How to read and say Japanese

Japanese is not a tonal language like Chinese or Thai. The vowels are pronounced virtually identical to the "Italian way" and there are very few consonants that do not exist in English. All syllables are to be pronounced equal in length. Long vowels take the length of two syllables. Combinations like kya are treated like one syllable and are the only occurrence of glides (semivowels), all other syllables are to be pronounced rather separately.

Also avoid placing too much emphasis on particular words or syllables. Although Japanese does have a form of stress and intonation, it is significantly flatter than English. Word stress is much more subtle and neglecting it at this point should not interfere with meaning. Trying to keep your intonation flat will make your attempts to speak Japanese more comprehensible to local listeners. When asking questions, you can raise the tone at the end, as in English.

Vowels

Japanese has only five basic vowels, but the distinction between short and long vowels is important. For example, 少女 (shōjo, with a long first vowel) means "teenage girl", while 処女 (shojo, with a short first vowel) means "virgin woman". Even when it comes to proper nouns, you will not be understood if you do not distinguish the long and short vowels correctly. The sounds below are first given in romanized Japanese, then hiragana and finally katakana.

The short vowels are:

a, あ, ア

like 'a' in "palm"

i, い, イ

like 'i' in "marine"

u, う, ウ

like 'oo' in "hoop", but short (said without rounded lips)

e, え, エ

like 'e' in "set"

o, お, オ

like 'o' in "rope", but less round

Note that "u" is often weak at the end of syllables. In particular, the common endings desu and masu are usually pronounced as des and mas respectively. Also, the kana "do" and "to" are sometimes pronounced with a weak "o".

The long vowels are generally the same sound as the short vowels, only held approximately 60% longer. The long vowels, marked with a macron (¯) or by two adjacent vowels, are:

ā, ああ, アー

like 'a' in "father"

ii or ī, いい, イー

like 'ee' in "cheese"

ū, うう, ウー

like 'oo' in "hoop"

ei or ē, えい, ええ, エー

like the 'ay' in "pay"

ō, おお, おう, オー

stretch out the 'o' in "soap"

All descriptions above are approximations, it's best to practice with a native speaker.

Consonants

Note on vocalization Japanese words starting with h/k/s/t are often vocalized on later positions in compounds. Place name examples: Hashi (橋, bridge) > -bashi Kawa (川, river) > -gawa Saka (坂, slope) > -zaka Tōri (通り, street) > -dōri

With the solitary exception of "n" (ん・ン), consonants in Japanese are always followed by a vowel to form a syllable. Consonants and vowels are not freely combinable as in English, see table on the right for all possible syllables and note irregularities like し shi or ふ fu. Certain syllables can be marked with diacritics, which alters the pronunciation of the consonant part. The list below first gives the consonant part of the syllable in romanized Japanese, then the Japanese syllables that the sound occurs in first in Hiragana, then Katakana.

k in かきくけこ・カキクケコ (ka ki ku ke ko)

like 'k' in "king"

g in がぎぐげご・ガギグゲゴ (ga gi gu ge go)

like 'g' in "go"

s in さすせそ・サスセソ (sa su se so)

like 's' in "sit"

z in ざずぜぞ・ザズゼゾ・づ・ヅ (za zu ze zo) (dzu) (zu)

like 'z' in "haze"

t in たてと・タテト (ta te to)

like 't' in "top"

d in だでど・ダデド (da de do)

like 'd' in "dog"

n in なにぬねの・ナニヌネノ (na ni nu ne no)

like 'n' in "nice"

h in はひへほ・ハヒヘホ (ha/wa hi fu/hu he/e ho)

like 'h' in "help"

p in ぱぴぷぺぽ・パピプペポ (pa pi pu pe po)

like 'p' in "pig"

b in ばびぶべぼ・バビブベボ (ba bi bu be bo)

like 'b' in "bed"

m in まみむめも・マミムメモ (ma mi mu me mo)

like 'm' in "mother"

y in やゆよ・ヤユヨ (ya yu yo)

like 'y' in "yard"

r in らりるれろ・ラリルレロ (ra ri ru re ro)

no equivalent in English, a sound between 'l', 'r' and 'd', but close to a very soft 'r'

w in わを・ワヲ (wa wo/o)

like 'w' in "wall"

sh in し・シ (shi)

like 'sh' in "sheep"

j in じ・ジ・ぢ・ヂ (ji)

like 'j' in "jar"

ch in ち・チ (chi)

like 'ch' in "touch"

ts in つ・ツ (tsu)

like 'ts' in "hot soup"

f in ふ・フ (fu/hu)

no equivalent in English, somewhere between 'h' and 'f', but you will be understood if you pronounce it either way

n, ん, ン (-n)

short 'n', slides towards 'm' in some cases

Small symbols

The symbols つ・ツ and やゆよ・ヤユヨ, as well as あいうえお・アイウエオ can be written in a smaller size. In the latter group, this is almost always seen only in katakana, as it is only used for loan words. The small つ・ツ indicates a glottal stop, as listed below, while for the rest of the symbols, indicates that they are to be pronounced as part of the same syllable of the preceding symbol. For instance, in the loan word フォーク (fōku), from English "fork", note the smaller size of the オ, which is why it is not pronounced fuōku. To highlight the importance of this distinction, びょういん (byōin, with the small よ) means hospital, and びよういん (biyōin, with the big よ pronounced as a separate syllable from the び) means beauty salon.

っ・ッ (small tsu)

glottal stop; the following consonant is prepared, held and stopped for the duration of one syllable. For example, にっぽん nippon is pronounced "nip-(pause)-pon". (Note that the double consonants nn, mm, which are not written with っ, do not have this pause.)

Examples

• kon'nichiwa → kon-nee-chee-wa (not kounneeCHEEua)
• sumimasen → soo-mee-mah-sen (not sue my maysen)
• onegai shimasu → oh-neh-gigh shee-mahss (not ouneeGAY SHYmessu)