Talk:Nishi-Nippon Railroad

Why Nishitetsu?
Here's a question only an expert speaker of Japanese could answer: why is this company's name abbreviated as "Nishitetsu", when you'd expect it to be "Seitetsu"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.17.154.153 (talk) 07:43, 21 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Not being an expert, I can't say for sure, but I'd suppose it's because the pronunciation nishi came along with the kanji 西. That is, they applied the contraction process to the pronunciation, not just to the characters.


 * There are plenty of examples of railroads that did what you'd expect (Meitetsu comes to mind quickly) but the contraction process doesn't all make readings consistent: to continue with railways, a line rather than a company this time, there's Tōkyū Tōyoko Line. Which is to illustrate they didn't have to switch kun'yomi to on'yomi.


 * That's just one possibility. There could be other reasons, e.g. another company with the name or nickname "Seitetsu." Anyone have more information? Fg2 (talk) 10:39, 21 August 2008 (UTC)


 * "Nishi" of "Nishitetsu" is "Nishi" of "Nishi-Nippon".

--125.207.141.97 (talk) 13:54, 18 March 2009 (UTC)