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LESSON 1

Sound It Out in Japanese!

日本語で言ってみよう！

Nihongo de Itte Miyō!

In this lesson you will learn some everyday phrases and sound structures of the Japanese language.

[cue 01-1]

Basic Sentences

1.	「こんにちは。」“Kon’nichi wa.”“Hello! (literally, As for today…)”	「ああ, こんにちは。」“Ā, kon’nichi wa.”“Oh, hi!”
2.	「先生, おはようございます。」“Sensei, ohayō gozaimasu.”“Professor, good morning! (lit., It is early.)”	「ああ, 山田さん。おはよう。」“Ā, Yamada-san, ohayō.”“Oh, good morning, Ms. Yamada!’
…ございます …gozaimasuRemember that you must add gozaimasu after ohayō ‘good morning’ and arigatō ‘thank you’ when you say these to your superior.
3.	「こんばんは。」“Konban wa!”“Good evening! (lit., As for this evening…)”	「ああ, こんばんは。」“Ā, konban wa!”“Oh, good evening!”
4.	「(どうも) ありがとうございます。」“(Dōmo) arigatō gozaimasu.”“Thank you (very much).”	「いいえ。」“Īe”“Not at all. (lit., No.)”
5.	「ありがとうございました。」“Arigatō gozaimashita.”“Thank you (for what you have done).”	「どういたしまして。」“Dō itashimashite.”“You’re welcome.”
6.	「お元気ですか。」“Ogenki desu ka.”“How are you? (lit., Are you well?)”	「はい, おかげさまで。」“Hai, okage-sama de.”“Yes, I’m fine, thank you. (lit., Thanks to you and others.)”
7.	「さようなら。」“Sayōnara!”“Goodbye!”	「さようなら。」“Sayōnara!”“Goodbye!”
8.	「お母さん, おやすみなさい。」“Okāsan, oyasuminasai.”“Good night, mom! (lit., Please rest well.)”	「ああ, おやすみ。」“Ā, oyasumi.”“Oh, good night!”
9.	「あのう, (ちょっと) すみません。」“Anō, (chotto) sumimasen.”“Excuse me.”	「はい。」“Hai.”“Yes.”
ちょっと chottoChotto means ‘a little bit’ and is used with a variety of verbs and adjectives, but it also functions just to make one’s expression soft and friendly. It can be used by itself to get attention or softly refuse something or express dislikes.
10.	「(どうも）すみませんでした。」“(Dōmo) Sumimasen deshita.”“I’m (very) sorry. (I have committed a discourtesy.)”	「いいえ。」“Īe.”“No, (don’t worry).”
すみません SumimasenSumimasen is one of the most frequently used words in Japanese. Depending on the context, it is used to catch attention or apologize. It is also used to thank someone when one receives overwhelming generosity or kindness from him/her.
11.	「あ, ごめんなさい。」“A, gomen nasai.”“Oh, I’m sorry.”	「ううん, だいじょうぶ。」“Uun, daijōbu.”“It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
12.	ちょっと失礼ですが…Chotto shitsurei desu ga…Excuse me, but… (I have a question or request).
13.	ちょっと待って (ください)。Chotto matte (kudasai).Please wait a moment.
14.	「ゆっくり (話してください) 。」“Yukkuri (hanashite kudasai).”“(Please talk) slowly.”	「はい。」“Hai.”“Sure.”
15.	もう一度 (言ってください) 。Mō ichido (itte kudasai).(Please) (say it) again.
16.	お願いします。Onegai shimasu.Please (do so). (I’ll make a request of you.)
17.	では (or じゃ), 失礼します。“De wa (or Ja), shitsurei shimasu.”Well, I’ll say goodbye. (Excuse me.)
18.	「じゃ, また。」“Ja, mata.”“So long! (Well, (see you) again!)”	「ええ, じゃ, また。 」“Ē, ja, mata.”“Okay, see you!”
19.	「はじめまして 。スミスです。よろしく。」“Hajimemashite. Sumisu desu. Yoroshiku.”“Hi! I’m Ms. Smith. Nice to meet you!”	「はじめまして。田中です。こちらこそよろしく。」“Hajimemashite. Tanaka desu. Kochira koso yoroshiku.”“Hi! I’m Mr. Tanaka. Nice to meet you, too!”

CULTURE NOTE Puzzling Japanese Phrases

Beginner students of the Japanese language are often puzzled by simple, daily expressions when they see their literal translations. This is mainly due to socio-cultural differences between Japan and other countries, especially in the West, although structural differences in the language are also responsible. Many Japanese phrases were derived from locutions that express modesty and respect. For example, when the Japanese introduce themselves to others, they say yoroshiku onegai shimasu at the end. Phrase books will offer a conventional translation, like ‘Nice to meet you,’ but the literal translation is very different. Literally, yoroshiku means ‘well,’ appropriately,’ or ‘favorably.’ Onegai means ‘wish’ or ‘request.’ Shimasu means ‘will do.’ So, the entire phrase literally means something like ‘I request (you to act) in favor (of me)’ or ‘please be kind to me.’ You may wonder why Japanese people say something that implies their helplessness at the very moment they introduce themselves, but the phrase actually expresses their modesty, their respect for the person they’re speaking to, and their willingness to have a good relationship with him or her. And while the literal translation of the phrase is awkward, understanding the culture, understanding the idea of the phrase, and learning exactly when the phrase is used—by whom, to whom, and for what purpose—is the key to success in acquiring the language. Conventional English translations may be useful for you at the outset, but in a later context they will eventually confuse you. So, when you learn Japanese, think in Japanese, not in English!

