Learn how to pronounce common japanese phrases

The Japanese writing system uses two phonetic syllable 平仮名（ひらがなhiragana）and 片仮名（カタカナkatakana） which are the basic Japanese sounds which should be primarily learn and also accompanied by the Romanization system .

 

Japanese language has two kind of vowels: short a, e, i, o, u, and long vowels pronounced twice as the short vowels.

か＋あ＝かあ　kaa

き＋い＝きい　kii

く＋う＝くう　kuu

In katakana loanwords the long vowels are indicated by adding a long dash symbol:

カ＋―＝カー　kaa

ギャ＋－＝キャー　gyaa

Always the vowels are placed after the consonants

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The Japanese consonants system has double consonants which last twice as long as ordinary one.

K, s, sh, t, ch, and p can be doubled being indicated by the a small つ(tsu) placed before the consonant.

Ex: ベッド（katakana）beddo =bed

      学校（がっこうgakkou = school

The syllables し shi, ちchi, つ tsu, ふfu, and をwo can change the form .

The same with はha , and へ he, that can be pronounced e and wa .

The ん is pronounced differently depending on the other consonant with which is placed:

Pronounced like “m” if is before b, m, p 、

                            “n” if is before d, r, t, z

                            “a sound which sound between m and n” if is placed before k, w, y, and before vowels.

 

     The sounds ending in o are lengthened by adding the vowel う(u) and those ending e adding え, as in ねえ(nee) but more often by adding い(i) like 大きい(おおきい)　means big.

 

 

The voiceless consonants k, s, t, h, are turn into the voice sounds, become g, z, d, b like in が(ga) or ぺ(pe) by adding a mark on the top of the syllable as was illustrated before.

 

These sounds are formed by adding a small や(ya), ゆ(yu), or よ(yo) to the syllables ended in い(i) like in the example：kya( きゃ, キャ) or ryu(りゅ、リュ)。

　　　　　　　　　　　

 The learning of phonetic system is a good way to be able to write, speak and understand the Japanese language.