While I may not understand much of any other language, I am an expert in pronouncing any word of any language. Here's a little education to help ya out. Japanese is pretty dependant on the vowel sounds more than the consonents, considering that at least every other letter must be a vowel, with the only exception being "n." For example, "nasai" never has two consonents together, and a vowel always follows one. "Gomen," however, ends with a n, instead of a vowel. More importantly, here's how to pronounce each vowel (the consonents are self-explanatory, but since our language uses vowels so many ways, this needs saying).
"a" = talk, ah, jo (yes, it's an o, but it has the desired sound)
"e" = air, face; I don't think that any English word uses "e" in the way Japan does, so the best comparison is our long "a."
"i" = Similarly how to "e" sounds "a," "i" sounds like "e," such as heel, me
"o" = This needs little explanation. goal, toad
"u" = best described as a gorilla-like "oo": zoo, cool It is often used as a silent letter, though, so often times words with "u" in them will simply have a space between consonants.
Ok, now that we've got that out of the way, this word consists of 3 syllables: "ya," "o," and "i." Strictly put, that would make this correctly pronounced as "yowee," since the "o" in that word best describes the combination of the "a" and "o" here. However, I've heard it pronounced, by someone who sounds like an otaku, as "yoy."
What I mentioned before is correct in the strict sense, but in Japan, since they're comfortable with the language, they're not going to sound out every last syllable. They shorten the words, and anyone who's actually heard Japanese before knows that they talk very fast (putting our rappers to shame). Since the second-to-last syllable is usually stressed, like the first "na" in "banana," "o" would obviously be spoken. The end would have to be spoken, as well, unless it's being paired with another word which starts with "i," in which case, the two will blend together. Obviously, "y" just can't be left out, since that pretty much tells people what you're going to say. "A," however, has no importance when speaking, so that's the letter that's skipped.
So, after all that, these are the ways to pronounce it.
Strict: "yowee"
Colloquial (Casual): "yoy"
See? I know all about how to say Japanese things. Now if only someone could teach me Japanese so I could know WHAT THE HECK I'M SAYING! :)