[cue 01-2]

Basic Vocabulary

FAMILIAR JAPANESE WORDS

折り紙 origami	origami
着物 kimono	kimono
空手 karate	karate
すし sushi	sushi
刺身 sashimi	sliced raw fish
すき焼き sukiyaki	sukiyaki (beef stew)
うどん udon	udon noodles
うなぎ unagi	eel
アニメ anime	anime, animation
マンガ/漫画 manga	comic books
ドラマ dorama	TV drama series
オタク otaku	otaku (people with obsessive interest in their hobby)
J-POP jei poppu	Japanese pop (music), J-pop

FAMILY

お父さん otōsan	father
お母さん okāsan	mother
お兄さん onīsan	older brother
お姉さん onēsan	older sister

CULTURE NOTE Manga

In Japan, people of all ages read manga, or comic books. At restaurants in the business district, it’s common to see office workers in suits reading manga during their lunch breaks. Most cyber cafés in Japan offer their clients shelves of manga. There are popular long-running manga magazines like Shonen Jump, and some super-popular manga—for example, Nana by Ai Yazawa—have been turned into anime and/or movies. Manga’s history can be traced back to the twelfth century, but the modern style of manga has flourished since World War II, with themes varying from action-adventure to romance, history, comedy, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror, among others. Manga are studied by scholars, and there are even manga museums (for example, the Kyoto International Manga Museum). One reason for the appeal of manga is that they are very much accessible to anyone. They can influence people’s lives, giving them courage, offering enlightenment, and releasing stress. Near 40 percent of the total sales of books and magazines in Japan are from manga publications. In fact, many supplementary teaching materials take the form of manga, teaching kanji, proverbs, history, and other subjects. Manga can be a good study tool for learners of Japanese like you, because they introduce kanji with the aid of a pronunciation guide (furigana), vocabulary words, colloquial phrases, onomatopoeia, and other features in illustrated contexts.

ANIMALS

犬 inu	dog
猫 neko	cat
兎 usagi	rabbit
猿 saru	monkey
馬 uma	horse

LANDSCAPE

山 yama	mountain
川 kawa	river
海 umi	ocean, sea
池 ike	pond
湖 mizuumi	lake

Structure Notes

1.1. Pronunciation

Every language has a system of sounds, and no two systems are exactly alike. The same organs are used in pronouncing the sounds of Japanese and those of English, but they are used in somewhat different ways. These organs are parts of the mouth, the tongue, the nose, and the throat. You will find it helpful to learn a bit about how these organs are used to make the sounds of English and those of Japanese. Many of the sounds in these two languages are so similar that you can use English sounds for the Japanese ones without being misunderstood, but there are some English pronunciation habits that you must avoid if you are to speak understandable Japanese. And if you don’t want your Japanese to have a marked American accent, you will want to pay close attention to the slight differences between even those sounds that are most alike in the two languages.

1.2. Rhythm

English is spoken in a SYNCOPATED fashion—we bounce along, rushing syllables in between heavy stresses, keeping an irregular rhythm and tempo based on our stress system. Each normal English syllable is spoken with one of four stresses—and there’s even an extra one, especially loud, to show unusual emphasis. If you listen to the word windshield wiper you will notice that the first syllable (‘wind-’) is more heavily pronounced than the others; the last syllable (‘-er’) is the weakest; and for some speakers there is a difference in stress between the remaining syllables (‘-shield-’ and ‘-wipe-’). Those Americans who hear no difference in stress between ‘-shield-’ and ‘-wipe-’ may hear the somewhat stronger stress on the syllable ‘new’ in the phrase “a new windshield wiper” (with the strongest stress still on the syllable ‘wind-’).

Japanese, on the other hand, speak in a METRONOMIC fashion—as if there were a musician’s metronome evenly beating out each syllable. Instead of putting a heavy stress on some syllables and various weaker stresses on the others, the Japanese gives each syllable a moderate and even stress. And instead of rushing syllables in between the heavy-stressed ones, speeding up the weaker syllables, slowing down for the stronger ones, the Japanese speaker allows about the same amount of time for each of his syllables, regardless of the apparent prominence of the syllable. To the ears of an American, accustomed to hearing distinctive stresses, not all Japanese syllables are heard evenly strong. This is because not all Japanese syllables are equally PROMINENT. The prominence of a syllable is conditioned by a variety of factors, such as stress, vowel color, pitch, voicing, etc. Of these factors, stress is the most important in English, but the least important in Japanese. Of course, those syllables that have voiceless or dropped vowels in Japanese will sound weakly stressed to an untrained American ear. So the first English habit to overcome in speaking Japanese is syncopation. Try to time your Japanese syllables evenly, giving them an equal stress.

1.3. Syllables

Now, what is a Japanese syllable? An English syllable, as noted above, is a sound or group of sounds accompanied by one of four stresses. A Japanese syllable isn’t that sort of thing at all. It’s a sound or group of sounds that take up a certain relative space of time. In other words, one of those metronome beats. A Japanese syllable may consist of a SHORT VOWEL (e ‘picture,’ o ‘tail’), or A CONSONANT + A SHORT VOWEL (te ‘hand,’ ta ‘field,’ yo ‘world’), or A CONSONANT + Y + A SHORT VOWEL (the first syllable of kyonen ‘last year’). Note that the sounds sh, ch, ts are in each case single consonants even though we write them with two letters.

In addition, a syllable may consist of a consonant when followed by another consonant (other than y) or a pause. For example, the first k of yukkuri ‘slowly,’ the first s [a spelling abbreviation for what is really sh of irasshaimashita ‘(you) came,’ the first n of kon’nichi ‘today,’ and both instances of the n in konban ‘this evening.’ The syllabic consonants are further discussed in note 1.9.

Finally, a syllable may consist of EITHER HALF OF A LONG VOWEL. In other words, what we write as ā, ē, ī, ō, ū are really just abbreviations for aa, ee, ii, oo, uu—two syllables each. Long vowels are further discussed in note 1.6.

Below are some of the words occurring in the Basic Sentences, with the syllable divisions indicated by hyphens.

[cue 01-3]

はい	hai	ha-i
ちょっと	chotto	cho-t-to
おはよう	ohayō	o-ha-yo-o
こんにちは	kon’nichi wa	ko-n-ni-chi-wa
こんばんは	konban wa	ko-n-ba-n-wa
さようなら	sayōnara	sa-yo-o-na-ra

1.4. Voicing

In the throat there are two pieces of muscular tissue that can be vibrated with a flow of air from the lungs like a couple of heavy rubber bands. They are called vocal cords. When vocal cords vibrate, we say the sound has VOICING or is VOICED. When these cords are somewhat relaxed at the sides of the throat, we say the sound is VOICELESS or UNVOICED. You can feel the vibration of the vocal cords by placing your hand on your throat. Or put your hands over your ears and you will notice a buzz whenever a sound is voiced.

