We say things differently. I’m okay with that. Sometimes, I’d just like to know how to say it – right or wrong. We used to turn to the dictionary. Now, we’ve got Wikipedia… Please – give me back my dictionary. Here is an example of a Wikipedia pronunciation guide:

Reiki (霊気?, English pronunciation: /ˈreɪkiː/)

When I read that, I see that the word “reiki” should be pronounced “reiki.” Ooooh. That makes it all perfectly clear. Sort of. Wait a minute. Is that like REE-Kee? Or Ree-IK-ee? Maybe it’s RY-ky, rhyming with pumpkin pie-pie.

My typing doesn’t include pronunciation symbols for long and short vowels, but I have access to them. If my website was about pronouncing words, I would ūse them daily. I wish Wikipedia would do that. The internet allows access to users of different languages, but – come on! – the English-language version could use standard English grammar symbols.

Pŭ-lēz?