Bottle label, 低カロリー

[JohnCBriggs]

みんなさん、
こんにちは
　I have an unrelated question for you. I have purchased a beverage at a local oriental market. The beverage is from KIRIN and is called 午後の紅茶。
On the label is says 低カロリー。 I guess this means low calorie. But what is the reading of 低 ？　Is it just ひくカロリー？

ありがとう　ございます。
ジョン　ブリッグズ

[Airth]

In this case it is a compound word, in other words you need to use the Chinese reading of the kanji 低, which is てい. So it is read ていカロリー (tei karori-).

I've never tried it, is it any good?

[JohnCBriggs]

Airth-san
ありがとう　ございました。
午後の紅茶　は　とても　おいしい　です。
I didn't know the chinese reading and the dictionaries were of no help with 低カロリー。 I did understand the meaning quickly because I have seen the kanji before, but the reading was unclear until now.
The label also calls it ストレートティー　Straight tea. Which I guess means that is it not liked by homosexuals. Perhaps they have their own preferred tea.

アメリカ　の　ボストン　の　ジョン

[Bueller_007]

dictionaries were of no help with 低カロリー

If you don't know the pronunciation of a word and it's not in a J-E dictionary, you can usually get your IME to tell you.

For me, with Japanese keyboard on Mac OS X, I just copy the word from my browser into a new text document, select the entire word with my mouse, and double-click the kana button.

Then 低カロリー is instantly back-converted to kana: ていかろりー. It works with almost all modern Japanese words, as well as some very old/rare ones. (For example, it even properly back-converts the son of Prince Shotoku, Yamashiro no Oe-no-o 山背大兄王 to kana: やましろのおおえのおう. He's a relatively obscure historical character who died hundreds of years ago.)

I don't know how this works on non-Japanese keyboards or Windows boxes, but I imagine this facility exists.

[JohnCBriggs]

Bueller-san,
Wow, this is huge. It works on a Windows PC in Word.

I typed in ひくい and it converted to 低い　　Then I deleted the い and typed the kana for カロリー　 to get 低カロリー。
Next, while the japanese keyboard is selected (JP), I right click the word and get ていカロリー. This is very cool.

I have used some of these feature when typing. The IME gives the ON and KUN readings while you are inputting in handwriting mode (mouse-over the character). But this does not tell you which one is right.

What you have shown is much cooler because it outputs information on something already typed.

　ほんとに　ありがとう　ございました
ジョン

[Airth]

That was an excellent tip, Bueller. I usually just drop the text into the nearest search box and use this technique. It takes the guesswork out of finding the correct readings, especially for place names.

I just wish I knew about this when I first started learning; for the longest time I was certain that 立ち入り禁止 was tachi-hairi-kin-shi, when in fact it is tachi-iri-kin-shi. Interestingly, if you type it in the first way and use your IME trip it gives you the correct reading. Very nice.

[Bueller_007]

That was an excellent tip, Bueller. I usually just drop the text into the nearest search box and use this technique. It takes the guesswork out of finding the correct readings, especially for place names.

I just wish I knew about this when I first started learning; for the longest time I was certain that 立ち入り禁止 was tachi-hairi-kin-shi, when in fact it is tachi-iri-kin-shi. Interestingly, if you type it in the first way and use your IME trip it gives you the correct reading. Very nice.

Yeah, I used to think たちはいり as well. One of the pluses of Japanese: Ambiguous-as-hellosity.