It's actual pronunciation is RAY-MEN. It's a chinese word.
Prior to the 50s, the noodles were called Shina Soba. In 1958, instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-Japanese founder and chairman of Nissin Foods. In North America, Japanese instant noodles were imported starting in the 1970s bearing the name "ramen." And so the term ramen is often used in North America to refer to instant noodles. Ramen gained popularity as a Japanese dish of instant noodle soup which sold so well to tight-income buyers in the United States in the late 1970s, that by the mid-1980s imports from Japan were supplanted by American manufacturers of instant noodles.
You can find out more here, the official website of the Ramen Museum in Yokohama Japan.
Actually, I think you may both be correct. It depends on where you are.
In Korea, where more ramien noodles are consumed than anywhere else (from what I understand), ?? is pronounced Rah-myun. Most Americans pronounce it rahmen. If you want to get technical, I guess you could find out how it is pronounced in Japan, as it originated there.
Source: I ate them all the time in Korea and Japan and in college.
lalaalalaa wrote:
I heard someone say that there is no R sound or symbol in the Chinese language and it was actually Lamen.
I have a hard time believing this theory though.
It has to do with the way the languages are over there. In Japanese for sure, there is no L as far as romanization goes. The actual pronounciation is actually a half-way cross, more or less, between L and R.
Would recommend you guys pick up a decent Japanese language training book. Would explain these things much better than I can.