Japanese: Course 1 - Correct Pronounciation

Remember – anyone can sound good in Japanese. English is made up of a couple thousand possible sounds. Japanese has only a little over a hundred basic sounds.

It's much easier for English-speaking people to learn the natural Japanese pronunciation than it is for Japanese speakers to learn the natural English pronunciation. The reason for this is that all the sounds used in the Japanese language are based on the five vowels listed in the next section.

 

Here's the secret to Japanese pronunciation. With a few exceptions, the entire Japanese language is built on the following 5 sounds. Mastery of these sounds is the first step to sounding native when you speak. Click the sound icon to listen. They should be said short with no glide.

 

 

Normal Vowels

a = akai

i = inochi

u = uma

e = ebi

o = otoko

These vowels remain constant for every Japanese phonetic sound. It doesn't matter what roman letter comes in front of the vowel the sound will not change for that vowel.

The phonetic sound ka is pronounced “kah”

The phonetic sound shi is pronounced “shee"”

The phonetic sound tsu is pronounced “tsoo”

The phonetic sound ne is pronounced “neh”

The phonetic sound po is pronounced “poh”

Double Vowels

The following lengthened vowels are pronounced like the vowels above, but are held twice as long.

aa, a- = okaasan

ii, i- = ojiisan

uu, u- = kuuki

ee, ei, e- = oneesan

oo, ou, o- = otousan

 
Be Careful
 
The meaning of Japanese words can change by the length of the syllables in the word. Look at the following examples to see how accidentally lengthening or shortening a word can change its meaning.

Examples

ie = house

iie = no

obasan = aunt

obaasan = grandmother

ojisan = uncle

ojiisan = grandfather


Double consonants

Double consonants such as kk, pp, tt, (also including cch) must be stressed more than a single consonant or the meaning might change. Here are some common examples of words that are easily confused if the double consonants are ignored.

Examples

roku = six (6)

rokku = rock (music)

uta = song

utta = sold (past tense informal verb)

mata = again

matta = to have waited

Cutoff and Whispered Sounds

Cutoff Sounds

Japanese, much like English sometimes doesn't always follow it's own rules. Sometimes words sound different than they are spelled. Luckily in Japanese this isn't so common.

Let's look at a very common word that is often pronounced differently than you might expect.

Desu

Even though you would expect it to sound like DE SU it sounds like DES. This is common among Japanese speakers, but it's important to remember that there will be Japanese people whom sometimes pronounce it DESU without dropping the U on the end.

Whispered Sounds

Keep your eye open for sounds that are "whispered". Whispered sounds are sounds that are said much quieter than the other sounds around it.

For more information visit Yes Japan.