In most languages, some of the sounds are typically voiced and others are typically voiceless. For instance, in English the initial sounds of these pairs differ in that the ones on the left (k, ch, t, s, p, f, th) are voiceless, and those on the right (g, j, d, z, b, v, th) are voiced:

Voiceless	Voiced
Kay	gay
cheer	jeer
toe	dough
seal	zeal
pay	bay
fan	van
thin	then

There are similar pairs of voiced and voiceless sounds in Japanese:

[cue 01-4]

Voiceless	Voiced
金 kin gold	銀 gin silver
血 chi blood	字 ji graphic character, letter
十 tō ten	どう dō how
そう sō so, right	象 zō elephant
パン pan bread	番 ban guard, watchman

In English, the sounds we call VOWELS, those made without any close contact between the tongue and top of the mouth, are always voiced, unless we are softly whispering. In Japanese, vowel sounds are often unvoiced when they come between voiceless consonants. Virtually every speaker of Japanese pronounces the vowels written i and u as unvoiced between voiceless consonants, and some drop these vowels completely. At the end of a word and after a voiceless consonant, these vowels are also frequently unvoiced or dropped, so that the final syllable of ohayō gozaimasu ‘good morning’ and genki desu ‘I’m fine’ sound AS IF there were no u there at all. The other vowels, those we write a, e, and o, are usually pronounced voiced. But unaccented ka and ko at the beginning of a word are often unvoiced when followed by the same syllable: kakanai ‘does not write,’ koko ‘here.’ And ha and ho are often unvoiced when followed by a voiceless consonant and the same vowel: haka ‘grave,’ hokori ‘dust,’ and hosoi ‘slender.’

1.5. Vowels

There is a striking difference between the way a Japanese person pronounces his vowels and the way an American pronounces his. Japanese vowels seem to stand still. English vowels often slide off from their starting points in one of three directions: with the tongue moving front and up (as in key, bay, shy, and toy); with the tongue moving back and up and the lips rounding (as in now, know, and who); with the tongue relaxing toward a central position (as in yeah, ah, law, uh, and huh; with many speakers also in bad, bed, bid, and bud; with some Southern and Western speakers also in bat, bet, bit, and butt).

A vowel takes its characteristic color from the way the tongue, mouth, and lips are held. Vowels are often described in terms of the tongue’s position in three top-to-bottom levels (HIGH, MID, LOW) and three front-to-back positions (FRONT, CENTRAL, BACK). If we ignore the off-glides mentioned above, and think only about the points of departure, we can illustrate these positions for American vowels with such words as these:

Note: Some speakers do not distinguish caught from cot.

For many American speakers all nine possible positions are used. The Japanese speaker, however, fills only five of the spaces as in the following words:

[cue 01-5]

In English, we spell the same vowel sound many different ways (dough, toe, slow, so, sew, etc.) and the same letter may indicate a number of different vowels (line, marine, inn, shirt, etc.). In Romanized Japanese, the same symbol is normally used for each occurrence of the same vowel. You should learn these symbols and the sounds they stand for, and not confuse this simple use of these letters with their many English uses. The use of the letters may be remembered as: i as in ski, e as in pet, a as in father, o as in so, u as in rhubarb. In both English and Japanese, the lips are relaxed for vowels in the front and center of the mouth, and somewhat rounded for those in the back. Many Japanese round their lips very little, however, and you will probably notice that the Japanese u involves less of this lip-rounding than the American equivalent. (Actually, much of the American lip-rounding is part of the off-glide.) After the consonants s, ts, and z, the Japanese u is sometimes pronounced in a HIGH CENTRAL position.

[cue 01-6]

進む susumu	advances
車 kuruma	car
靴 kutsu	shoes
続く tsuzuku	continues
盗む nusumu	steals, swipes
牛乳 gyūnyū	milk

In ordinary conversation when the Japanese syllable u comes before ma, me, or mo, it is often pronounced as if it were the syllable m:

[cue 01-7]

馬 uma [mma]	horse
梅 ume [mme]	plum
埋もれ木 umoregi [mmoregi]	fossil wood

Notice that Japanese does not utilize the MID CENTRAL position on the vowel chart. This is one of the most common of English vowels; it is sometimes indicated by the phonetic symbol ə (the schwa or ‘inverted e’). For many English speakers, this is the most common vowel in weak-stressed syllables; so the American who forgets that Japanese has no weak-stressed syllables tends to replace various Japanese vowels with this relaxed central vowel. For anata ‘you,’ many Americans will say anata, overstressing the syllable na and sliding over the other syllables. Be careful to avoid weak stresses, and you will not confuse the Japanese with this mid-central vowel.

1.6. Vowels in sequence

In Japanese, any vowel may be followed by any other vowel. Each is pronounced in a short, clear, evenly stressed fashion. Here are some examples of vowel sequences:

[cue 01-8]

はい hai	yes
家 ie	house
上 ue	top
甥 oi	nephew
青い aoi	is blue

Note that there is a syllable, an even space of time, for each vowel: ha-i, i-e, u-e, o-i, a-o-i.

Now, in English we do not have vowels in sequence. Each vowel is followed either by a consonant or by one of those three off-glides mentioned in 1.5: the y-glide in key, bay, by, and boy; the w-glide in now, know, and new; the h-glide in ah, yeah, law, and huh. When we Americans hear a Japanese vowel sequence, we are apt to reinterpret this as one of our combinations of vowel + glide. We hear Japanese hai like English high and Japanese mae like English my. The difficulty is that English high and my rhyme, but Japanese hai and mae do not. The following chart will give you an idea of the difference in pronunciation between the two English words on the one hand and each of the Japanese words on the other:

Note that there are some Tokyo speakers who do sound their ai’s much like their ae’s. Such speakers rhyme the words kaeru ‘return’ and hairu ‘enter.’ Speakers of Standard Japanese, however, try to keep these sequences distinct.

