Japanese Lesson One

Basic Overview

*Pronunciation

     Japanese pronunciation is fairly easy and straightforward. If you have ever taken Spanish, the vowel sounds are nearly identical. Here is a list of the Japanese vowels and their pronunciation:

あ a  "ah" as in "mama"
い i   "ee" as in "me"

う  u  "oo" as in "moo"
え e  "eh" as in "medicine"
お o   "oh" as in the Spanish "no"

     In Japanese, unlike English, vowels don't have special pronunciations when they are placed next to one another. No "magical" sound change happens. The only exception to this rule is in the case where the short vowels become long vowels. I will go over this later. But as a rule for now, each vowel gets its own sound. Don't blend the vowels together like you would in English. Here are some examples for you to practice with! Try memorizing the hiragana vowels. (I will go over this later, as well.) Disregard trying to understand their meaning, most are just meaningless vowel combinations.

  

あい ai    ah-ee

うえ  ue   oo-eh

あお ao    ah-oh

いう  iu    ee-oo

あえ ae   ah-eh

あおい aoi  ah-oh-ee

TIP: Make sure you're not pausing between the vowels. You can say them in one breath, just make sure you aren't coming up with some crazy sounds!

Here is another list of hiragana to practice pronunciation with:

か ka      ka "kah"

き ki     ki  "kee"

く ku    ku "koo"

け ke   ke "keh"

こ ko    ko "koh"

  

かい kai

あき aki

けお keo

こい koi

えき eki

くこ  kuko

おき oki

See you Monday! Ja, mata ne! (See you later) \(^-^*)/