How should I properly pronounce your name?

Last substantive revision: 2015-05-23

Belief: highly likely

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In English: /ˈiːsə/ (EE-suh); at least, this is how everyone pronounces my name now in the US, so I’ve gotten used to it. However, I should note that Robert Hass seems to pronounce it quite differently on here:

Poetry Everywhere: Robert Hass Translation of Selected Haiku by Kobayashi Issa

In Japanese: /isːa/ (いっさ); one can also hear it here (about three to four seconds in, although he says it about four times throughout the video):

小林一茶ここにあり!?

The name is taken from Kobayashi Issa (and, incidentally, has just about nothing to do with the Arabic name for Jesus in Islam). For those interested in pronouncing it the Japanese way, Gemination:Japanese and Sokuon may also be useful.


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