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How can the well-known Tintin become タンタン rather than ティンティン in Japanese? Is
it because ティンティン sounds like ちんちん?

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Docc.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4Docc.jpg)
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2017-01-22T17:03:18.290
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2017-01-22T21:36:07.753
2017-01-22T21:36:07.753
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question
katakana loanwords
How can the well-known Tintin become タンタン in Japanese?
The タンタン rendering has a lot to do with the source French pronunciation,
[[tɛ̃tɛ̃]]. The [[ɛ]] vowel in the [International Phonetic
Alphabet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet) is
the [open-mid front unrounded vowel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-
mid_front_unrounded_vowel), halfway between [[a]] and [[e]]. The tilde ~ on
top indicates nasalization, like a half-pronounced [[n]] after a vowel. To a
Japanese ear (and, heck, even to my American English ear), [[tɛ̃tɛ̃]] sounds
not too far from タンタン.

Avoiding the pronunciation [ちんちん]{chin chin} (slang for _"penis"_ ) is a nice
side bonus.
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2017-01-22T18:29:58.913
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2017-01-22T18:29:58.913
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answer