this book, a small “ˇ” above a letter, for example Ě, shows a glottal stop after preceding vowel, and it should be pronounced as in “Ah” or “Oh.”Chapter 1
Sounding Japanese
First things first! Even before you learn all the Japanese words you’ll soon be using, you will need to learn the basic building blocks: the Japanese sounds that form them.
When you talk to your new Japanese friends or office colleagues, you’ll want to make sure that they understand you clearly. And to do that, mastering the basic sounds of Japanese is key. Here’s how to make sure you are ready to pronounce the new words you will be learning.
Learning the Basic Japanese Syllables
There are fifty basic syllables in Japanese and they are arranged phonetically in the Gojūon-zu, literally “the 50-sound chart.”
To read the Gojūon-zu, start from the top of the right-hand column and read down the column: A, I, U, E, O; KA, KI, KU, KE, KO....
Say the syllables several times, until you start to feel comfortable with them.
| PYA | BYA | JA | GYA | RYA | MYA | HYA | NYA | CHA | SHA | KYA |
| PYU | BYU | JU | GYU | RYU | MYU | HYU | NYU | CHU | SHU | KYU |
| PYO | BYO | JO | GYO | RYO | MYO | HYO | NYO | CHO | SHO | KYO |
REMINDERS TO HELP
YOU There are 4 facts about pronouncing Japanese that you should try to keep in the back of your mind, at all times:
1. There is no silent “e” in Japanese at the end of words as there is in English. For example, the word sake (rice wine) is pronounced sa-ké.
2. Emphasis tends to be uniform in Japanese. For example, the word Okinawa is pronounced o-ki-na-wa with the stress being the same on all four syllables.
3. Some vowels or consonants are shortened or left out when words or sentences are spoken quickly, such as attakai (warm) instead of atatakai, suimasen (sorry) instead of sumimasen, tabeteru (be eating) instead of tabete iru, just as in English. (For example, “cannot” becomes “can’t”; “should not” becomes “shouldn’t.”)
4. In speech, the diphthong (two different vowels together) ei is usually pronounced as a long vowel ē; for example, like sensē (teacher) instead of sensei.
The Japanese Writing System (Script)
In Japanese writing, there are three types of symbols: kanji (which are Chinese characters, each with a meaning), hiragana, and katakana (which are two kinds of phonetic spelling alphabets similar to our alphabet). The same word can be written different ways in Japanese; for example, the word Okinawa can be written
沖縄 in kanji, おきなわ in hiragana, and オキナワ in katakana.
Japanese sentences are usually written in a mixture of these three characters, according to standard conventions of usage.
Kanji Characters in Japanese Have Two Different “Readings”
Kanji characters, which are similar to the characters used to write Chinese, are ideograms which convey meaning in the same way that pictures or drawings do—rather than conveying sounds the way that alphabets do. And a kanji character in Japanese generally has two different “readings” or pronunciations depending on the context: a Chinese and a Japanese reading.
The Chinese reading (called on yomi) is the way to say the character that is similar to the original Chinese pronunciation of the Chinese word. It is usually written with two or more kanji.
The Japanese reading (called kun yomi) is the way to say the character that reflects the pronunciation and meaning that the Japanese gave to that Chinese symbol when they used it to represent an indigenous Japanese word. It is normally written with one kanji or a mixture of kanji and hiragana.
As the purpose of this book is not to teach written Japanese, all Japanese words and sentences you’ll work with here are written using the Roman alphabet (rōmaji)—the letters you’re already familiar with, from English—to make your study of Japanese a little easier.
From Syllables... to Japanese Words
Some Japanese words consist of just one syllable such as ki (tree), e (picture), ha (tooth), te (hand) or cha (Japanese green tea). Most words, however, are made up of two or more syllables. In fact, there are many more multisyllabic words in Japanese than there are in English. Here are a few:
| mizu (water) | → | mi zu (2 syllables) |
| kuruma (car) | → | ku ru ma (3 syllables) |
| byōin (hospital) | → | byo o i n (4 syllables) |
| atarashii (new) | → | a ta ra shi i (5 syllables) |
| suizokukan (aquarium) | → | su i zo ku ka n (6 syllables) |
Vowels
In Japanese, there are short vowels and long vowels.
THE SHORT VOWEL SOUNDS
Let’s practice the five short vowel sounds a, i, u, e, and o first. These five short vowels are similar to the vowels used in English. Looking back at the syllable charts you’ve learned, you can see that most Japanese sounds use a consonant plus one of these short vowels. Simple enough! That fact is also helpful because it means that you should be able to hear and pronounce the Japanese sounds clearly and easily.
Look at the photographs below and pay special attention to how the words are formed with the mouth.
As you listen to the CD, pay attention to the slight differences from the English short vowel sounds that you’re used to.
THE LONG VOWEL SOUNDS
In addition to the five short vowel sounds, Japanese contains five double vowels or long vowel sounds, each of which is twice as long as the equivalent short vowel. In this book, a long
