Pronounce Ki?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


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How do you pronounce "Ki" like in monk's Ki points?

Ki like in Ky in Kylo Ren?
Ki like in key, like use a key to open the door?
Ki like in Chee, like the beginning of the word cheese?
Something else?

Thanks


Key.


VoodistMonk wrote:
Key.

Same. English is my first language and I might have used the Kylo 'i', but the "i" in several languages I am familiar with is general spoken as the 'i' in key.


Key


Key. Maybe shorter, but that's the general idea.

Jon Brazer Enterprises

drsparnum wrote:

Ki like in key, like use a key to open the door?

I took Karate (South Korean, Tang Soo Do, incase you are wondering). That was how our teacher taught us.


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“Chi” is more like the Chinese word for ki. “Qi” is also sometimes used with Chinese, but not sure of the pronunciation. I know Japanese uses “ki”, but not sure what the other cultures use for that word.


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Ki, I think, should be pronounced as "key", rhyming with "tree". That said, my preference is that it be spelled "chi" and pronounced as the first part of the word "cheese", simply because I don't think a Monk's mystical energy should sound like the mundane thing you put in a door.


Tectorman wrote:
Ki, I think, should be pronounced as "key", rhyming with "tree". That said, my preference is that it be spelled "chi" and pronounced as the first part of the word "cheese", simply because I don't think a Monk's mystical energy should sound like the mundane thing you put in a door.

So you prefer it sound more mystical, like cheese? ;-)


Speaker for the Dead wrote:
Tectorman wrote:
Ki, I think, should be pronounced as "key", rhyming with "tree". That said, my preference is that it be spelled "chi" and pronounced as the first part of the word "cheese", simply because I don't think a Monk's mystical energy should sound like the mundane thing you put in a door.
So you prefer it sound more mystical, like cheese? ;-)


Do Monks call Ki by its name? Or is it just an abstract concept, like HP and levels?

Does the Sensei say, "focus your ki?"
Or, "focus your energy?"
"... Chakra?"


VoodistMonk wrote:

Do Monks call Ki by its name? Or is it just an abstract concept, like HP and levels?

Does the Sensei say, "focus your ki?"
Or, "focus your energy?"
"... Chakra?"

Ki it's the energy that flow in the body

Chakra it's the concentration of ki in 1 point of the body


Zepheri wrote:
VoodistMonk wrote:

Do Monks call Ki by its name? Or is it just an abstract concept, like HP and levels?

Does the Sensei say, "focus your ki?"
Or, "focus your energy?"
"... Chakra?"

Ki it's the energy that flow in the body

Chakra it's the concentration of ki in 1 point of the body

Oh. I honestly didn't know there was a difference.

Obviously I'm not a Monk. Lol.
... says, VoodistMonk...

Jon Brazer Enterprises

Speaker for the Dead wrote:


So you prefer it sound more mystical, like cheese? ;-)

Cheese is quite mystical. It lights up your brain like heroin.


When you say Chee you have to pronounce with accent in the ee and you will get the chi

Dark Archive

Wow, I had no idea it was 'key.'

I always pronounced ki as 'kie' (like pie or pi) and chi as 'chee' (like chee-toh). 'Cause I'm culturally clueless. :)


Set wrote:

Wow, I had no idea it was 'key.'

I always pronounced ki as 'kie' (like pie or pi) and chi as 'chee' (like chee-toh). 'Cause I'm culturally clueless. :)

My native language is Spanish and it's almost compatible with all language if you use the Google traductor English to Spanish you will hear the pronunciation of the word


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That long i sound for a written i is pretty much limited to English. If the word if clearly of foreign origin, odds are it sounds like a short i (if there is a consonant after it) or a long e (if it ends a word).


I heard a Shaolin monk pronounce it as "chee".


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But how did he spell it?


The long i sound is mostly still in Japanese. But in English it’d be spelled kai, if that were the pronunciation. I’d be shocked if Chinese didn’t have a sound similar to long i too, but I’m not very familiar with that language.


Melkiador wrote:
“Chi” is more like the Chinese word for ki. “Qi” is also sometimes used with Chinese, but not sure of the pronunciation. I know Japanese uses “ki”, but not sure what the other cultures use for that word.

Yeah, it depends on if it was written to imitate Chinese or Japanese.

In Chinese the correct word would be (written in pinyin) Qi, which is pronounced as mentioned above. Ki, I is the same concept, but in Japanese and pronounced as a key to your door.

Edit: For the Chinese pronunciation this is correct.


Melkiador wrote:
“Chi” is more like the Chinese word for ki. “Qi” is also sometimes used with Chinese, but not sure of the pronunciation. I know Japanese uses “ki”, but not sure what the other cultures use for that word.

Ki. Qi. Chi. Prana.


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Melkiador wrote:
The long i sound is mostly still in Japanese. But in English it’d be spelled kai, if that were the pronunciation. I’d be shocked if Chinese didn’t have a sound similar to long i too, but I’m not very familiar with that language.

