-= Japanese Made Easy =-

-= By : Tazuko Ajiro Monane =-

Typist Notes: I just felt some people wanted to learn Japanese but never had a way to learn it... so I'm taking my time to type what is exactly in a book that is helping me learn Japanese... I hope you enjoy this and a give very speacil thanks to the author of this book and my teacher.

- = - Pronunciation - = -


Pronunciation of Japanese is relatively easy. Once you acquire basic knowledge anout Japanese sounds and master them with the help of a native speaker or with the help of recoreded materials, you will not have much difficulty.
There are five vowles in Japanese. In these tutorials the written vowels are written: a, i, u, e, and o.

a-like the a in ha,ha!
i-like the i in Bali
u-like the u in June, but shorter in length
e-like the e in pet
o-like the o in colt


Long and Short Vowels. Long vowels are written in the tutorials as â, ii, û, ô, and ê. Don't confuse these with what are called long vowels in English. In Japanese, a long vowel is sustained twice as long as a short one, but the sound of the vowel remains the same. Therefore, it is ofter the length of the vowel that distinguishes one word from another. Note the important difference in meaning by the short and the long vowels in the following pairs.

obasan- aunt obâsan- grandmother
ojisan- uncle obiisan- grandfather
kuki- stem kûki- air
e- picture ê- yes
oku- to put ôku- plenty


Syllables. Japanese think of their words as being composed of syllable taking one beat. A Japanese syllable may be any of the following:

1. One short vowel only: a, i, u, e, o.
2. The first or second half of any long vowel (â, ii, û, ô, ê) Therefore, one long vowel equals two syllables.
3. A constant + a vowel:

ka, ki, ku, ke, ko ga, gi, gu, ge, go
sa, shi, su, se, so za, ji, zu, ze, zo
ta, chi, tsu, te, to da, de, do
na, ni, nu, ne, no ba, bi, bu, be, bo
ha, hi, hu, he, ho pa, pi, pu, pe, po
ma, mi, mu, me, mo ja, ju, jo
ya, yu, yo wa
ra, ri, ru, re, ro


4. The consonant n (when not attached to a vowel). This syllable only appears:
(a) at the end of a word: hon - book
(b) in the middle of a word:
(i) when followed by a consonant: konnichi wa - hello
(ii) when followed by a vowel or y:

ki-en - no smoking
un-yû - transportation


Failure to pronounce the sounds exactly as marked by the hyphen may change the meaning of the word.

kin-en- no smoking kinen- commemoration
shin-in- new member(s) shinin- dead persons


The consonant n will be written m before the sounds b, m, and p.

sambyaku- three hundred
samman- three thousand
sampo- a walk


5. A combination of sounds: a consonant + the consonant y (or h) + a vowel:

kya, kyu, kyo mya, myu, myo
sha, shu, sho rya, ryu, ryo
cha, chu, cho gya, gyu, gyo
nya, nyu, nyo bya, byu, byo
hya, hyu, hyo pya, pyu, pyo


6. The first consonant (only the first) of certain double consonants: kk, ss, ssh, tt, tch, tts, pp. Failure to give a full beat to this syllable may change the meaning of the word.

shitte- knowing shite- doing
kitte- a stamp kite- coming
issho- together isho- last will
hikkaku- to scratch hikaku- comparison
matchi- a match machi- town
itta- went ita- board, plank


Pronunciation of Consonants
1. The Japanese r seems to give the most trouble to speakers of other languages. If you pronounce ra, ri, ru, re, and ro with exactly the same r as in English, you will not produce the correct Japanese sound. The Japanese r resembles a combination of the english r and l. So relax you tounge and first practice saying la, li, lu, le, and lo. Next, close the lips more, hold them steady, and pronounce the same sounds without rolling your tounge. You will be able to produce the correct Japanese ra, ri, ru, re, and ro that way.
2. The Japanese f as ub Fuji-san, "Mt. Fuji," is very different from the English f in which you touch the lower lip with the upper teeth to get the sound. In Japanese, this is not done. The Japanese f is pronouced more like the English h.
3. The Japanese final n in such words as hon, "book," and Nihon or Nippon, "Japan," is a little different from the English final n in which the tounge touches the palate just behind the upper teeth, as in "one" and "ten." The Japanese final n is nasalized and more relaxed; the tounge does not touch the upper palate.
4. All other consonants should be pronounced as they are in English.

Pronunciation of Syllables. You must learn to pronounce each syllable clearly and with the same amount of stress. Each syllable must be equal in length. Note the number of syallables in the examples below. Remember each syllable gets one beat, so a long vowel gets counted as two syllables. Give one beat to the consonant n and to the first consonant of the double consonant.

Ohayô. o-ha-yo-o (4) Good morning.
Ohayô gozaimasu. o-ha-yo-o-go-za-i-ma-su (9) Good morning.
Konnichi wa. ko-n-ni-chi-wa (5) Hello.
Komban wa. ko-m-ba-n-wa (5) Good evening.
hikkaku hi-k-ka-ku (4) to scratch


Don't put heavy stress on any syllable. Praticularly avoid the "potato" accent (a heavy stress on the second syllable of a three-syllable word) and the "macaroni" accent (a heavy stress on the third syllable of a four-syllable word). Practice the following proper names.

Matsui Hashimoto
Nakao Matsumoto
Tanaka Takahashi
Yamada Yamanaka


Remeber: Keep each syllable clear, equal in length, and even in stress.

Phrasing. In English, a prepostion such as "in," "for," "of," or "at" and the noun or noun phrase that follows it are usually pronounced as a single unit: "in the ocean," "during my vacation," "of the company," "at seven o'clock." In Japanese, a practicle (which often follows a noun) is pronounced as a part of the noun or noun phrase that precedes it. In the following sentences, a slash indicates the correct phrasing.

Kôhii o/ kudasai. Please give me a cup of coffee.
Sukiyaki ga/ tabetai desu. I want to eat sukiyaki.
Nara e/ ikitai desu. I want to go to Nara.


If you get used to this phrasing, you can perceive each of the three sentences above as comprising two units rather than three- which makes your learning much easier. (Think how easy it is to learn telephone numbers when you think of them not as seven digits but as two units- three digits plus four digits, as in 661-3561.)
This phrasing rule is one of the most important in Japanese. In the numbered sentence-pattern models you will be studying, the phrasing is clearly marked with a slash. You need not always pause while speaking, but if you do, make sure that the pause comes where it is marked in the sentence patterns in this book. Your Japanese will sound much more natural to Japanese ears.