Just as we hear Japanese ai and ae alike, we tend to hear Japanese au and ao the same. Listen carefully to the difference between these pairs:

[cue 01-9]

買う kau	buys
会う au	meets
顔 kao	face
青 ao	blue

Do kau and au seem to sound like English cow? Do kao and ao seem to sound like English ow? The following chart will give you an idea of the difference in pronunciation. As you can see, this chart is a mirror image of the one above.

Since any vowel can follow any other vowel in Japanese, it is natural that a vowel can follow itself. These double vowels are sometimes called LONG VOWELS because, being two syllables, they take twice as long to pronounce as the short ones. In the Hepburn Romanization of Japanese, which this book uses, the double vowels are usually written with a macron (-) over the simple vowel, except in the case where there is a morphological boundary, as in oishi-i ‘delicious.’ Instead of a macron, some people use a circumflex accent ( ^ —like a small inverted V).

It is extremely important to master the difference between the short (simple) vowels and the long (double) ones early in your study of Japanese. So many words are distinguished by vowel length alone that, unless you are careful with these distinctions, your Japanese will be like a faulty telephone connection, likely to break down at any moment. English vowels are neither long nor short, by Japanese standards, but they often SOUND long, because of the off-glides. Remember to make your SHORT vowels SHORTER and your LONG vowels LONGER than the equivalent English vowels. Here are some examples of long and short vowels:

[cue 01-10]

田 ta	field	さあ sā [sa-a]	well
絵 e	picture	ええ ē [e-e]	yes
木 ki	tree	いい ii [i-i]	is good
帆 ho	sail	法 hō [ho-o]	law
府 fu	metropolitan prefecture	封 fū [fu-u]	seal

In ordinary conversation, most Japanese do not distinguish the vowel sequence ei from ee (=ē). In some parts of Japan, however, the distinction is still maintained. To an American ear, both sequences sound about like the vowel in bay. You should practice making the ē sound clear and long without the off-glide of the equivalent English sound. Examples:

[cue 01-11]

丁寧	teinei	polite
経営	keiei	management
おねえさん	onēsan	older sister
テーブル	tēburu	table

1.7. Consonants

In the structural system of every language, a given sound is made in somewhat different ways, depending on what sounds precede and follow it. If you hold your hand very close to your mouth and say the word pan clearly and naturally, you will feel a slight puff of breath; on the other hand, if you say span or ban, you will not feel the puff of breath. A more effective demonstration is to light a match and hold it close. Those consonants with a puff of breath will put the match out; those without will merely make it flicker. This puff of breath is called ASPIRATION; consonants accompanied by it are said to be ASPIRATED. English p, t, ch, and k (often spelled with the letter c as in cat) are aspirated in initial position, but not after the consonant s. Compare the two words in each of the following pairs:

pin and spin

tick and stick

charge and discharge

key and ski

In final position, English p, t, and k may be either aspirated or unaspirated, or not released at all.

Now in Japanese, the consonants p, t, ch, and k are usually somewhat aspirated as in English, but the aspiration is not so heavy. The Japanese consonants are UNASPIRATED when they are double (that is, long). Since the corresponding En­glish double consonants are aspirated as in hip pocket, part-time, night chief, and bookkeepers, you should give special attention to suppressing the puff of breath when you make the Japanese double consonants.

Another characteristic of Japanese double consonants, including ss, ssh, as well as pp, tt, tch, kk—is the special TENSENESS with which they are pronounced. It is as if the Japanese speaker tightened up his throat in order to hold on and get in that extra syllable represented by the first of the consonants.

Listen to the difference between the single and double consonants in the following examples, then imitate them, being very careful to hold the first of the double consonants for a full syllable’s duration and then release it tight and clear with no puff of air.

[cue 01-12]

Single Consonant	Double Consonant
ペン pen pen	一遍 ippen one time
糸 ito thread	一途 itto a way, a course
過去 kako past	括弧 kakko parentheses; brackets
火災 kasai fire	喝采 kassai applause
遺書 isho will, testament	一緒 issho together
一 ichi one	一致 itchi accord, agreement, unity

Just as the difference between long and short vowels is very important to make your Japanese understandable, so is the difference between long and short consonants.

One other point about aspiration. In English we do not aspirate a consonant after s. But in Japanese, when the syllable su is reduced to just a syllabic s (as in Ikaga desu ka.), a following p, t, or k still has the slight aspiration it would have in initial position. Notice the difference in pronunciation between English ski, one syllable, no aspiration—and Japanese suki ‘likes’—two syllables, with u unvoiced or dropped, but with slight aspiration of k.

Consonants are usually described in terms of the WAY they are pronounced (voiced, voiceless; aspirated, unaspirated; etc.) and the PLACE they are pronounced. In general, Japanese uses about the same places in the mouth as English—b, p, and m are made with the lips, and k and g with the back of the tongue against the soft part of the roof of the mouth. However, t, d, and n are all made farther front than the English equivalents. For these sounds in English, most of us touch the front of the tongue or the tip (or both) against the ridge BEHIND the teeth, or even farther back than that. But in Japanese, the tongue is pushed forward against the teeth themselves. This gives the Japanese sounds—called DENTAL consonants—a sharper quality; the English sounds—called ALVEOLAR consonants (after the alveolar ridge behind the teeth)—sound dull and indistinct to a Japanese. Notice the difference between sounds in certain Japanese and English words:

[cue 01-13]

English (alveolar!)	Japanese (dental!)
toe	十 tō ten
dough	どう dō how
no	能 nō No (Japanese classical ballet)

The Japanese consonants s, z, sh, ch, and j are also pronounced somewhat more FRONT than many American speakers pronounce the English equivalents. Since the American sounds are farthest front in words like see, zeal, sheep, cheap, and jeep, it may help to think of the sounds in these words. Some Japanese give the j a sound rather like that used by the French in Jacques or by some Americans in azure, garage, and rouge. (At the beginning of a word, many Japanese pronounce z as if it were spelled dz; in slow over-precise speech, you may hear the dz version even in the middle of a word.)

