How do you pronounce RAMEN?

[UrbScotty]

As in ramen noodles (which I like, actually).

I've heard it pronounced RAY-mun (as in rhyming with Reagan), but my brother pronounces it RAH-mun.

[jpgray]

1. When in doubt on a foreign name:

"a" = "ah"
"e" = "ay"
"i" = "ee"
"o" = "oh"
"u" = "ooh"
"y" = "sometimes"

:)

[Richardo]

6. Wasn't that a song on the Jetsons?

"eep op orp ah ah..
...and that means 'I love you'." :D

[7th_Sephiroth]

29. its promounced

Rah-min

[sushi]

33. I'm used to the first three

The others:

"o" - depending on the word, sounds like the o in "oh," or in "or"

"u" - sounds like the oo in school.

"y" - depending on the word, sounds like the y in lady, or the i in "mi" - sounds the same.


It's rah men, and I eat plenty of it! I'm a noodle/pasta lover.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. LO-main.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

3. "STIE-roe-fome"

[arwalden]

4. I've always said "ray-men" not "ray-mun"

but definitely and always "ray" at the beginning instead of "rah".

-- Allen

[RamblingRose]

5. MSG

I like the noodles, but the seasoning packet contains MSG. Does anyone know if they offer a MSG free product?

[NicoleM]

10. I think there is one out there.

But I usually just don't use the seasoning packet. I cook the noodles, drain them, and put some garlic and parmesan on them.

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[pnorman]

7. The Japanese "e"

is pronounced "eh" as in "men" (ie: "police-men"). (The terminal "n" get's a fuller sound than if it were an initial "n", but it's not a big deal; don't sweat it). The "ra" is as stated above, pronounced as "rah".

I don't speak Spanish, but I've been assured that the Japanese vowels have essentially the same pronunciation. Of course it's been "Anglicized", so the original rules are pretty well toothless.

pnorman

[radwriter0555]

8. Actually it's RAH MEN...

;)

[Art_from_Ark]

9. If you want to go for a 100% Japanese pronunciation,

try pronouncing the "R" as a cross between an "R" and an "L", and stretch that "ah" sound a bit so it comes out like "ahh". The "men" part is pronounced the same as in English.

By the way, here's a bit of trivia-- the Japanese name "ramen" literally means "crushed noodles".

�f–Ë

[Interrobang]

14. Right.

But it's also easier just to say "raa-men" so as not to freak the mundanes completely.

People who say "ray-men" are like people from The Soo, who say "baaah-gel." Sheesh.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Former Japanese teacher

seconding what Art said.

[trogdor]

11. I pronounce it "crackhead soup"

I just spell it R-A-M-E-N.

[scarlet_owl]

12. I say "ray-men" just to drive my husband crazy.

He is learning Japanese and he corrects me every time I say it. I know it's incorrect, but it's fun to screw with him.

[OldSoldier]

13. Neither

It's "rahm-yon."

No one who was ever stationed in Korea will ever call it "ramen." It's "ramien" or "ramyon" depending on how you transliterate it.

The best ramyon is Everything Ramyon. Take a bowl of ramyon (the Korean ramyon houses made it with a real thick broth I still haven't figured out how to duplicate, and I've been trying), add meat--ham and shrimp are best, some people like squid--and stir. Drop a raw egg on it and stir until it cooks. Add a slice of cheese and serve. The cheese will melt over the ramyon. Sprinkle some Korean soy sauce on it and eat with chopsticks.

[Interrobang]

15. Eat Sapporo Ichiban instead!

I feel sorry for your having been stationed in Korea. There really isn't much Korean food I find edible, and I really LIKE most other Asian food (Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Malay, etc.) I've ever tried.

Eat the Japanese kind instead; then you can say "ramen" without a guilty conscience, and you won't be subjected to any more soba soups with broths made of equal parts beef blood, water, salt, and chili oil. (Incidentally, Kikkoman is the best brand of soy sauce, too, although if you must substitute, get some ketsiap manis instead.)

[chenGOD]

17. psshhht, Korean ramyeon pisses all over Japanese ramen from a great height

And I can say that as someone who has eaten ramyeon in both Korea and Japan. And Korean food in general is great, very healthy and delicious.

The everything ramyeon Old Soldier was talking about it actually called buddae chikgae. It's a stew that poor Koreans ate after the Korean war (and there were a lot of them). They basically took scraps thrown out from US bases and put them into boiling hot water along with kimchi and noodles.


