Article taken from: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~bestor/easy_pronunciation.htm
Spoken Japanese consists of simple syllables,
generally consisting of a vowel, or a consonant plus a vowel. There are few complex consonant
clusters. All vowels and consonants have
consistent pronunciation. Consonants are
crisply pronounced.
Vowels are always pronounced
the same way; long vowels (usually marked in English transliteration with a
macron (“ū,” or as two vowels “ou”) are simply longer in duration
(actually two syllables), the sound doesn’t change:
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a = as in father
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A-sa-ku-sa -- Tokyo place
|
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i = as in eat
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Ni-hon-ba-shi -- Tokyo place
|
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u = as in food or zoo
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U-e-no – Tokyo place
|
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e = as in end
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E-do – name of Tokyo before 1868
|
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o = as in Ohio
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O-cha-no-mi-zu – Tokyo
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The consonant sounds are:
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k = as in cat
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A-ka-sa-ka –
Tokyo place
|
|
g = as in gourd
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Gin-za – Tokyo place
|
|
s = as in Sue
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E-bi-su – Tokyo place
|
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sh = as in seashore
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Shi-ta-ma-chi – Tokyo area
|
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z = as in zoo
|
Zen
|
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j = as in Jack
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San-gen-ja-ya
– Tokyo place
|
|
t = as in tick
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To-ra-no-mon – Tokyo place
|
|
ts = this is one of the tricky ones; think tsetse fly.
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Tsu-ki-ji – Tokyo place
|
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ch = as in chicken
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Chi-yo-da – Tokyo place
|
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n = as in new
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Ni-hon – “Japan”
|
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h = as in have
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Ha-ra-ju-ku – Tokyo place
|
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f = another
slightly tricky one; think of “who” with an f sound
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Fu-ji-san – Mt. Fuji
|
|
b = as in Boeing
|
O-da-i-ba
– Tokyo place
|
|
p = as in party, pea, Poe
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I-p’pon-ba-shi
– Tokyo place
|
|
m = as in mama
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Ma-ru-no-u-chi – Tokyo place
|
|
ya = as in yahoo, yeoman,
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Ya-su-ku-ni – Tokyo shrine
|
|
r = the
trickiest one – more like a “d” than an “r” (as in a British butler saying
“very good, madam”) **
|
Ro-p’pon-gi – Tokyo place
|
|
w = as in wander
|
Su-mi-da-ga-wa
– Sumida River
|
Sometimes syllables are made
up of a combination of a consonant and a semi-vowel (ya, yu, yo) – as in Tōkyō,
Kyōto, gyūniku (beef), etc.—resist the temptation to pronounce these
as Tokiyo, Kiyoto, giyuniku – the consonant plus semi-vowel sound be a single
syllable. Think of kyu and the English word “cute”
All syllables receive the
same amount of stress or emphasis. (For most Americans that
means pronouncing Japanese without any stress or emphasis.)
“yo-ko-ha-ma” NOT “yo-KA-HA-ma“
“mi-tsu-bi-shi” NOT
“meats-U-bi-shi”
“Ko-i-zu-mi” NOT “COY-zumi”
You can almost always divide
the syllables after a vowel. (exception: some syllables end in “n” (shinbun
= newspaper) (Nihon = Japan); sometimes a consonant is doubled (Roppongi – Tokyo place; or Hatchōbori
– Tokyo place), which actually represents two syllables
(pronounced with a slight pause– Ro-p’pon-gi; Ha-t’cho-o-bo-ri).
** this one is the source of
the stereotypical difficulties that some Japanese have with pronouncing “L” and
“R”) – a Japanese “r” is NOT an English ‘rolled r’ (i.e., NOT “Ralph likes Rock
‘n Roll”).
