Japanese Pronunciation
Japanese Pronunciation uses its own set of characters which they called Hiragana & Katakana. Whether it is written in Kanji (Chinese Character), it still pronounce using Hiragana & Katakana. Hiragana & Katakana are having the same pronunciation except the way of writting.
Kanji and Hiragana is normally use for all japanese words except Katakana is use for english word with japanese pronunciation. Example : Check – “Chekku” written in Katakana as (チェック) and America – “Amerika” written in Katakana as (アメリカ)
Romaji (in alphabet), Hiragana & Katakana (Bold)
a (あ)(ア)– read as “are”
i (い)(イ)– read as “ee”
u (う) (ウ)– read as “ooh”
e (え)(エ)– read as “a” (alphabet A)
o (お)(オ)– read as “all”
then follow by …
ka, ki, ku, ke, ko (か、き、く、け、こ) (カ、キ、ク、ケ、コ)
sa, shi, su, se, so (さ、し、す、せ、そ) (サ、シ、ス、セ、ソ)
ta, chi, tsu, te, to (“tsu” pronounce as “zu”) (た、ち、つ、て、と) (タ、チ、ツ、テ、ト)
ha, hi, hu/fu, he, ho (は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ) (ハ、ヒ、フ、ヘ、ホ)
ma, mi, mu, me, mo (ま、み、む、め、も) (マ、ミ、ム、メ、モ)
na, ni, nu, ne, no (な、に、ぬ、ね、の) (ナ、ニ、ヌ、ネ、ノ)
ya, yu, yo (や、ゆ、よ) (ヤ、ユ、ヨ)
ra, ri, ru, re, ro (ら、り、る、れ、ろ) (ラ、リ、ル、レ、ロ)
wa, o, n (“n” pronounce as “earn”) (わ、を、ん) (ワ、ヲ、ン)
ga, gi, gu, ge, go (が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご) (ガ、ギ、グ、ゲ、ゴ)
za, zi/ji, zu, ze, zo (ざ、じ、ず、ぜ、ぞ) (ザ、ジ、ズ、ゼ、ゾ)
da, ji, zu, de, do (だ、じ、づ、で、ど) (ダ、ヂ、ジ、デ、ド)
ba, bi, bu, be, bo (ば、び、ぶ、べ、ぼ) (バ、ビ、ブ、ベ、ボ)
pa, pi, pu, pe, po (ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、ぽ) (パ、ピ、プ、ペ、ポ)
kya, kyu, kyo (きゃ、きゅ、きょ) (キャ、キュ、キョ)
gya, gyu, gyo (ぎゃ、ぎゅ、ぎょ) (ギャ、ギュ、ギョ)
sha, shu, sho (しゃ、しゅ、しょ) (シャ、シュ、ショ)
ja, ju, jo (じゃ、じゅ、じょ) (ジャ、ジュ、ジョ)
cha, chu, cho (ちゃ、ちゅ、ちょ) (チャ、チュ、チョ)
hya, hyu, hyo (ひゃ、ひゅ、ひょ) (ヒャ、ヒュ、ヒョ)
nya, nyu, nyo (にゃ、にゅ、にょ) (ニャ、ニュ、ニョ)
bya, byu, byo (びゃ、びゅ、びょ) (ビャ、ビュ、ビョ)
pya, pyu, pyo (ぴゃ、ぴゅ、ぴょ) (ピャ、ピュ、ピョ)
mya, myu, myo (みゃ、みゅ、みょ) (ミャ、ミュ、ミョ)
rya, ryu, ryo (りゃ、りゅ、りょ) (リャ、リュ、リョ)
There are 2 special characters that pronounce differently from it’s ususal pronunciation depending on how it uses :
“ha(は)” should be read as “wa” when it is use individually
Example : kore ha nan desu ka? (これはなんですか?) (What is this?) – we should read this as “kore wa nan desu ka?
Same goes to “he(へ)”, we should use “e” when it is used individually.
So practice now on the pronunciation and later I will start the first lesson of day to day conversation.
December 3rd, 2005 at 3:15 pm
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June 13th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
Hello! Seems to me that the kanas used for foreign words are called “kataKana” and not “katagana”.
Very good website anyway!
June 14th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Yes, you are right. My mistake. Thanks for correcting me. 😉
November 15th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
hi i just want to ask a favor?can you do me a simple conversation in nihongo? for example, making friends with other people,how will you introduce your self in nihongo,..please?thanks a lot,.this website helps me a lot
November 16th, 2006 at 10:52 am
>> Cherrie
When you meet a new friend, the first thing you would say is :
Hajimemashite, Cherrie desu. Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.
