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Pronunciation Guide to Japanese and Okinawan

Japanese syllables are from the point of view of a native English speaker easier to pronounce (excluding perhaps the consonant "r" that is rolled) than many other Asian languages, but efforts to write them using roman letters are somewhat hampered by the large number of homonyms that appear. Though these words appear identical when written in roman letters, their meanings, which are often very different, are readily apparent when using Chinese characters. Nonetheless using roman letters one can easily approximate the Japanese pronunciation of any word.

The following table explains how to pronounce the letters used for the Japanese and Okinawan entries in this book.

a as in the "a" in father

e as in echo

i as in it

o as in open

u as in the "ew" in dew

ba as in ball

be like bay

bi like bee

bo as in boat

bu as in Buddhist

bya is a sound between bi and a

byo is a sound between bi and o

byu as in the "bu" in bureau

cha as in cha-cha

che as in check

chi as in the "chee" in cheek

cho as in choke

chu as in choose

da as in dock

de like desk

do as in dough

fu as in food

ga as in gasoline

ge like gay

gi as in geek

go as in going

gu like goo

gya is a sound between gi and a

gyo is a sound between gi and o

gyu as in the "gu" in argument

ha like haw

he like hay

hi like he

ho like hoe

hya is a sound between hi and a

hyo is a sound between hi and o

hyu is a sound between hi and u

ja as in Japan

je as in the "ge" in gentlemen

ji as in the "gy" gymnasium

jo like Joe

ju as in June

ka like caw

ke like Kay

ki like key

ko as in the "co" in loco

ku like coo

kya is a sound between ki and a

kyo is a sound between ki and o

kyu like cue

m as in mother

ma as in mama

me like May

mi as in the "mea" in meat

mo like Moe

mu like moo

mya is a sound between mi and a

myo is a sound between mi and o

myu as in the "mu" in music

n as in never

na as in natural

ne like nay

ni like knee

no as in nose

nu as in noon

nya as in "nia" in ammonia

nyo is a sound between ni and o

nyu as in news

pa as in Papa

pe like pay

pi as in pee-wee

po like Poe

pu like Pooh

pya is a sound between pi and a

pyo is a sound between pi and o

pyu as in pew

ra as in rattle

re as in ray

ri as in read

ro as in row

ru as in root

rya is a sound between ri and a

ryo is a sound between ri and o

ryu is a sound between ri and u

sa as in sock

se like say

so as in soak JM as in soon

shi as in sheep

sho as in show

shu as in shoot

ta as in the "to" in toffee

te as in take

to like toe

tsu is the "ts" sound in pants combined with a "u"

wa as in war

wu like woo

ya as in Yankee

yo as in yolk

yu like you

za as in zap

ze as in zany

zo as in zone

zu like zoo