Be careful how you pronounce the Japanese. English f is made with the lower lip against the upper teeth. The Japanese place both lips close together (as if about to make a p or a b or as if about to whistle) and then let the air come out in a puff between. A Japanese f, then, is an f WITHOUT ANY TEETH. Occasionally you will hear a Japanese person use an ordinary h instead of this f.

Japanese voiced consonants (b, d, z, j, g, m, n) are more fully voiced than English initial voiced consonants. In English we start off somewhat lazily with the voicing, giving our vocal cords an instant to warm up. It is only between vowels, rabbit, lady, dizzy, tiger, coming, and inning, that we voice these sounds all the way through. Japanese warm their vocal cords up an instant before they start to make the sound and this gives their voiced consonants a bit more prominence than ours.

The Japanese consonant g has two pronunciations. In Southern Japan it is usually pronounced like g in English go (but of course never like g in gem because that sound would be written j). In Northern Japan, many people pronounce the g always like the English sound in sing or singer. In Tokyo, there is a compromise. The general rule is: initial in a word, pronounce as in go; within a word, pronounce as in singer. There are a few exceptions to this rule. The particle ga is always pronounced with the ng sound, and the element go meaning ‘five’ is usually pronounced like English go even within a word, but these are of minor importance.

You may have trouble with this ng sound. It is made with the tongue in the same position as for g, but with the nasal passage open, the way it is for m or n. Notice that this is NOT the same sound as that used by most English speakers in the word finger—that is, by those speakers who do not rhyme this word exactly with singer. It is as if we should spell the former word fingger to show that we make first the back nasal sound (ng) and then the back non-nasal sound (g). Since you are not used to using this ng sound at the beginning of a stressed syllable in English, you may want to practice it in the following way. Hold the tip of your tongue down with your finger or one of those flat tongue-depressors doctors use. Then try to say the sound n as in nine. You will feel the tip of your tongue try to come up, but keep it down and make the back part of the tongue do the work. You have then made the ng sound. All you have to do after that is to train the tip of your tongue so you will not have to hold it down with a tongue depressor while making this sound. The Japanese g in the middle of a word, then, is an n made with the back of the tongue. If you find this sound too difficult, just use your English g in all positions. You will not quite be talking Standard Japanese, but then neither do lots of Japanese! Here are some examples of the two kinds of g:

[cue 01-14]

g- [g]	-g [-ng]
学校 gakkō school	小学校 shogakkō primary school
銀 gin silver	金銀 kingin gold and silver
蛾 ga moth	…が … ga* but [subject particle]
15 jū-go* fifteen	銃後 jūgo non-combatant (status); behind the guns
1,005 sen-go* 1005	戦後 sengo postwar

* Exceptions!

The word gogo ‘p.m., afternoon’ shows both kinds: [go-ngo].

Another sound that may cause you trouble is ts. Unlike Japanese t (dental!), this sound usually starts at the alveolar ridge like an English t. It normally occurs only before the vowel u, and between the t and the u there is a slight hiss represented by the s. This sound does not occur initially in English, except for a few rare words like tsetse fly. However, you sometimes hear it in rapid speech: ts cool today (for it is cool today), ts all right with me (for it is all right with me). You may tend to slide over the t and only pronounce the s; this will cause confusion, because tsu and su distinguish a number of words, for example:

[cue 01-15]

s	ts
隅 sumi inside corner, angle	罪 tsumi guilt
する suru does	釣る tsuru fishes
住む sumu resides	つむ tsumu to pile up
粕 kasu dregs	勝つ katsu wins
すずき suzuki sea bass	つづき tsuzuki continuing; sequel

Notice that the vowel u gets unvoiced or dropped when there is a following voiceless consonant:

[cue 01-16]

s	ts
好き suki [s-ki] likable	月 tsuki [ts-ki] moon
進む susumu [s-su-mu] advances	包む tsutsumu [ts-tsu-mu] wraps up
すすき susuki [s-su-ki] pampas grass	つつき tsutsuki [ts-tsu-ki] pecking, biting

After you have practiced on the difference between tsu and su for a while, you might try these tongue-twisters:

[cue 01-17]

すすみつづけました	susumi-tsuzukemashita	continued to advance
つつみつづけました	tsutsumi tsuzukemashita	continued to wrap up

The thing to remember about the syllable tsu is: DON’T OMIT THE t.

In addition to the simple consonants are the combinations ky, gy, py, by, my, ny, and hy. (There is also ry, for which see below, 1.8.) These are pronounced somewhat as are the corresponding English sounds in cute, gew-gaw or regular, rebuke, music, and Hugh, provided you distinguish Hugh from you). In English, these combinations are usually followed by a vowel corresponding to Japanese u, but in Japanese they are also followed by a and o. For example, byōin [byo-o-i-n] ‘hospital’ and biyōin [bi-yo-o-i-n] ‘beauty shop’ sound similar but differ in that the former has the combination of b and y whereas these consonants are in separate syllables in the latter. Here are some examples:

[cue 01-18]

客車 kyakusha [kya-ku-sha]	passenger car
郵便局 yūbinkyoku [yu-u-bi-ng-kyo-ku]	post office
急行 kyūkō [kyu-u-ko-o]	express (train)
逆 gyaku [gya-ku]	reverse
実業家 jitsugyōka [ji-tsu-gyo-o-ka]	businessman
牛肉 gyūniku [gyu-u-ni-ku]	beef
八百 happyaku [ha-p-pya-ku]	eight hundred
発表 happyō [ha-p-pyo-o]	presentation
ピューと pyū to [pyu-u-to]	with a hiss (like a bullet)
三百 sanbyaku [sa-m-bya-ku]	three hundred
病気 byōki [byo-o-ki]	ill
ビューロー byūrō [byu-u-ro-o]	bureau
山脈 sanmyaku [sa-m-mya-ku]	mountain range
明晩 myōban [myo-o-ba-N]	tomorrow evening
ミューズ myūzu [myu-u-zu]	muse
ニャー nyā [nya-a]	meow
尿 nyō [nyo-o]	urine
牛乳 gyūnyū [gyu-u-nyu-u]	milk
百 hyaku [hya-ku]	hundred
標準 hyōjun [hyo-o-ju-N]	standard
ヒューズ hyūzu [hyu-u-zu]	fuse

