77068
I found that there're two ways to pronounce the transcription of りゆう, that
are:

  * Riyū. For example: Riyū in 理由 (reason)
  * Ryū. For example: Ryūgakusei in 留学生 (International student)

So in certain situation, how can I know which one to choose?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-05T04:01:35.660
77067
2020-05-05T04:46:39.580
38848
question
pronunciation
Pronunciation of りゆう：Riyū or Ryū
They are spelled differently. Riyū is always りゆう and Ryū is always りゅう. The
latter contains a [yō-on](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%8Don). Notice the
**small** ゆ, which is different from the normal ゆ. (If you don't know about
small ゆ, please refer to any beginner textbook.)

If you saw りゆう for 留 in modern Japanese book, it's most likely a typo, but
there are rare exceptions:

  * If you are reading a very old document (or a citation from an old document), you may see りゆう for 留 because the small ゆ was not common before [the postwar script reform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_script_reform).
  * In furigana, a small や/ゆ/よ/つ is sometimes rendered like a regular (large) や/ゆ/よ/つ because furigana are already small. This depends on the publisher. See the subtle difference below:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ocssF.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ocssF.png)

BTW りゅう may be [difficult to
pronounce/hear](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/41931/5010) to native
English speakers.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-05T04:34:21.827
77068
2020-05-05T04:46:39.580
2020-05-05T04:46:39.580
5010
5010
77067
answer