About Contact Copyright Resources Site Map
Home - Japanese - Language - Pronunciation
Japanese 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 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