I am Cherrie, nice to meet you.
You can use “Hajimemashite, Amerika kara no Cherrie desu” if you want to tell them that you are from US.
Hope this help
November 19th, 2006 at 10:41 am
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December 18th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
Just a quick one– What’s the difference between “Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu” and “Douzou yoroshiku onegaishimasu”?? I’ve heard both used for introductions.
thanks a ton!
December 19th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Hi AJ,
Good questions. In fact they are the same. The only different is the level of politeness. “Dōzō yroshiku onegai shimasu” is more polite than the other one.
October 15th, 2007 at 12:59 am
Hello Tony,
I have some criticisms of this to make of this:
‘e’ is not pronounced like the hard letter A in English, instead it pronounced like ‘e’ in ‘get’, or between the two. It is not pronounced é.
Also, tsu is not pronounced like ‘zu’, it is pronounced exactly how it looks. You have to pronounce the t and the s, not a ‘z’. Think of the word ‘tsunami’.
I’ve been taught by native Japanese speakers, listen to Japanese recordings at times and listen to Japanese music more often than not. The only case when tsu is pronounced as ‘zu’ is when you add the dakuten marker to make it ‘zu’ (often incorrectly referred to as ‘dzu’).
Nice site anyway. It’s nice to be able to read the hiragana and katakana without having to look at the romaji. I remember when I didn’t know a thing.
October 26th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Hajimemashite, Jess desu. Dozo yoroshiku.
I just have a quick question because I’m currently taking the first Conversation class for Japanese. My teacher is a native speaker, and the first day of class said anatta(*sp) was literally translated to you, but that it isn’t used in the grammar and shouldn’t be used by the males in the class because it is used by girlfriend/wife when referring to their boyfriend/husband. But in this site it’s used for it’s literal meaning. Which way is grammatically correct?
October 26th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Hi Jess,
“Anata” can be used by a Male. When a male is using Polite Form, they will use “Watashi (I) and Anata (You). When comes to normal conversation, “Boku” or “Ore” and “Kimi” or “Omae”.
Hope this will give you an idea.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:02 pm
hye…
can I ask something…
‘daisuki wa yo’
what it is mean??
May 1st, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Hi Aien,
It means “I like you very much”
Suki = Like
DaiSuki = Like Very Much
Hope this help
October 7th, 2008 at 9:50 am
hello..i just want to ask how to use moraimasu in different time,..
October 7th, 2008 at 9:54 am
what is nihongo de repoto o kakimasu in english??? and kimura sa wa yamada san ni hana o moraimashita???? please help…. i have my final exam and i can’t understand my lessons very well….thank you
October 9th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Hi Khimdianne,
nihongo de repoto o kakimasu
I write a report in Japanese
kimura san wa yamada san ni hana o moraimashita
Yamada received flowers from Kimura
Thanks
May 24th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
is there a letter “l” in japanese?
if yes, how do you pronouns it?
then i got thihs question from a friend.
he asked how to pronouns these words.
TUHINA
GARIMA
OINDRILA
KARTIKI
FAIZAL
MAYANK
AAKASH
how do i answer him?
May 25th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Well Jirian, there is no such japanese words
September 4th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Hi Tony,
I’m really week at pronounciation, so can you please post the note and something to practice listening also because i believe it would work well
September 15th, 2009 at 12:53 am
[ha(は)” should be read as “wa” when it is use individually]
– To be more specific you have to say that some hiragana are pronounced differently when they are used as “particles” [particles or postpositions are words that come after a word in Japanese to determine its ‘position’ or ‘use’] for example :
– は (Pronounced wa as a particle) determines the topic.
– へ (pronounced e as a particle) determines the direction [of movement].
– を (pronounced o as a particle) determines the object of the sentence.
April 17th, 2010 at 1:51 am
so is the
a
said like ‘ar-rae’ or like the letter ‘R’?
May 11th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Hi Every1 How to say im 11 in japanese?
May 11th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Hi DC
Polite – Watashi wa jūissai desu
Casual – Boku wa jūissai
June 10th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Watashi wa May desu,Douzō yoroshiku onegai shimasu ^^
This site is very interesting, thank you so much for your help , I really appreciate it.
I love Japanese language.
Greetings from Mexico.
June 11th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Hi May, glad you like this site.
January 14th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
it’s work