Lesson I
Pronunciation
1. The basic sounds of the Japanese language in Romanized form are as follows:
| a | i | u | e | o |
| ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa |
ki shi chi ni hi mi i ri i |
ku su tsu nu fu mu yu ru u |
ke se te ne he me e re e |
ko so to no ho mo yo ro (w)o |
| n |
The vowels a, i, u, e, o have only one sound each, as:
a in father
ai in machine
u in bull
e in met
o in obey
The other sounds are self-explanatory if one is careful about combining the initial consonants with the proper vowel sounds. Every Japanese syllable ends in a vowel sound, excepting n. However, to be very precise, f in fu is pronounced somewhere between f and h; r in r line to be pronounced between l and r.
2. There are sounds that are developed from some of the above-mentioned basic sounds:
a. “Impure” sounds are those developed from several lines of the arrangements of the basic sounds:
| ga[1] | gi | gu | ge | go | (from ka, ki, ku, ke, ko) |
| za | ji | zu | ze | zo | (from sa, shi, su, se, so) |
| da | ji | zu | de | do | (from ta, chi, tsu, te, to) |
| ba | bi | bu | be | bo | (from ha, hi, fu, he, ho) |
| pa | pi | pu | pe | po | (from ha, hi, fu, he, ho) |
- ↑ In Tōkyō pronunciation this line is nasalized, as in the English ng in sing.
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