Ramen is pronounced raah-men in Japanese (/ˈrɑːmən/). The ra is like the “ra” from “Rasp”. And the the “men” is the same is the English plural for man “men”.
You can hear a native speaker pronounce the word here
Why are ramen called ramen?
The “Ra” from “ramen” means “Chinese”. The word ramen comes from Chinese pronunciation of “Lanmen” (拉麵). The 拉 is pronounced as “la”, and means “pulled, or stretched”. And 麵 is pronounced as “mien”, and means noodles. 辣油
Ramen was originally called shina soba (支那そば China Noodles) and is also sometimes referred to as chuka soba 中華そば (chuka is a generic word for all Chinese food). The word “Shina” has fallen out of use, as it has connections to Japan’s colonial history in China.
The first ramen shop in Japan was run by a man named Mr. Hanaya in 1910s Tokyo Japan. He owned a restaurant called Iwasaki Ryo-Ichi, and he began selling his own recipe for ramen.
