"Foreign" students at Hogwarts (Cho)

[Petra Pan]

No: HPFGUIDX 58552

DrMM, in part:
> Cho Chang is most definatly not
> a Japanese name.  The Japanese 
> language doesn't have a hard "g"
> sound.

Does 'Chang' have a hard 'g' sound 
in it?  <eg>

Though I agree that naming a 
character 'Cho Chang' is not 
likely meant to indicate Japanese 
ancestry, the reason you give 
above is completely not in keeping 
with what we know of the Japanese 
language.  I mean, what are the 'g' 
sounds in, say, 'origami' and 
'arigato' if they aren't hard?  
Take a look at the next to last 
paragraph of this page:

http://www.jinjapan.org/
access/language/phono.html

It clearly states: "The g sound is 
always the hard g of English 'game', 
not that of 'gene.'"

If I've misunderstood you, could you 
clarify?  But not on the main list 
here - how about at OTChatter?

> I've also met a *lot* of Japanese
> people and I have yet to meet one
> named Cho or Chang (I live in
> Japan right now).

Living in California, I've also 
encountered a great many names that 
are of Japanese origin.  I have yet 
to see a family name that is mono-
syllabic.  Hardly conclusive but 
there you have it - another reason 
this name does not read 'Japanese' 
to me.

Petra
a
n  :)

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