like the "o" in two
u like the "oo" in too
ui like the "ooey" in gooey
uk like the "uke" in fluke
un like the "oon" in baboon
ung like the "oon" in Loon with a "g" sound
ut like the "oot" in soot
yu as in you
yun like the "oon" in Loon with an "y" sound
yut like you with an "it" sound
In Cantonese, some vowels can be pronounced in a more drawn-out way. In the next section we will show how these sounds are pronounced.
aai like eye
aak like the "ock" in sock
aam like the "om" in mom
aan like the "on" in onward
aang like the "ong" in song
aap like the "op" in opponent
at like the "ot" in dot
au like the "ow" in now
Pronunciation Guide to Japanese and Okinawan
Japanese syllables are from the point of view of a native English speaker easier to pronounce (excluding perhaps the consonant "r" that is rolled) than many other Asian languages, but efforts to write them using roman letters are somewhat hampered by the large number of homonyms that appear. Though these words appear identical when written in roman letters, their meanings, which are often very different, are readily apparent when using Chinese characters. Nonetheless using roman letters one can easily approximate the Japanese pronunciation of any word.
The following table explains how to pronounce the letters used for the Japanese and Okinawan entries in this book.
a as in the "a" in father
e as in echo
i as in it
o as in open
u as in the "ew" in dew
ba as in ball
be like bay
bi like bee
bo as in boat
bu as in Buddhist
bya is a sound between bi and a
byo is a sound between bi and o
byu as in the "bu" in bureau
cha as in cha-cha
che as in check
chi as in the "chee" in cheek
cho as in choke
chu as in choose
da as in dock
de like desk
do as in dough
fu as in food
ga as in gasoline
ge like gay
gi as in geek
go as in going
gu like goo
gya is a sound between gi and a
gyo is a sound between gi and o
gyu as in the "gu" in argument
ha like haw
he like hay
hi like he
ho like hoe
hya is a sound between hi and a
hyo is a sound between hi and o
hyu is a sound between hi and u
ja as in Japan
je as in the "ge" in gentlemen
ji as in the "gy" gymnasium
jo like Joe
ju as in June
ka like caw
ke like Kay
ki like key
ko as in the "co" in loco
ku like coo
kya is a sound between ki and a
kyo is a sound between ki and o
kyu like cue
m as in mother
ma as in mama
me like May
mi as in the "mea" in meat
mo like Moe
mu like moo
mya is a sound between mi and a
myo is a sound between mi and o
myu as in the "mu" in music
n as in never
na as in natural
ne like nay
ni like knee
no as in nose
nu as in noon
nya as in "nia" in ammonia
nyo is a sound between ni and o
nyu as in news
pa as in Papa
pe like pay
pi as in pee-wee
po like Poe
pu like Pooh
pya is a sound between pi and a
pyo is a sound between pi and o
pyu as in pew
ra as in rattle
re as in ray
ri
