Lesson 2: Pronunciation

It's probably important to learn the pronunciation early, as it's much more difficult to relearn later.

Luckily the pronunciation doesn't change in Japanese (apart from a few minor exceptions which will be listed below), so if you can say these characters, you can pronounce all words.

Vowels:

a あ / ア
like 'a' in "father"

i い / イ
like 'i' in "machine"

u う / ウ
like 'oo' in "hoop"
Note that "u" is often weak at the end of syllables. In particular, the common endings -desu and -masu are pronounced as "des'" and "mas'" respectively.

e え / エ
like 'e' in "set"

o お / オ
like 'o' in "rope"

n ん / ン
short 'n' at the end of a syllable, pronounced as 'm' before 'b', 'p' or 'm'.

Consonants
All consonants will be followed by a vowel. Always.

k か き く け こ
like 'k' in "king"

g
like 'g' in "go"

s
like 's' in "sit"

z
like 'z' in "haze"

t
like 't' in "top"

d
like 'd' in "dog"

n
like 'n' in "nice"

h
like 'h' in "help"

p
like 'p' in "pig"

b
like 'b' in "bed"

m
like 'm' in "mother"

y
like 'y' in "yard"

r
like 'r' in "row" (actually a sound between 'l' and 'r', but closer to 'r')

w
like 'w' in "wall"

ch
(t before i) like 'ch' in "touch"

sh
(s before i) like 'sh' in "sheep"

ts
(t before u) like 'ts' in "hot soup"

f
(h before u) like 'f' in "far"

j
(d before i) like 'j' in "jar"


Here you can listen to a native Japanese speaker's pronunciation:
She is saying:

"So, everyone, let's start with the Japanese alphabet!"

A I U E O
Ka Ki Ku Ke Ko
Sa Shi Su Se So
Ta Ti Tsu Te To
Na Ni Nu Ne No
Ha Hi Hu He Ho
Ma Mi Mu Me Mo
Ya Yi Yu Ye Yo
Ra Ri Ru Re Ro
Wa Wo N

"That was everything."
"So, next is a variation."
Next she says something about 2 parts going together.

Ga Gi Gu Ge Go
Za Zi Zu Ze Zo
Da Di Du De Do
Ba Bi Bu Be Bo
Pa Pi Pu Pe Po

"So, next is a bigger variation."
Not sure what she says next.
"Let's start."

Kya Kyu Kyo
Sha Shu Sho
Cha Chu Cho
Nya Nyu Nyo
Hya Hyu Hyo
Mya Myu Myo
Rya Ryu Ryo
Gya Gyu Gyo
Jya Jyu Jyo
Bya Byu Byu
Pya Pyu Pyo

That may seem like a lot, but remember is just "k, s, t, n, h, m, r, w, ch, g, z, d, b, p" + "a, i, u, e, o". That last group is just a combination.

There is one sound that can be difficult for people, and that's "r". The Japanese "r" is halfway between "L" and "r" in English. That's why Japanese people often pronounce those two strangely. "I'm so solly, were you surplised?"