1.8. Flapped r

The sound that seems to cause Americans most distress is the Japanese r. This is a sound called a flap. You make it by lifting the tip of the tongue backwards, then quickly and decisively bringing it down with a brief flick against the alveolar ridge (behind the teeth). Many Americans have this sound in the middle of words like Betty, letter, latter, and cottage. Some Englishmen use this sound for the r in very, merry, and berry so that the Englishman’s berry often sounds like the American Betty. This r will sound a little bit like a d to you. The differences between the Japanese r and d are primarily two: length—the r is brief, the d somewhat longer; and position of contact—the r is against the alveolar ridge with the very tip of the tongue, but the d is against the teeth with somewhat more of the tongue. You might begin to practice this sound in medial position, being careful not to make it like an American r—nor to trill it lengthily like an Italian r—and at the same time keep it distinct from the Japanese d:

[cue 01-19]

Japanese d (TEETH!)	Japanese r (RIDGE! BRIEF!)	American r
肌 hada skin	鱈 tara cod fish	horror
届ける todokeru delivers	蕩ける torokeru is enchanted	Tory
袖 sode sleeve	それ sore that	Cory
---	蟻 ari ant	sorry
---	する suru does	true

Be sure you are putting the r at the beginning of the syllable: sorosoro [so-ro-so-ro] ‘leisurely.’ Once you have acquired the sound, try practicing it initially:

[cue 01-20]

Japanese d (TEETH!)	Japanese r (RIDGE! BRIEF!)	American r
抱く daku embraces	楽 raku comfort	rock
電柱 denchū telephone pole	連中 renchū gang	wrench
毒 doku poison	六 roku six	rogue
---	りんご ringo apple	ring
---	留守 rusu absence	roots

Once you’re able to make the initial r, you’re ready to tackle the combination ry. This sound is made by putting the back part of the tongue in position to make the y sound, then very swiftly moving just the tip of the tongue up to make the flap for the r. You might practice the words first without the r, making the y good and strong; then go over them inserting the r lightly, without damaging the y. Do not make the r and then add an extra syllable just to get the y in. Examples:

[cue 01-21]

略 ryaku [rya-ku]	abbreviation
琉球 Ryūkyū [ryu-u-kyu-u]	Ryukyu (Islands)
省略 shōryaku [sho-o-rya-ku]	abbreviation, omission
上流 jōryū [jo-o-ryu-u]	upper reaches (of a river)
大統領 daitōryō [da-i-to-o-ryo-o]	president

1.9. Syllabic nasal

There is one more sound that may cause you some trouble. This is the syllabic nasal. The Japanese write this sound with the same symbol, but it is pronounced in different ways, depending on the sounds around it. For example, the n sounds in tan-i ‘academic credits’ and tani ‘valley’ sound completely different. The Hepburn Romanization writes the syllabic nasal sometimes m, sometimes n and sometimes n’ or n- (n followed by an apostrophe or a hyphen). The sound may be written m if it is followed by p, b, or m—any lip sound other than f or w; it is written n’ or n- if it is followed by a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) or by y; and it is written just n before other consonants (including f and w) and at the end of a word.

The pronunciation of the syllabic nasal varies according to its surroundings, but it is always pronounced with the nasal passage open and it always takes a full syllable’s time. There are four main pronunciations:

1. a long (syllabic) m (before p, b, and m)

2. a long (syllabic) n (dental!, before t, ts, d, n, ch, and j)

3. a long (syllabic) ng (before k and g)

4. long nasalization N (elsewhere (before vowel, y, w, r, s, sh, z, h, f, or at the end of a word))

You will have little difficulty with the first two pronunciations. Just remember to hold the nasal for a full syllable’s time. Here are some examples:

[cue 01-22]

1. a long (syllabic) m

見物 kenbutsu [ke-m-bu-tsu]	sightseeing
金髪 kinpatsu [ki-m-pa-tsu]	blond (hair)
三枚 san-mai [sa-m-ma-i]	three sheets (of paper)

[cue 01-23]

2. a long (syllabic) n

ちゃんと chanto [cha-n-to]	just, precisely
心痛 shintsū [shi-n-tsu-u]	anguish, heartache
今度 kondo [ko-n-do]	this time; next time
こんにちは kon’nichi wa [ko-n-ni-chi-wa]	hello, good afternoon
建築 kenchiku [ke-n-chi-ku]	construction, building
三時 san-ji [sa-n-ji]	three o’clock

The third pronunciation may cause you some difficulty. The combination nk is pronounced about as in banker, but the ng sound of the n is held for a full syllable. The combination written in the Hepburn Romanization as ng is pronounced with that ngg sound of fingger in some parts of Japan, but in the Standard Language it is pronounced like two ng sounds in a row: ngng, with the first held for a full syllable and the second beginning the following syllable. Get out your tongue-depressor again, and keep the tongue tip down a little longer.

Cf. nangai ‘how many floors’ and nagai ‘is long.’

[cue 01-24]

3. a long (syllabic) ng

元気 genki [ge-ng-ki]	good health
三角 sankaku [sa-ng-ka-ku]	triangle
インキ inki [i-ng-ki]	ink
今月 kongetsu [ko-ng-nge-tsu]	this month
金魚 kingyo [ki-ng-ngyo]	goldfish
文学 bungaku [bu-ng-nga-ku]	literature
りんご ringo [ri-ng-ngo]	apple

The fourth pronunciation you will probably find the most difficult. The basic part of this sound is just nasalization—such as the French put on some of their vowels in words like garçon, Lyons, or chanson. Some Americans use simple nasalization in place of the nt in words like plenty, twenty [ple’y, twe’y]. If you like, you may think of this as an n with the tongue not quite touching the top of the mouth anywhere. This sound is heard most distinctly at the end of a word:

[cue 01-25]

4. long nasalization N (At the end of a word)

