19th October 2004, 12:08 PM
That's not true, actually.
In Japanese two i's make for one long "eeee" sound. It's not "eeh-eeh". "Damashii" is pronounced like "Dah-mah-sheeee". If there are two adjacent vowels like "ii" or "aa" then it's pronounced like a slightly longer version of the first vowel. That applies to aa, ii, uu, ei, and ou. Any other vowel combination will give you two syllables, like "ai".
In Japanese two i's make for one long "eeee" sound. It's not "eeh-eeh". "Damashii" is pronounced like "Dah-mah-sheeee". If there are two adjacent vowels like "ii" or "aa" then it's pronounced like a slightly longer version of the first vowel. That applies to aa, ii, uu, ei, and ou. Any other vowel combination will give you two syllables, like "ai".