Given the subtleties of Japanese pronunciation, it may be difficult to reproduce the precise pronunication of ikriu exactly in writing, in English. But I would also love to hear from a Japanese speaker with more precise knowledge of the vocabulary.
My only point was that the vowel sound transliterated as "i" into Roman script is pronounced like the English "ee", or the letter "e" in English -- the same as (or similar to) the pronunciation of the letter "i" in other Indo-European languages -- Spanish, French, German, etc., to say nothing of most other language families. Only in English is an "i" pronounced "eye" (and not always: machine, for example, has the sound usually associated with the letter in most other languages). In most other languages, it's pronounced like the letter "e" in English.
When Mr. Osborne pronounced it "Eye-kiru" (leaving aside the matter of where the accent should be placed), he was clearly making a very fundamental error: much like those people who pronounce the name of those two Middle Eastern countries "Eye-rack" or "Eye-ran". The "I" should be pronounced -- again, approximately; it's hard to put in writing -- like the English pronunciation of the letter "E".
E-raq. E-ran. E-kiru. (More or less.) But certainly not "Eye-kiru".
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