JAPANESE PRONUNCIATION
Guide to Japanese Pronunciation
Japanese is not a tonal language like Chinese or Thai, and is
comparatively easy to pronounce.
[
Japanese Pronunciation Vowels
Japanese has both short and long vowels and the distinction is often
important. In romanized Japanese, long vowels are marked with a macron,
so that ō represents "long O".
Japanese characters (ひらがな)
| |
a |
i |
u |
e |
0 |
| |
あ |
い |
う |
え |
お |
| k |
か |
き |
く |
け |
こ |
| s |
さ |
し |
す |
せ |
そ |
| t |
た |
(ち) |
(つ) |
て |
と |
| n |
な |
に |
ぬ |
ね |
の |
| h |
は |
ひ |
ふ |
へ |
ほ |
| m |
ま |
み |
む |
め |
も |
| y |
や |
|
ゆ |
|
よ |
| r |
ら |
り |
る |
れ |
ろ |
| w |
わ |
|
|
|
を |
| ん (n) |
| g |
が |
ぎ |
ぐ |
げ |
ご |
| z |
ざ |
じ |
ず |
ぜ |
ぞ |
| d |
だ |
(ぢ) |
(づ) |
で |
ど |
| b |
ば |
び |
ぶ |
べ |
ぼ |
| p |
ぱ |
ぴ |
ぷ |
ぺ |
ぽ |
| ky |
きゃ |
|
きゅ |
|
きょ |
| sy |
しゃ |
|
しゅ |
|
しょ |
| ty |
(ちゃ) |
|
(ちゅ) |
|
（ちょ） |
| hy |
ひゃ |
|
ひゅ |
|
ひょ |
| gy |
ぎゃ |
|
ぎゅ |
|
ぎょ |
| zy |
じゃ |
|
じゅ |
|
じょ |
| by |
びゃ |
|
びゅ |
|
びょ |
| ch |
ちゃ |
ち |
ちゅ |
|
ちょ |
| j |
じゃ |
じ |
じゅ |
|
じょ |
| sh |
しゃ |
し |
しゅ |
|
しょ |
| ts |
|
|
つ |
|
|
| f |
|
|
ふ |
|
|
- a あ/ア
- like 'a' in "father"
- i い/イ
- like 'i' in "machine"
- u う/ウ
- like 'oo' in "hoop"
- e え/エ
- like 'e' in "set"
- o お/オ
- like 'o' in "rope"
- n ん/ン
- short 'n' at the end of a syllable, pronounced as 'm' before 'b',
'p' or 'm'.
Note that "u" is often weak at the end of syllables. In particular,
the common endings -desu and -masu are pronounced as
"des'" and "mas'" respectively.
Japanese Pronunciation Consonants
- k かきくけこ
- like 'k' in "king"
- g
- like 'g' in "go"
- s
- like 's' in "sit"
- z
- like 'z' in "haze"
- t
- like 't' in "top"
- d
- like 'd' in "dog"
- n
- like 'n' in "nice"
- h
- like 'h' in "help"
- p
- like 'p' in "pig"
- b
- like 'b' in "bed"
- m
- like 'm' in "mother"
- y
- like 'y' in "yard"
- r
- like 'r' in "row" (actually a sound between 'l' and 'r', but
closer to 'r')
- w
- like 'w' in "wall"
- ch
- (t before i) like 'ch' in "touch"
- sh
- (s before i) like 'sh' in "sheep"
- ts
- (t before u) like 'ts' in "hot soup"
- f
- (h before u) like 'f' in "far"
- j
- (d before i) like 'j' in "jar"
IMPROVE YOUR JAPANESE
 The
best way to improve your Japanese is to use it regularly. The best
way to use your Japanese regularly is to talk to native Japanese who
are interested in developing their English skills. This way you
improve your language skills, help them with their English and make
new friends at the same time.
Japanese Lifestyle Friends is the ideal way to find language
partners, both male and female. It is great to have friends in Japan
so when you travel there, you can meet them and they can show you
around. This way you can experience the real Japan that you would
normally miss as a tourist.
(Article
based on
Wikitravel article
by Based on work by Paul N. Richter, Keith K. Higa and Ted O'Neill and
Wikitravel user(s) Jpatokal, Cjensen, っ, Sekicho, KagakuyaSan,
Nickpest, Nzpcmad, Rai koku and PierreAbbat. Article used under
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0.)
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