The vowels in Japanese, and some of the consonant sounds, are pronounced in a way similar to Spanish. Each vowel has only ONE sound, unlike English vowels, which tend to have dipthongs. For example, a Japanese “ka” would be pronounced “kah,” with an “a” as in “far.”
Here’s a simple guide:
a |
as in “far” or “calm” |
i |
as in “ski” |
u |
as in “tube” or “rule” |
e |
as in “pet” or “men” |
o |
as in “wrote” or “toad” |
Additionally, Japanese is a syllable-based language. There are a finite number of syllables used, unlike English where we can constantly create syllable patterns with different combinations of letters. Every consonant sound is followed by a vowel sound, except for n (sometimes pronounced with an “m” sound):
a |
i |
u |
e |
o |
ka |
ki |
ku |
ke |
ko |
ta |
chi |
tsu |
te |
to |
sa |
shi |
su |
se |
so |
na |
ni |
nu |
ne |
no |
ha |
hi |
hu |
he |
ho |
ma |
mi |
mu |
me |
mo |
ya |
yu |
yo |
||
ra |
ri |
ru |
re |
ro |
wa |
wo |
|||
n |
Notice that some consonant groups are missing vowel sounds, like the “w” group. Also note that some consonants are pronounced differently depending on their vowel sound, like “fu” in the “H” group, or “tsu” in the “t” group. I don’t know why this is, but there is no “hu” or “tu” sound.
Additionally, there are the following consonant sounds:
ga |
gi |
gu |
ge |
go |
za |
ji |
ze |
zo |
|
da |
zu |
de |
do |
|
ba |
bi |
bu |
be |
bo |
pa |
pi |
pu |
pe |
po |
kya |
kyu |
kyo |
||
sha |
shu |
sho |
||
cha |
chu |
|||
nay |
nyu |
nyo |
||
hya |
hyu |
hyo |
||
mya |
myu |
myo |
||
rya |
ryu |
ryo |
For syllables such as “kyo,” you still only have the space on one syllable to pronounce all the sounds – kinda tricky. Think of the word “Tokyo.” An English-speaker might say, “Toh-kee-oh,” but a Japanese-speaker will say, “Toh-kyoh.”
