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A Japanese teacher on Twitter posted that 化学 is pronounced かがく and means
"chemistry". I double-checked it on tangorin.com and it lists that
pronunciation but says that it's pronounced ばけがく to avoid confusion with 科学
("science").

I can't find any more info on the net about this... could somebody confirm
this?

In particular, for my Anki vocabulary deck, which pronunciation should I
learn? Or should I shoehorn both into my deck somehow?
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2014-06-18T13:25:37.420
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2014-06-18T15:25:32.463
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nuances pronunciation
How to Pronounce 化学 "Chemistry"?
I think the basic word is かがく, but the other reading is possible. Here's what
明鏡国語辞典 says at the bottom of its entry for 化学{かがく}:

> ►「科学」と区別して「ばけがく」ともいう。

If you pronounce it this way, you're deliberately using the other reading of
the first kanji to make sure the person you're talking to knows which word you
mean. I would definitely learn the reading かがく, though.
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2014-06-18T13:41:53.510
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Other examples of intentionally altered readings to avoid confusion:

  * 私立【しりつ】 (private) & 市立【しりつ】 (city-run) → 私立【わたくしりつ】 & 市立【いちりつ】
  * 売春【ばいしゅん】 (selling sex) & 買春【ばいしゅん】 (buying sex) → 買春【かいしゅん】
  * 波線【はせん】 (wavy line) & 破線【はせん】 (dashed line) → 波線【なみせん】 & 破線【やぶれせん】
  * 市長【しちょう】 (city mayor) & 首長【しゅちょう】 (mayor in general) → 首長【くびちょう】

Learning _only_ ばけがく is not recommended. Personally, I'd rather use orthodox
readings (on the left) whenever I can, because the altered ones (on the right)
sound more or less jargon to me.

Although avoiding ばけがく is not always possible, of course, I would sometimes
use "ケミストリーの化学【かがく】" instead of ばけがく, when I'm sure the listener can
understand; but this is no more than my personal preference.
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2014-06-18T15:25:32.463
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