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Japanese Pronunciation Series #1 - Basic 46 Sounds

In this lesson, we will introduce you to the vowels and some of the syllables that make up the Japanese language.
Introduction

Before we get into the pronunciation, let's first review how Japanese sounds work. Japanese has a relatively small set of sounds compared with other languages, with only fourteen consonants (k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w, g, z, d, b, and p) and 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, and u). In Japanese, there are no such words as the English word "strength," which has clusters of three or more consonants. Japanese is made up of syllables, which are made up of a consonant and a vowel. The only exceptions are the vowels and the "n" sound, which stands alone.
Vowels

First we will go over Japanese vowels, which is one of the easiest areas of pronunciation. English has the same five vowels as Japanese (a, e, i, o, and u), but if you consider all of the ways you can pronounce English vowels, you end up with twenty different sounds! In Japanese, the sounds that the vowels make do not change. They sound very similar to the vowels found in Spanish or Italian. Let's take a look at them:

a - pronounced "ah," like the "a" in "father"
e - pronounced "eh," like the "e" in "net"
i* - pronounced "ee," like the "ee" in "meet"*
o - pronounced "oh," like the first part of the "o" sound in "so"
u - pronounced "oo," like the "oo" in "mood," but with the lips less rounded*

*Devoicing
There is one small exception for the pronunciations of "i" and "u" that we will call devoicing. That means that they become almost "whispered." This happens when these vowels come between two of the voiceless consonants: p, t, k, s, or h. For example, in words like shika ("deer") and hiku ("to pull"), the "i" sound is almost inaudible. This regularly occurs at the ends of the grammatical endings desu and masu as well, which are pronounced [dess] and [mahs], respectively.
Consonants

As we mentioned before, Japanese has the following set of fourteen consonants: k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w, g, z, d, b, and p. Each one is paired with a vowel to create a syllable. In this lesson, we will cover consonants "k" through "w."
KA - か
KI - き
KU - く
KE - け
KO - こ


We pronounce the "k" syllables the same as in English.
SA - さ
SHI - し
SU - す
SE - せ
SO - そ


Note how si becomes shi. We pronounce the "s" syllables the same as in English.
TA - た
CHI - ち
TSU - つ
TE - て
TO - と



Note how ti becomes chi and tu becomes tsu. We pronounce most "t" syllables the same as in English, with the exception of tsu. While this sound does exist in English, it never comes at the beginning of a word as it often does in Japanese. This sound is the same as the "ts" in the word "cats." Try saying "cats" without the "ca" to make this sound.
NA - な
NI - に
NU - ぬ
NE - ね
NO - の


We pronounce the "n" syllables the same as in English.
HA - は
HI - ひ
FU - ふ
HE - へ
HO - ほ


Note how hu becomes fu. We pronounce most "h" syllables the same as in English, with the exception of fu. The "f" sound in Japanese is a lot lighter than in English. When making this sound, blow air between the lips, and not between the lips and teeth. Imagine this sound as being a combination of both "h" and "f."
We pronounce the characters は and へ as "wa" and "e" when used as particles. Refer to the paragraph below for more information.
*
MA - ま
MI - み
MU - む
ME - め
MO - も


We pronounce the "m" syllables the same as in English.
YA - や
YU - ゆ
YO - よ


We pronounce the "y" syllables the same as in English. Note that there are no "yi" and "ye" sounds in modern Japanese.
RA - ら
RI - り
RU - る
RE - れ
RO - ろ


When you make an "r" sound in English, you roll your tongue, but it doesn't touch the roof of your mouth. In Japanese, however, you lightly tap the roof of your mouth with your tongue to create an "r" sound. It is similar to a rolling "r," except that it is only done once. It might be easier to make this sound if you think of it like making a light "d" sound. For example, to correctly pronounce the Japanese name Eri, try saying the name "Eddy" quickly and you will get a sound that comes very close to the Japanese "r."

WA - わ
WO - を


We pronounce the "w" in wa the same as in English, but we pronounce wo simply as "o" in Japanese.
N - ん


The pronunciation of the "n" changes slightly depending on what kind of sound comes after it. Before "b," "p," and "m," it sounds more like an "m," as in shimbun ("newspaper"). Before "k" or "g," it sounds like "ng," as in genki ("energetic"). However, these differences are so slight that most Japanese people aren't even aware of them, so do not worry too much about trying to remember these rules. These sound changes occur naturally as you pronounce these words, but if you pronounce them a bit differently, people will still understand you.
*
Pronunciation of Particles
There are a few exceptions when it comes to pronunciation that are important to remember. The topic particle wa and direction particle e are written using characters that are different from their pronunciation.
Particle ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Written as... ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pronounced as...
Topic Particle "wa" ~ ~ ~ は (literally, "ha") ~ ~ ~ ~ わ (wa)
Direction Particle "e" ~ ~ ~ へ (literally, "he") ~ ~ ~ ~ え (e)