Max_valk

I am not accustomed to people who are being rude or use profanity. Ask another Japanese person or live in Japan. (if anyone would accept that kind of manner there). You didn't learn the language properly and pretend to know better than native. Learning from books is not the same as real life learning. Bye!

I can only send you the mp3 file and you can determine for yourself. I did not say anything about Ah, you are the one who puts that in. O is not pronounced O as in Oh , like O'connor , etc. Not O in toe , not O in bow Japanese U is NOT the U in blue, those are the English U. I do not know where you hear this from, but there are totally wrong. I speak Japanese most of my life and I have watched many Japanese shows since the days when Japanese TV or the rest of the world was watching black and white TV, so........... I am not sure you are reading my message correctly. I did not say Focker is pronounced Fah ker (I never say anything about Ah, please read my messages carefully). I was saying Focker is pronouced "Flocker without the L " and Japanese O sounds like the O in flock. When a language is based on other languages, it doesn't mean it IS the other language. There are adaptations and changes. Anyway, maybe you can ask another Japanese person, if you think he is also incorrect, then living in Japan is the only way to find out. I was just trying to point out so that others won't make the mistakes. I have to go.

I'm going to dissagree there. The "O" doesn't sound at all like "all" or "ah" which is what I think you were trying to get at. It sounds like "O" as oh "oh" or "sew, boat, mow" 362928[/snapback] No no...that 's what most people starting to learn Japanese would often pronounce. There is no O , or not the O in oh, or O in boat. "All" may be a bad example. The Japanese O sounds similarly to the O in " nor " or "Or" without the R. I have a mp3 file for the sound if you would like to hear (this was pronounced by a native Japanese professor teaching Japanese) or you could consult a Japanese who is also familiar with the English language. Much like Japanese character " no " which is pronounced similarly to the English word " nor " but without the R. Focker as English would be pronounced Fock ker. The O in Fock or the O in "Flock" is not the same O in "fold", for example. This is why the characters " フォ " (Japanese supported browser is needed to see the writing in " " ) is used which is similar in sound to "foc" without the "k" sound.

The English alphabets for Japanese characters are really used for the benefits of westerners or non Japanese speaking people. They don't neccessarily have the same pronouniciations as in English. In Japanese, there is no English 'R' sound. For English speakers, R would be pronounced with a small L, that 's also why some English words such as "Eric Clapton" becomes "Eric Crapton" or Rider is pronounced Laidaa. When learning Japanese, one must ignore all English pronounciations and learn to accept that there is a new pronounication for each alphabet. For example, fu does not pronounce with a F, but a small h like you are blowing a candle. There is no "th" sound in Japanese, so another sound is used for this. Focker or ロイ・フォッカー is pronouned Loy (small L) hu-O ka ( O sounds like "all" without the L), even though it stands for Roy Focker. One must adapt to the way Japanese pronouncing their version of English. Japanese are good at combining other cultures with their own and create a new one. Much like the Chinese characters they used in their language, they don't neccessarily have the same meaning as the Chinese counterparts. They also invented their own "Chinese" characters.

I used SAL most of the time and never had problems with this service, but there were a few things indicating that the box was damaged before they packed it for shipment. The shipping box was fine, so were the padding inside the shipping box. The original packaging of the item had not been cut or opened for inspection even though the shipment had passed through custom, so either HLJ had knowingly sent out the item with less-than-satisfactory quality or they had not verified the quality of the stock they were receiving. There are some upcoming SOCs I would like to get but definitely not from HLJ, these purchases are too important for me to accept sub-standard quality items. There are other Japanese stores that are willing to do business with foreign customers.

..... "I had no problem with their packaging but ...." correction, I mean their packing of the shipment.

I am only a reader of the forum but I feel I have something to say about HLJ services. I had no problem with their packaging but unfortunately, I had problems with the quality of their stocks. In one of the many purchases I made in the past, the box of this SOC was damaged (evidence had shown that this was not the work by the courier or custom's inspection) but probably at HLJ or from manufacturer. HLJ either didn't care for the general condition of the item before sending it out or had knowingly sending out the item of lesser quality. I know their web site has said that if one cares about the condition of the box or packaging, they should not place orders with them, but there are people who care about the condition of the boxes or packaging and people in Japan definitely care about every expect of the product they are buying (toys or other products). I don't think one should expect less from HLJ, especially from long time customers (I personally have bought more than 800 dollars of goods from them and I have been a long time loyal customer until this incident, 800 dollars are a lot of "money" to me!). I was also told that if a new box was needed, I should pay 10 dollars or so for it (including shipping). I was disappointed at their response and the I-couldn't-care-less-if-you-buy-from-us attitude. I don't buy from them any more. I don't blame the individuals working at HLJ but the owner who sets the standard for the company. I don't look at or play with this SOC but hide it. It just upsets me looking at it, remembering the incident and getting "lousy" services having being a long time customer.