What's da correct spelling? senpai? or sempai?

Question

thankies alot in advance!! ^__^

Answer 1

It seems to be spelled "senpai", but pronounced "sempai".

"Senpai is often seen romanized as "sempai" because it is pronounced that way (the Japanese "n" (ん) is pronounced as "m" when it comes before certain consonant sounds, like "p")."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senpai

Wikipedia and Wiktionary say "senpai". Google prefers "senpai" too, with a small margin : 1,310,000 hits for "senpai" vs. 1,130,000 for "sempai".

Answer 2

Sempai....

Answer 3

Sempai

Answer 4

Correctly romanized as "senpai" because in hiragana it's written as せんぱい, the ん is an "n" however it is pronounced with an "m" sound giving it "sempai."

It really doesn't matter if you romanize it as sempai or senpai, as long as you write it correctly in kana/kanji.

The only reason for the "M" in the romanization is solely based on pronunciation.

Like most times arigatou is written as "arigato" because the "u" isn't pronounced.... "ah-ree-gah-toh-uu" it's "ah-ree-gah-toe" so the "u" is left off when romanized half the time.

Get it?

My opinion is expressed from a foreign view.  

Answer 5

correct spelling is 'senpai'. there's no single 'm' in japanese. 'm' is used with only vowels. like 'ma, mi, mya, myu.... etc.'.

but there're exceptional cases.

ex

shinbashi station -> shimbashi station

i dont know how it happen, but it actually written on public station's sign, bus sign..etc.

anyway, shiNbashi is correct writing in this case as well.

Answer 6

senpai, but pronounced as sempai, because of the effect of "p" on "n".