‘Koronavairusu’ or ‘Koronauirusu?’ Japan Learns English

Excessive focus on “proper” pronunciation skews English learning

By: Xiaochen Su

With much of Japan gripped with the fear of contracting the Covid-19 virus, which has stricken at least 639 and killed 16, the crisis has triggered an odd only-in-Japan controversy, pertaining to the word “virus.” 

To a non-Japanese unfamiliar with the language, the difference between two transliterations of a foreign loanword may seem tri…