[ViktorialHDY]

They just say soremade now if they say anything, or at least that's how it's done locally.

Geez I just read that sore (soar) made (maid) which... on second thought makes perfect sense to me.

[romalama]

So confused. Are they pronounced differently?

Any time there's a double consonant there is a slight pause before it. So, "mate" would just be "ma" and "te" with normal speed and pronunciation, while "matte" would be more like "ma", followed by a slight pause, and then "te". It's a very subtle thing, but like someone said earlier, having that little pause can completely change the meaning.

[carletoxtrs]

So confused. Are they pronounced differently?

I dunno if you know some of Italian, but it's similar as in the Italian language, qhen they have a double consonant, like in "pizza", its almost like saying "pidza or pitza". So "Mate" sounds as it is writen in Latin alphabet, and "Matte" you have to hold a bit the "t" sound.. maybe like saying "mat -te".

[GalasaKoll]

I actually didn't know English speakers have a problem with that. We Finns have it easy (with the vowels too).

[masterboyz]

So confused. Are they pronounced differently?

Yes... it is confusing.

A double consonant denotes a "rest" in pronunciation. "mate" is two beats: ma-te. "matte" is three beats: ma-rest-te. Another good example of this from kendo vocabulary is "ippon" -- it's four beats: i-rest-po-n. The English language doesn't have the typography to show that kind of thing, so romanization compromises by showing it with a double consonant, the exception being "n," which is actually two n sounds.

Okay, this drifts off subject but all this romaji, kanji, hiragana confusion has me asking - what do Japanese use for text message abbreviations? Is there yet another alphabet for LOL, BFF, OMG, WTF, etc?

Depends. "w" is used for "lol" and is short for "warau," which means smile/laugh. Some people just type （笑）, which is just the kanji for warau in parentheses. Other times, you'll find that people use kanji with roughly the same pronunciation as what they want to say. For example, the kanji 塚, which means "hill," is pronounced "tsuka," which sounds like tsu-ka, which is a shortened way to say "te ka," which itself is a shortened way of saying "to iu ka," which means "speaking of which" or "by the way."