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Pronunciation

VOWELS

The Japanese language has five vowels; a, i, u, e, and o. The vowels are pronounced as follows:

あ	a	as in father
い	i	as in eat
う	u	as in rule
え	e	as in met
わ	o	as in solo

Long vowels—those whose sounds are sustained twice as long as regular vowels—are marked ā, ii or ī, ū, ē, and ō. Because it is easier to read, in this book the double ii is used instead of putting a macron over a single i.

CONSONANTS

Japanese consonants are pronounced about the same as English consonants. One exception is the Japanese r, which is pronounced like a combination of the English r and l, with the result being that it is similar to a d sound.

Double consonants as in 曰光 Nikko (famous tourist spot) and 切手 kitte (stamp) are pronounced like the k sound in “bookkeeper” and the t sound in “hot tub.”

SYLLABLES

Each syllable should be pronounced clearly, although in ordinary speech, the i and u are often weakened as in 弾、hiku (play) and です desu (am; is; are).

When the consonant n is followed by a vowel or a y within a word, the n is pronounced like an independent syllable. Examples of this are 禁煙 kin'en (nonsmoking) and 本俊 hon'ya (bookstore). The mark (') is used to show a break between two syllables. In many cases, however, hon'ya is written as hon-ya because -ya is a suffix, meaning “a store.”

JAPANESE SOUNDS

Following is a table of Japanese sounds. With the exception of the n sound, each sound is made up of a single vowel, a consonant followed by a vowel, or a consonant followed by a y or an h, and then a vowel.

Each sound is distinctly pronounced—thus ai (love) is pronounced in two syllables, a-i; イ匕 hana (flower) as ha-na; and 百 hyaku (one hundred) as hya-ku.

Study the following table and clearly pronounce each syllable aloud. Then proceed to the next page for more practice.

a あ	i い	u う	e 又	o わ
ka 力く	ki 含	ku く	ke け	koし
ga が	gi ぎ	gu ぐ	ge り	go ご
sa さ	shi し	su す	se セ	so そ
za 亡	ji じ	zu ず	ze セ	zo そ
ta た	chi ち	tsu つ	te て	to と
da だ	—	—	de で	do ど
na な	ni に	nu ぬ	ne ね	no の
ha は	hi ひ	fu ふ	he へ	ho ほ
ba ば	bi び	bu ふ	be ベ	bo ぼ
pa ぱ	pi ぴ	pu ふ	pe へ	po 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
wa わ	—	—	—	—
n ん	—	—	—	—
kya きゃ	—	kyu きゅ	—	kyo きょ
gya ぎゃ	—	gyu さ吵	—	gyoきょ
sha しゃ	—	shu しゅ	—	sho しょ
ja じゃ	—	ju しゅ	—	jo じょ
cha ちゃ	—	chu わゆ	—	cho ちょ
nya にゃ	—	nyu にゅ	—	nyo にょ
hva ひゃ	—	hyu ひゅ	—	hyo ひょ
bya びゃ	—	byu ひゅ	—	byo びょ
pya ぴゃ	—	pyu ぴゅ	—	pyo ぴょ
mya がや	—	my みゅ	—	myo みょ
rva り や	—	ryu りゆ	—	ryo りよ

EXERCISES

Practice pronouncing the following words.

Japanese cities:
東京	Tō-kyō	Tokyo
大阪	Ō-sa-ka	Osaka
京都	Kyō-to	Kyoto
広島	Hi-ro-shi-ma	Hiroshima

Japanese cooking:
寿司	su-shi	vinegared rice and fish
天ぷら	te-n-pu-ra	deep-fried food
刺身	sa-shi-mi	sliced raw fish

Japanese sports:
相撲	su-mō	sumo
柔道	jū-dō	judo
剣道	ke-n-dō	Japanese fencing

Loanwords:
アメリカ	A-me-ri-ka	America
カメラ	ka-me-ra	camera
ニュース	nyu-su	news
ゴルフ	go-ru-fu	golf
ビール	bii-ru	beer
コーヒー	ko-hii	coffee
チップ	chi-p-pu*	tip (gratuity)
サッカー	sa-k-ka*	soccer
* These are examples of double consonants.

A NOTE ON THE PUNCTUATION USED IN THIS BOOK

Below is an explanation of how this book uses semi-colons and slashes in word defi nitions.

semi-colon: to separate short entries

です desu is; am; are

兀気 genki healthy; fine

Slashes: to separate interchangeable words within a phrase

戸田さん Toda-san Mr./Mrs./Miss Toda (Mr. Toda, Mrs. Toda, Miss Toda)

いただます Itadakimasu I will receive/have. (I will receive. I will have.)

to separate long entries

お兀気ぐすか。 O-genki desu ka? How are you?/Are you well?