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    Lesson 2.1 Learn Basic Japanese - Japanese Pronunciation Guide

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    Dara Faye Canales
    This document provides a pronunciation guide for Japanese vowels and consonants. It explains that Japanese has 5 vowels that are generally pronounced similarly to their English equivalents, and a limited set of consonants, with a few exceptions. The guide also describes how to identify and pronounce long vowels and double consonants. It recommends breaking Japanese words into syllables separated by slashes to aid proper pronunciation.

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    Lesson 2.1 Learn Basic Japanese - Japanese Pronunciation Guide

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    Dara Faye Canales
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    This document provides a pronunciation guide for Japanese vowels and consonants. It explains that Japanese has 5 vowels that are generally pronounced similarly to their English equivalents, and a limited set of consonants, with a few exceptions. The guide also describes how to identify and pronounce long vowels and double consonants. It recommends breaking Japanese words into syllables separated by slashes to aid proper pronunciation.

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    This document provides a pronunciation guide for Japanese vowels and consonants. It explains that Japanese has 5 vowels that are generally pronounced similarly to their English equivalents, and a limited set of consonants, with a few exceptions. The guide also describes how to identify and pronounce long vowels and double consonants. It recommends breaking Japanese words into syllables separated by slashes to aid proper pronunciation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    58 views3 pages

    Lesson 2.1 Learn Basic Japanese - Japanese Pronunciation Guide

    Uploaded by

    Dara Faye Canales
    This document provides a pronunciation guide for Japanese vowels and consonants. It explains that Japanese has 5 vowels that are generally pronounced similarly to their English equivalents, and a limited set of consonants, with a few exceptions. The guide also describes how to identify and pronounce long vowels and double consonants. It recommends breaking Japanese words into syllables separated by slashes to aid proper pronunciation.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 3

    LET’S SPEAK JAPANESE!

    Lesson 2.1 Japanese Pronunciation Guide


    Basic Sounds
    Japanese has only 5 vowels and the rest are consonants. Most of the sounds exist in English.

    Lesson Objective: In this lesson, you will learn that Japanese has a total of five (5) vowels and a limited
    list of consonants – most of the sound also exist in English or have a close equivalent. Japanese
    pronunciation is easy to learn compared to other languages. Always practice your pronunciation.

    Japanese Sounds / Syllables

    Vowels a, i, u, e, o
    Consonants k, g, s, sh, z, j, t, ch, ts, d, n, h, f, b, p, m, y, r, w

    How to read Japanese Syllables?

    *Japanese Vowels* = least complicated sound in Japanese, never change / pronounced the same

    • a = pronounce as “ah” (example. Dad, Father)


    • i = pronounce as “ee” (example. green, feet)
    • u = sounds like “oo” (example. soon, boot)
    • e = sounds like “eh” (example. get, bed)
    • o = sounds like “oh” (example. old, rope)

    Long Vowels = when a vowel has a bar over it, macron = diacritical mark ( ¯ ) placed above a letter
    usually a vowel. The effect is to lengthen it to almost double length of a regular vowel. The
    difference between a long vowel and regular vowel is important in Japanese, since the meanings
    of many words change according to the lengths of the vowel / words.
    Japanese Word (w/ Double Pronounced Hiragana Japanese Word
    meaning) Vowel as (Japanese with different
    (sounds like) (in syllables) writing) meaning
    Ob āsan aa a/a/ おばあさん Obasan (aunt)
    (grandmother)
    Ojīsan (grandfather) ii i/i/ おじいさん Ojisan (uncle)

    sūgaku (math) uu u/u すうがく ---

    onēsan (older sister) ee e/e おねえさん Onisan (older


    brother)
    tōri (street) oo o/o/ 通り tori (bird)

    *Japanese Consonants* = most are identical / similar English but there only four (4) exceptions;

    • f = is quiet and often sounds “h”, pronounce as a sharp “who” (try to think as if blowing candle)
    (example. fuku = clothes)
    • g = is hard and will never be soft, pronounce “get” and not “gentle” (as in g and not the j sound)
    (example. genki = health)
    • r = isn’t r at all, sounds like a hard “l”, pronounce very different from English “r” (tip of tongue)
    (example. sora = sky)
    • ts = combo “ts” is in Japanese sound is found at beginning of a syllable unlike in English words,
    (try saying “cats” then “tsunami” or “eat soup” just take the middle t s and you’ve got it)

    Double Consonants = (kk, pp, tt, ss) are given twice the length of a single consonant. The first
    consonant is a momentarily silent pause and the second consonant is pronounced as usual. (extended
    sound) Example:
    • Japan = Nippon Ni/(short pause)/po/n
    • Instrument = Gakki Ga/(short pause/ki
    • Magazine = Zasshi Za/(short pause)/shi
    • A little = Chotto Cho/(short pause)/to

    How to read a Japanese Word?

    The easiest way to pronounce a Japanese word is break it up using a slash (/) after every vowel
    (a, i, u, e, o) and to read each syllable separately.
    Example.
    Good night - O/ya/su/mi/na/sa/i
    I am back - Ta/da/i/ma

    When the characters between the two slashes start with “n”, you must do a test. If the “n” is not
    followed by a vowel or a “y”, it is a syllabic n- pronounced separately- and put a slash after the n.

    Example.
    Good evening – Ko/nba/nwa (the n is not followed by a vowel or a y, so you put a slash after n)
    Correct adding of slashes = Ko/n/ba/n/wa

    Similar cases: Sorry – Go/me/nna/sa/i = Go/me/n/na/sa/i

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