パン pan [pa-N]	bread
新聞 shinbun [shi-m-bu-N]	newspaper
日本 Nihon [ni-ho-N]	Japan
金 kin [ki-N]	gold
ペン pen [pe-N]	pen

(Before s, sh, z, pink>h, f, and r)

検査 kensa [ke-N-sa]	investigation
新式 shinshiki [shi-N-shi-ki]	new style
万歳 banzai [ba-N-za-i]	hurrah!
時間表 jikanhyō [ji-ka-N-hyo-o]	timetable
日本風 Nihonfū [ni-ho-N-fu-u]	Japanese style
管理 kanri [ka-N-ri]	management

Before y, w, and vowels

Before vowels, y, and w, the syllabic nasal takes on some of the color of the following sound. For example, in hon’ya [ho-N-ya] ‘bookshop,’ the N sounds like a nasalized y, anticipating the following, non-nasal y. In hon wa [ho-N-wa] ‘as for the book,’ the N sounds like a nasalized w, anticipating the following, non-nasal w. Before i or e, the syllabic nasal may also sound like a nasalized y: Nihon e [ni-ho-N-e] ‘to Japan,’ ten-in [te-N-i-N] ‘clerk.’ Here are some more examples:

[cue 01-26]

パン屋 pan’ya [pa-N-ya]	bakery, bakeshop
婚約 kon’yaku [ko-N-ya-ku]	engagement (to be married)
神話 shinwa [shi-N-wa]	myth
電話 denwa [de-N-wa]	telephone
禁煙 kin’en [ki-N-e-N]	No Smoking
千円 sen-en [se-N-e-N]	1000 yen
金色 kin’iro [ki-N-i-ro]	gold color
単位 tan’i [ta-N-i]	unit
南欧 nan’ō [na-N-o-o]	Southern Europe

1.10. Accent

In English, accent refers to the way in which stress levels occur. In Japanese, the accent is the way in which PITCH LEVELS occur. When the vibrating vocal cords are drawn out long and tight, the pitch is high. When they are relaxed and shortened, the pitch is low. In English we use different pitch levels to indicate certain general types of phrases—like question (?), statement (.), suspension (…), continuation (,), and so forth. This use of pitch is called INTONATION. Japanese has intonation, too, but it is usually restricted to the last voiced syllable of a phrase. Note that in English the intonation contour extends over much more of the phrase, but the Japanese intonation occurs only with the last syllable or two. In addition to intonation, Japanese uses pitch to differentiate words and phrases from each other, like we use stress in English. It is this use of pitch that we call accent.

In different parts of Japan there are different accent patterns. More than a half of the Japanese population speaks with accent patterns rather like those of Standard Japanese—that is, the speech of Tokyo. The principal exception is Western Japan (Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe; also parts of Shikoku and southern Kyushu). There, the accent often seems just the opposite from that of Standard Japanese. Where the Tokyo speaker goes up in pitch, the Kyoto speaker often goes down. In some parts of Japan (places in northern Kyushu and in northeastern Honshu), the accent is not distinctive at all; all words have the same pattern. If you are planning to talk Japanese in Western Japan, you can completely ignore the accent marks in this section. And even if you are going to talk Japanese in Tokyo, you will be fairly well understood, even without the accent distinctions. The Japanese of today are used to hearing their language spoken with a variety of accent patterns. The important thing is that you should always imitate the persons you hear speaking Japanese and mimic their accents, wherever you may be. However, if you wish to put the final polish on your knowledge of Standard Japanese, you may want to devote some attention to the accent.

What the accent mark represents in Standard Japanese is THE LAST SYLLABLE BEFORE A FALL IN PITCH. In yukkuri ‘slowly,’ there is a fall of pitch right after the syllable ku. In Tokyo speech EVERY SYLLABLE UP TO THE FALL OF PITCH IS HIGH EXCEPT THE FIRST OF THE PHRASE. Of course, if the first syllable is itself the last before the fall, it is high. The relative pitches in yukkúri ‘slowly’ and Génki desu ‘I’m fine’ look as below, where L stands for a low pitch and H stands for a high pitch:

[cue 01-27]

ゆっくり	げんきです。
yukkúri	Génki desu.
[yu-k-ku-ri]	[ge-n-ki-de-s]
L H H L	H L L L L
‘slowly’	‘I’m fine.’

You will be able to hear this fall of pitch most clearly when it occurs on the first of a vowel sequence—like the long vowels ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, or the sequences ai, ei, oi, ui—or when it occurs on a vowel followed by the syllabic nasal. This is because we tend to hear each of these double-syllables as just one syllable and we are used to hearing a fall of pitch WITHIN a syllable in English: He saw Jóhn. Look at the bóy. Sáy. Hí! Mé. Nó. Yóu. Listen to these examples:

[cue 01-28]

どういたしまして。

Dō itashimashite. [dó-o-i-ta-shi-ma-sh-te]

Not at all.

日本にいます。

Nihon ni imasu. [ni-hó-n-ni-i-ma-s]

He’s in Japan.

青い着物をきています。

Aoi kimono o kite imasu. [a-ó-i-ki-mo-no-o-ki-te-i-ma-s]

She’s wearing a blue kimono.

The range of pitch is somewhat wider in English than in Japanese. When we have a fall, it descends from higher to lower pitches than the corresponding Japanese fall. To our ears, the Japanese rises and falls in pitch are very light and often difficult to catch. They are nonetheless an important part of Japanese speech. In Standard Japanese there is just one accent—one fall of pitch—within a phrase. But a given sentence may either be broken up into a number of small phrases or read all in one big phrase. It’s possible to say the sentence meaning ‘Not at all; you’re welcome’ slowly and deliberately as three phrases: dō itashi mashite. It is more usual to say it as just one phrase: dōitashimashite. When two or more smaller phrases are said together as a larger phrase, the accent of the first phrase stays, but the accent of the later phrases disappears. Instead of shitsúrei itashimáshita you will more often hear shitsúrei itashimashita ‘excuse me,’ instead of arígatō gozaimásu you will hear arígatō gozaimasu ‘thank you.’ Since the accent mark represents the last syllable before a FALL in pitch, it never occurs right before a pause. Before a pause, you cannot tell whether a word has a final accent or no accent at all; when you add a particle (such as the topic particle wa) it immediately becomes clear:

[cue 01-29]

鼻。 Hana. Nose.

