Quote Originally Posted by scotcher
For all its problems, I still think for a complete beginner 'zna-yet-ye' is the most useful (or least potentially misleading) approximation of the pronunciation.
I disagree. Even a beginner should not be bound to the patterns of his native language 'for the sake of simplicity', or he ends up with something like
1-One (pronounced o-ne)
2-Tsuwo
3-Fuee
4-Fuuru
5-Fube
6-Shiku
7-Sebenu
8-Eigufutsu
9-Nine (pronounces ni-ne)
10-Tenu