Japanese Lesson Notes – Basic Pronunciation
Japanese Lesson Notes #3
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a i u e o
ka ki ku ke ko
sa si/shi su se so
ta ti/chi tu/tsu te to
na ni nu ne no
ha hi hu/fu he(e) ho
ma mi mu me mo
ya yu yo
ra ri ru re ro
wa wo(o)
n
A Few Pointers:
1- You may have noticed that si is pronounced shi, ti is chi, tu is tsu (think of the ts in ‘hot soup’), hu is fu (the f is like an English f but without touching your teeth to your lips), he is often pronounced as e, and wo is often pronounced o.
2- In the Japanese language, if n is found before b, p or m, it is pronounced like an m. An example of this is kanpai, which is the equivalent of cheers when you raise your drinks. The n is before p, so kanpai is pronounced kampai.
3- The u is usually very weak at the end of syllables. For example, desu is pronounced des and masu is pronounced mas.
4- The famous Japanese r is a challenge for so many people. The r is nothing like the English r. If you can roll your tongue you’re in luck because the r is kind of like a supper duper short version of the rolled r. It might help you is to think of how you say the tt in butter. To me, it feels like I’m tapping my tongue on the same spot when I say butter and the Japanese r. If you just can’t pronounce the Japanese r, it’s better to pronounce it more like an / than an English r.
