Howie Hayman - Japanese Language

Japanese Hiragana Katakana Kanji

Japanese language learning information including:

Hiragana - pronunciation and writing
Katakana - pronunciation and writing
Kanji - grades 1-6 (教育漢字 Kyōiku kanji)
Vocabulary - nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives

JAPANESE HIRAGANA KATAKANA KANJI VOCABULARY

Home - Japanese - Japanese Language - Pronunciation

Japanese Pronunciation

Japanese pronunciation is incredibly easy, especially when compared to English. Learning to speak Japanese can be accomplished in only a few days if you focus. This page explains how to pronounce the 69 basic sounds. The following table contains the basic sounds along with the 33 combination sounds.

Pronunciation of Basic Japanese Sounds
Consonants										Vowels
n	w	r	y	m	h	n	t	s	k	Vowels
n ten	wa want	ra rot	ya yacht	ma mop	ha wa hot want	na nod	ta top	sa sod	ka cot	a bop	a
		ri read		mi meet	hi heed	ni need	chi cheap	shi sheet	ki keep	i pee	i
		ru rude	yu you	mu moon	hu hoop	nu new	tsu tsu	su suit	ku coop	u too	u
		re red		me met	he e head pet	ne net	te tent	se set	ke keg	e pet	e
	wo low	ro road	yo yo-yo	mo mode	ho hose	no nose	to toe	so soap	ko cone	o low	o
					b		d	z	g
					ba box		da dot	za resolve	ga got		a
					bi bee			ji jeep	gi soggy		i
					bu boot			zu zoo	gu goon		u
					be bet		de debt	ze zen	ge get		e
					bo boat		do dope	zo zone	go goat		o
					p
					pa pot						a
					pi peak						i
					pu poop						u
					pe pet						e
					po post						o
Pronunciation of Combination Japanese Sounds
		r		m	h	n	ch	sh	k
		rya		mya	hya	nya	cha	sha	kya		ya
		ryu		myu	hyu	nyu	chu	shu	kyu		yu
		ryo		myo	hyo	nyo	cho	sho	kyo		yo
					b			j	g
					bya			jya	gya		ya
					byu			jyu	gyu		yu
					byo			jyo	gyo		yo
					p
					pya						ya
					pyu						yu
					pyo						yo

Reading order - the table above should be read in the following order.

read the table from top to bottom and then from right to left
a i u e o .... ka ki ku ke ko .... etc.
read the ya, yu, yo combination sounds from top to bottom and then from right to left
ya yu yo .... kya kyu kyo .... sha shu sho .... etc.

Basic Japanese sounds - the basic Japanese sounds are written in romaji with English equivalents.

the red colored letters in the English words show the pronunciation of that sound
k + a = ka = cot ( co is the pronunciation of ka )
n + u = nu = new ( new is the pronunciation of nu )
r + o = ro = road ( roa is the pronunciation of ro )
w + a = wa = want ( wa is the pronunciation of wa )

Combination Japanese sounds - the combination Japanese sounds are formed with a consonant and either ya, yu, or yo. There are no English equivalents for the combination sounds. For example keeya and nyou are not English words.

the combination Japanese sounds are formed with either ya, yu, yo, and a consonant
k + ya = kya .... which is pronounced .... keep + yacht = keeya
n + yu = nyu .... which is pronounced .... ten + you = nyou

Exceptions - there are exceptions to the Japanese sound pronunciation, 7 for the basic sounds and 9 for the combination sounds. All exceptions are shown in the gray areas of the table.

shi, chi, tsu, and ji are exceptions to the basic pronunciation pattern
tsu is pronounced as in the Japanese word tsunami
hu is only pronounced as hoo in hoop, however, fu is used when typing on a keyboard to get the hiragana, katakana, and kanji equivalent of the sound hu. For example, Japanese people pronounce France as huransu, but type furansu when typing it on a keyboard.
ha can also be pronounced as wa
he can also be used as e
sha, shu, sho, cha, chu, and cho all pronounce the "y" sound but drop the "y" when writing in romaji

Sound equivalents - each sound written in romaji has written hiragana and katakana equivalents.

example of sound written in romaji, hiragana, and katakana
sound bop = romaji a = hiragana あ = katakana ア

A single sound in Japanese can be written in romaji, hiragana, katakana, and kanji but each sound can only be pronounced one way.

Example: The sound ki, as in the word keep, can only be pronounced one way but can be written in romaji, hiragana, and katakana. Many kanji also have the sound ki. The following are the different ways to write the sound ki.

Sound in English	Written in romaji	Written in hiragana	Written in katakana
keep	ki

The sound ki can be written with many different kanji. Keep in mind most kanji have two or more pronunciations....The Chinese pronunciation known as onyomi, and the Japanese pronunciation known as kunyomi. More about this in the Japanese writing section. The following are examples of ten kanji that have the sound ki.

Kanji	Sounds in onyomi	Sounds in kunyomi	Meanings
	moku, boku	ki	tree wood
	ki, ke	iki	spirit air
	ki	shiru-su	record write down
	ou	ki	yellow
	ki	kae-ru	return
	ki	no kunyomi for this kanji	steam
	ki	no kunyomi for this kanji	period of time
	ki	o-kiru	awaken
	ki	yoroko-bu	rejoice
	ki	utsuwa	container