Pronunciation GUIDE
Pronunciation of Japanese is relatively easy. Once you acquire basic knowledge about Japanese sounds and master them with the help of a native speaker or with the help of recorded materials, you will not have much difficulty. There are five vowels in Japanese. In this book these vowels are written; a, i, u, e, and o, or あ, い, う, え and お in hiragana.
| a | あ | like the a in ha ha! |
| i | い | like the i in Bali |
| u | う | like the u in June, but shorter in length |
| e | え | like the e in pet |
| o | お | like the o in colt |
Long and short vowels
Long vowels are written in this book as ā, ii, ū, ē, and ō. Don’t confuse these with what are called long vowels in English. In Japanese, a long vowel is sustained twice as long as a short one, but the sound of the vowel remains the same. Therefore, it is often the length of the vowel that distinguishes one word from another. Note the important difference in meaning made by the short and long vowel in the following pairs.
| obasan | おばさん | aunt | obāsan | おばあさん | grandmother |
| ojisan | おじさん | uncle | ojiisan | おじいさん | grandfather |
| kuki | くき | stem | kūki | くうき | air |
| e | え | picture | ē | ええ | yes |
| oku | おく | to put | ōku | おおく | plenty |
Syllables
Japanese think of their words as being composed of syllables, each syllable taking one beat. A Japanese syllable may be any one of the following:
1. One short vowel only: a, i, u, e, o.
2. The first or second half of any long vowel (ā, ii, ū, ē, and ō). Therefore, one long vowel equals two syllables.
3. A consonant + a vowel:
| ka | か | ki | き | ku | く | ke | け | ko | こ |
| sa | さ | shi | し | su | す | se | せ | so | そ |
| ta | た | chi | ち | tsu | つ | te | て | to | と |
| na | な | ni | に | nu | ぬ | ne | ね | no | の |
| ha | は | hi | ひ | fu | ふ | he | へ | ho | ほ |
| ma | ま | mi | み | mu | む | me | め | mo | も |
| ya | や | – | – | yu | ゆ | – | – | yo | よ |
| ra | ら | ri | り | ru | る | re | れ | ro | ろ |
| ga | が | gi | ぎ | gu | ぐ | ge | げ | go | ご |
| za | ざ | ji | じ | zu | ず | ze | ぜ | zo | ぞ |
| da | だ | – | – | – | – | de | で | do | ど |
| ba | ば | bi | び | bu | ぶ | be | べ | bo | ぼ |
| pa | ぱ | pi | ぴ | pu | ぷ | pe | ぺ | po | ぽ |
| ja | じゃ | – | – | ju | じゅ | – | – | jo | じょ |
| wa | わ | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
4. The consonant n (ん) (when not attached to a vowel). This syllable only appears:
(a) at the end of a word: hon (book)
(b) in the middle of a word:
(i) when followed by a consonant: konnichi wa (hello)
(ii) when followed by a vowel or y:
| kin-en | きんえん | no smoking | un-yu | うんゆ | transportation |
Failure to pronounce the sounds exactly as marked by the hyphen may change the meaning of the word.
| kin-en | きんえん | no smoking | ki-nen | きねん | commemoration |
| shin-in | しんいん | new member(s) | shi-nin | しにん | dead persons |
In some older books, the consonant n is written m in romaji before the sounds b, m, and p. However, we shall continue to write it as n in this book.
| sanbyaku | さんびゃく | three hundred |
| sanman | さんまん | thirty thousand |
| sanpo | さんぽ | walk |
5. A combination of sounds: a consonant + the consonant y (or h) + a vowel:
| kya | きゃ | kyu | きゅ | kyo | きょ |
| sha | しゃ | shu | しゅ | sho | しょ |
| cha | ちゃ | chu | ちゅ | cho | ちょ |
| nya | にゃ | nyu | にゅ | nyo | にょ |
| hya | ひゃ | hyu | ひゅ | hyo | ひょ |
| mya | みゃ | myu | みゅ | myo | みょ |
| rya | りゃ | ryu | りゅ | ryo | りょ |
| gya | ぎゃ | gyu | ぎゅ | gyo | ぎょ |
| bya | びゃ | byu | びゅ | byo | びょ |
| pya | ぴゃ | pyu | ぴゅ | pyo | ぴょ |