on your computer, it will come up as JAL if you enter Jyaru.
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Old Aug 16, 2015, 6:51 pm
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JAL (one syllable) for me as well.

Interestingly, "ANA" (aka "全日空") is officially pronounced as individual letters ("ay-en-ay") but nearly everyone just says "ah-nah". It has an unfortunate homonym, though: "穴", meaning "hole".
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Old Aug 16, 2015, 7:06 pm
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Originally Posted by brabb12
They call it 日本航空.
Yes. 日航 for short. にっこう
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Old Aug 16, 2015, 7:33 pm
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Most Japanese people call it "Ja-ru" (with the Japanese rolled "R" that sounds close to an "L"). Nobody calls it "Nikko," and the only time I ever hear "Nihon Koku" is in airport/on-board PA announcements.
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Old Aug 17, 2015, 12:15 pm
  #12  
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Originally Posted by joejones
Most Japanese people call it "Ja-ru" (with the Japanese rolled "R" that sounds close to an "L"). Nobody calls it "Nikko," and the only time I ever hear "Nihon Koku" is in airport/on-board PA announcements.
TV news too
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Old Aug 17, 2015, 2:40 pm
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I usual pronounce it as J-L, sometimes as J-A-L. Occasionally as 131.
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Old Aug 17, 2015, 7:50 pm
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I wondered the same thing for a while. Confirmed they call it the one syllable version (not each letter) when watching movies on the plane -- at the beginning a narrorator comes on and says "Jaahl mooooove"
Last edited by Ceasy; Aug 17, 2015 at 7:50 pm Reason: Typo
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Old Aug 18, 2015, 12:32 am
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I've been wondering this myself for a while. Always pronounced it something like "JAH-L" (anyone remember "JA RULE"?)
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