鼻は。 Hana wa… As for the nose…

花。 Haná. Flower.

花は。 Haná wa… As for the flower…

The term final accent refers not only to an accent on the very last syllable, but also often to one on the next-to-last syllable, provided the last syllable is the second of a vowel sequence—like kinō [ki-nó-o] ‘yesterday,’ chihō [chi-hó-o] ‘region,’ senséi [se-n-sé-i] or [se-n-sé-e] ‘teacher,’ kudasái [ku-da-sá-i] ‘please (give),’ or is the syllable nasal-like Nihón [ni-hó-n] ‘Japan,’ hón [ho-n] ‘book.’ In these cases, the intonation often extends over the last two syllables.

When a vowel becomes unvoiced or dropped (like u in arimásu ‘something exists,’ désu ‘something equals something,’ and itashimásu ‘I do’), the intonation usually covers the preceding syllable and the accent really disappears: arimasu [a-ri-ma-s]. The accent appears again, however, if the word is followed by another word as in Arimásu ka ‘Are there any?’ and Arimásu ga… ‘There are, but….’ Hereare some examples of the accent on various syllables. Listen for the pitch falls. Remember, the single phrases may be joined together into longer phrases and the later accents dropped.

[cue 01-30]

いいですか。

Íi desu ka.

Is it all right?

だめです。

Damé desu.

It’s no good, it won’t do.

結構です。

Kékkō desu.

No, thank you.

忘れました。

Wasuremáshita.

I’ve forgotten (it).

分れましたか。

Wakarimáshita ka.

Did you understand?

好きですか。嫌いですか。

Sukí desu ka. Kirai désu ka.

Do you like it or not?

ちょっと来てください。

Chótto kíte kudasái. (Chótto kite kudasai.)

Please come here a minute.

いくらですか。

Íkura desu ka.

How much is it?

窓を開けてください。

Mádo o akete kudasái.

Please open the window.

戸を閉めてください。

To o shímete kudasái.

Please close the door.

戸を開けてください。

To o akete kudasái.

Please open the door.

[cue 01-31]

Conversation

Annie (A) is talking with Professor Tanaka (T) on campus. She sees Makoto (M), whom she hasn’t seen for six months.

A. まことさん！

Makoto-san!

Makoto!

M. ああ，アニーさん。お元気ですか。

Ā, Anī-san. Ogenki desu ka.

Oh, Annie! How are you?

A. 元気です。まことさんは？

Genki desu. Makoto-san wa?

Yes, I’m fine. How about you, Makoto?

M. おかげさまで。元気です。

Okage-sama de. Genki desu.

I’m fine, too.

A. 田中先生, こちらはまことさんです。

Tanaka-sensei, kochira wa Makoto-san desu.

Profesor Tanaka, this is Makoto.

M. はじめまして。伊藤まことです。よろしくお願いします。

Hajimemashite. Itō Makoto desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.

Hello! I’m Makoto Ito. Very pleased to meet you.

T. 田中です。こちらこそよろしく。

Tanaka desu. Kochira koso yoroshiku.

I am (Ms.) Tanaka. Nice to meet you, too.

はじめまして Hajimemashite

Many of you might have wondered why the Japanese say hajimemashite when they see someone for the first time. Hajimemashite sounds like the hajime that is used at a karate dojo, doesn’t it? Hajimemashite is a derived form of the verb hajimeru, which means ‘begins.’ It is the first phrase when you “begin” conversation with someone new. It is difficult to translate into English, but its function is to clarify that this is the first time for one to talk to the person and also to convey one’s willingness to get to know the person. Don’t try to translate this phrase to English, but remember when to use it.

Exercises

I. For each of the following situations, pick the Japanese sentence which best fits.

1. You accidentally step on someone’s foot getting to your seat in a movie theater.

(a) すみません。 Sumimasen.

(b) おはよう。 Ohayō.

(c) じゃ，失礼いたします。 Ja, shitsurei itashimasu.

(d) お願いします。 Onegai shimasu.

2. You don’t quite understand what someone has just said.

(a) 失礼します。 Shitsureishimasu.

(b) もう一度。 Mō ichido.

(c) ありがとうございます。 Arigatō gozaimasu.

(d) いいえ。 Īe.

3. The person is talking too fast.

(a) はい。 Hai.

(b) すみません。 Sumimasen.

(c) ゆっくり話してください。 Yukkuri hanashite kudasai.

(d) じゃ, また。 Ja, mata.

4. You are about to go to bed.

(a) ありがとう。 Arigatō.

(b) じゃ, また。 Ja, mata.

(c) おやすみなさい。 Oyasumi nasai.

(d) すみません。 Sumimasen.

5. The teacher gave you a dictionary. You say:

(a) どうもありがとうございます。 Dōmo arigatō gozaimasu.

(b) こんにちは。 Kon’nichi wa.

(c) おかげさまで。 Okagesama de.

(d) 失礼します。 Shitsurei shimasu.

II. Choose the correct item.

1. dog

a. 兎 usagi

b. 猿 saru

c. 犬 inu

d. 猫 neko

2. mountain

a. 湖 mizuumi

b. 山 yama

c. 馬 uma

d. 池 ike

3. ocean

a. 空手 karate

b. 海 umi

c. 馬 uma

d. すき焼き sukiyaki

4. older brother

a. お母さん okāsan

c. お兄さん onīsan

b. お父さん otōsan

d. お姉さん onēsan

III. Circle the one you hear.

[cue 01-32]

1. koko here	kōkō high school
2. tori bird	tōri street
3. otto husband	oto sound
4. kin’en no smoking	kinen commemoration
5. kámi god	kamí hair
6. kin gold	gin silver

Answers:

I 1. a 2. b 3. c 4. c 5. a

II 1. c 2. b 3. b 4. c

III 1. high school 2. bird 3. sound 4. commemoration 5. hair 6. gold