Japanese Sounds and Pronunciation

Three types of writing 私 は カナダ に 行きます。 Kanji Hiragana Katakana

Kanji 漢字 Chinese or native-Japanese origin used for whole words used for parts of words such as verbs

Hiragana ひらがな 48 characters phonetic syllabary used for Japanese words with no kanji used for grammar such as prepositions, verb conjugations

Katakana カタカナ 48 characters phonetic syllabary used for foreign words used to show emphasis ie onomatopoeia

Romaji ローマ字 roman alphabet used to show the pronunciation of Japanese words used for learners of Japanese only

Pronunciation はつおん 5 short vowels pronounced Similar to: Ah, we soon get old. a あ i い u う e え o お

long vowel sounds doubling of a single vowel so should have a long continuous sound ā ああ ii or ī いい ū うう ē or ei ええ えい ō おう おお

all other sounds are formed with a consonant and a vowel kka ki ku ke ko かきくけこ ssa shi su se so さしすせそ tta chi tsu te to たちつてと nna ni nu ne no なにぬねの hha hi fu he ho はひふへほ mma mi mu me mo まみむめも yya yu yo や ゆ よ rra ri ru re ro らりるれろ gga gi gu ge go がぎぐげご zza ji zu ze zo ざじずぜぞ dda ji zu de do だぢづでど bba bi bu be bo ばびぶべぼ ppa pi pu pe po ぱぴぷぺぽ

ん ‘n’ is the only independent sound nasal sound syllables beginning with b,m,p the ‘n’ sound is more like ‘m’

four double consonants - kk, pp, ss, and tt in hiragana they are represented by a small tsu っ double consonants indicate a small pause so the mouth can prepare for the pronunciation of the next syllable

consonants combine with ya, yu and yo kkya kyu kyo きゃ きゅ きょ ssha shu sho しゃ しゅ しょ ccha chu cho ちゃ ちゅ ちょ nnya nyu nyo にゃ にゅ にょ hhya hyu hyo ひゃ ひゅ ひょ mmya myu myo みゃ みゅ みょ rrya ryu ryo りゃ りゅ りょ ggya gyu gyo ぎゃ ぎゅ ぎょ jja ju jo じゃ じゅ じょ bbya byu byo びゃ びゅ びょ ppya pyu pyo ぴゃ ぴゅ ぴょ