Many languages have the long i sound -- but they almost always write it as a pair of vowels, not as a sole letter i.


David knott 242 wrote:
Melkiador wrote:
The long i sound is mostly still in Japanese. But in English it’d be spelled kai, if that were the pronunciation. I’d be shocked if Chinese didn’t have a sound similar to long i too, but I’m not very familiar with that language.

Many languages have the long i sound -- but they almost always write it as a pair of vowels, not as a sole letter i.

I don't think Japanese would write it with an "i" either.

Romaji (Japanese written with English letters) is mostly for children and non-Japanese to learn Japanese. This is similar to Pinyin which is a similar system for children or non-Chinese to learn the language.

As such it's just a convention for how it was written.

For a look at how that's really confusing, you can look at (the odler) Wades-Giles system for Chinese, which gave us written things like Tsingtao which is pronounced "Chingdao".


With Japanese, there are a few different writing styles, but I think that "kai", for rhymes with sky, is a pretty good translation of the two characters that make that sound. There is one symbol for "ka" and another symbol for "i". When you put them together it sounds like "kai". "Ki" is it's own symbol that rhymes with key. き or キ are symbols for the ki sound.

Japanese also has Kanji "letters", but those are their own different thing.


Yeah, Japanese is extra complicated because they have 3 written systems, with some words being shared between them and others being exclusive written in one system.

It's a legacy issue, Japan took the Chinese writing system (the traditional writing, not the modern) and used it. At that time the meaning and pronunciation of some written words was kept, in other cases the kept only the meaning but used their pronunciation. This is Kanji.

Then you have hiragana and katakana. These actually make specific sounds based on how their written, while Kanji is logograms (represent the idea/thing/concept).

Written Japanese is really complicated.


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In most east Asian languages that I am aware of, the Romanization of the long i sound is "ai". Same for most European Romance languages. German seems to have "ei" for that sound.

The "ai" usage makes a lot of sense, since our long i sound is really a blending together of "ah" and "ee".


It's pronounced "Ehn Ehr john"; alternatively The Glow


I pronounce ki like "key" and chi like "cheese". But how do you pronounce Qinggong (like the Qinggong monk archetype)?


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Marius Castille wrote:
I pronounce ki like "key" and chi like "cheese". But how do you pronounce Qinggong (like the Qinggong monk archetype)?

Chee gong is how it's pronounced I believe. It can also be pronounced Qwhy gone.


Ran it in google translate and the Qi is pronounced more like "Chee", although it sounds like it has a bit of a soft t in in too, like "Tchee".


I roll my R's when saying it. For real authenticity I also employ a lisp.


Marius Castille wrote:
But how do you pronounce Qinggong (like the Qinggong monk archetype)?

It may not be the correct way to do it, but I pronounce 'Qinggong' as 'Q-why-gone'. I've heard it pronounced various other ways.


This link should take you to a google translate where you can hear quinggong twice with its two different spellings.


You guys only need to see dragon ball they use the word ki always so you can check the pronunciation


Zepheri wrote:
You guys only need to see dragon ball they use the word ki always so you can check the pronunciation

The issue is that Dragon Ball is Japanese, while most of the monk stuff is meant to be more Chinese. But the spelling of "ki" implies that we are going with the Japanese in my opinion.

Ultimately, D&D and PF are fantasy kitchen sinks, where you might grab from radically different cultures when putting together a character concept. A big downside to this is that you can never be very sure as to how something is pronounced. For instance, Is it a "mahgus" or a "maygus"?


Yes specially when creating a world they always resemblance Europe, Africa and Asia but never a mixed of this 3 continent


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To double up on the Dragon Ball tangent, Dragon Ball is heavily inspired BY chinese martial arts(clothing, techniques, names). The titular character is an homage to Sun Wukong from Chinese myth. So "Chee" is probably more appropriate.

Also Magus is totally Mahgus. Magi being the plural makes that clear to me.


Scavion wrote:
To double up on the Dragon Ball tangent, Dragon Ball is heavily inspired BY chinese martial arts(clothing, techniques, names). The titular character is an homage to Sun Wukong from Chinese myth. So "Chee" is probably more appropriate.

A lot of us have seen Dragon Ball with subtitles. They pronounce it "key".


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Melkiador wrote:
Scavion wrote:
To double up on the Dragon Ball tangent, Dragon Ball is heavily inspired BY chinese martial arts(clothing, techniques, names). The titular character is an homage to Sun Wukong from Chinese myth. So "Chee" is probably more appropriate.

A lot of us have seen Dragon Ball with subtitles. They pronounce it "key".

So have I. Personally I think pronouncing the word with the chinese pronunciation is more appropriate considering where it originates from.


Meh. You're talking about a word that's old enough to have gone through multiple mutations. Chi and Ki have both been used. "Chi" is merely more common in contemporary China. No one really knows which was being used when Journey to the West was popularized.

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