In comparison to Shin Ramyeon, Sapporo Ichiban tastes like watery cardboard. However, there are many decent, reasonably priced ramen restaurants in Japan (especially Fukuoka), so I don't think many people in Japan eat the packaged stuff.

But I'll stand by my heading.

[radwriter0555]

18. Not much korean food? Are you KIDDING? I LOVE korean food

and find it diverse and wonderful.

There are scores of korean bbq joints and restaurants here in LA that we just can't get enough of.

[Snow]

23. Sad.....I lived in the boonies of Korea for 2 1/2 years, and

my wife is Korean, so I can tell you happily, you must not have gotten the good stuff. Korean food is great! Japanese food is okay, too, but Korean's got it beat IMHO and I've had a fair sampling of both. Korean soups are especially wonderful; it's really more a cold weather cuisine than hot weather (there's a lot of different preserved food, ie, pickles, dried, etc). The Koreans always figure Americans want meat, so they put that front-and-center, but of the side-dishes (which means what you eat besides rice), the vegetable dishes are most tasty.

[OldSoldier]

24. Ask your wife how to make radish kimchi

Or is it turnip kimchi?

My favorite Korean restaurant in the whole world: go out the Camp Coiner gate--both open onto the same street--go into the ville, go a block past the 175-step staircase and turn right. There is, or at least was in 1985, a little hole in the wall that had the best food. Get yourself a bowl of kimchi chigi or everything ramyon and you're set for the rest of the day.

Sometimes I'd get one of the meat dishes. With them came nine different kinds of kimchi. The best one was the radish (or turnip) kimchi.

Unfortunately, none of the Korean restaurants around here have it. They of course have horrible cabbage kimchi and a fairly decent bean sprout kimchi, but never radish (turnip) kimchi. So now I gotta learn how to make it. We do have Korean grocery stores here, but none of them have it and I've tried them all. When you ask one of the clerks for help, it's always "very hard to make." I tried that shit with rice. "How do you cook this?" "Very hard to make." IOW, fuck off, American scum, we'll never give up the secrets of the Korean kitchen! Well shit, man, if you people would start carrying ondol bricks so I'd have proper cooking fuel, I could master the Korean kitchen.

[Snow]

31. Ya have to know the word....

you can make kimchi out of just about anything, but what you're taking about is little cubes of white radishy stuff, right? Okay, the radish is a big honking white tuber thing roughly the size and shape of your forearm. The Korean word for that is 'mooo' - and the kimchi you make from it, which should be for sale 'cuz everyone eates it and people don't have time to make it, is - okay, let's see if I can romanize this so you'll be able to pronounce it - where's Kimika when I need her - anyway, this should work 'gawk-doo-gee' That should do the trick. If they still pretend ignorance, tell them you're talking about 'mooo kimchee'. Good luck. If none of that works, whistle & I'll dig up some (*snicker*) something resembling a recipe, which I should warn you, no self-respecting Korean ever uses. It's not that tough to make, if you can do pickles.

[LeftistGorilla]

30. sorry Bro....

Korean foods OWNS!

[101 Proof]

16. RAH-mun....

I should know this. I'm a college student who's been living on that $hit for 2 1/2 years now. :(

[Norbert]

20. Is it true Everybody loves Ramen?

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

28. Somebody had to make that joke...

[dae]

21. nas-TEE, or ee-YUK

[SOteric]

22. Ecky ecky ecky ecky, bih-kang, zoop-boing, zowenzum.

[GOPisEvil]

25. It's spelled "Raymond Luxury Yacht",

but it's pronounced "Throatwarbler Mangrove".

[KamaAina]

26. In Hawai'i it is pronounced "saimin" (sigh-MIN)

You'd be surprised exactly how popular hot noodle soup is in the islands, partcularly during our recent cold snap when overnight lows have been testing 70! :-) The product known elsewhere as "ramen" (RAH-min) is referred to as "dry saimin".

Local comic legend Frank De Lima even has a song about it:

You have to pull the noodles out,
Or breathe them back in,
So don't sneeze when you eat saimin!

[GOPisEvil]

27. You can get saimin at McDonald's in Hawaii.

I was a hamburger kid, but mom would take me to McDonald's because she could have saimin. :D

[Snow]

32. Just noticed something everybody missed...

Japanese language (and Korean) does not stress syllables. Don't try to put an accent anywhere, jsut make it all evenly stressed. This (from experience) can be very tricky at first.