Hello all, just a quick question. I’ve always been confused between the two ways people seem to say “sayonara” in Japanese. I can’t find a solid answer online. My professor pronounces it さよなら (short o sound) but I’ve always said it さようなら (long o) since that’s how it’s written.
Do the two readings have different (implied) meanings? Does it matter? Just curious.
Thanks!
People tend not to talk exactly the way words are written.
Ya know? 
So you think it’s just a pronunciation thing? I feel like I read somewhere that the long o implies a longer separation than the short o, but maybe that’s just false memory haha
I just mean that people don’t always speak the same way they write. So yes, if it’s さようなら on paper, and you read that aloud, you would say it with the long o.
But when people talk, they don’t always strictly follow the standards of the written language.
“Gonna” is wrong on a thesis paper, but it’s how people say “going to” when talking casually.
Oh okay, that makes sense. Thanks for your help!
Or “finna”. Like, “I’m finna’ write this thesis paper”… 
There are a few common words that get shortened like this in everyday / casual speech. You might hear (or even see) ありがと instead of ありがとう, which is more or less the same idea as さよなら versus さようなら. I think there’s a few more that I’ve seen, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head.
Nope, you made that up didn’t you
ホント instead of ほんとう is another one. See this in subtitles all the time
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