Resources for further reading:

• The top ten hacks to effectively learn Japanese
• Find out how to pronounce Japanese words properly

Rōmaji and Japanese pronunciation

Rōmaji is the romanization of Japanese words to help with beginners Japanese pronunciation. Rōmaji uses the same letters that we use in English. We will be providing you with the rōmaji whenever we introduce you to a Japanese word to help you with pronunciation, so let’s get familiar with how it works!

Rōmaji is read the same way as you would read a text in English; however, since we are reading Japanese, the pronunciation is a little different. Let’s take a look at some real life Japanese examples to figure it out!

Note : Rōmaji should only be used as a reading aid until you’re familiar with the Japanese writing system - you won’t see any rōmaji in Japan!

Japanese Sounds

Let’s take a look at some sounds in Japanese so that you can get familiar with the pronunciation. Although they might look like they are pronounced the same way as English when you see the rōmaji, they can sound quite different! Don’t worry though, we’re here to show you the ropes.

Vowels

Japanese has five vowels. Nearly every single syllable (unit of sound) in Japanese has a vowel in it, so it’s important to be able to pronounce them correctly. If you can learn to pronounce these five, the rest of the sounds in Japanese will be easy!

The five vowels in Japanese are similar to the English: “A,” “E,” “I,” “O” and “U.” Let’s take a look at how the pronunciation is different in Japanese.

The sounds should be short and clipped, and you should always pronounce vowels the same way as above when you see them written in rōmaji.

Consonants

Unlike English, most consonants in Japanese cannot make a sound without a vowel. Nearly all consonants need to join with a vowel to make a syllable.

Now that you can pronounce vowels, consonant sounds will be easy to pronounce! All you have to do is add a consonant sound before the vowel sound! These are also short and clipped.

Give these ones a try!

Most of these consonants sound very similar to English, but there are a few that are a little different. Here’s some tricky ones for you to practice!

Japanese Pronunciation Tips

The “F” Sound

In Japanese, the “f” sound is created with pursed lips, like you’re whistling, and is a very subtle sound. Listen to the examples below and practice it for yourself.

The “R” Sound

Another tricky sound is the “r” sound. The Japanese “R” is a sound between an English “L” and “R,” and it’s actually closer to the “l” sound.

The Special Character ん

The character ん (n) is the only consonant that can stand alone without a vowel. Pretty special, right?

The character ん (n) can come at the end of a word or in the middle. It is a little tricky because its pronunciation changes depending on the sound that follows it - let’s explain what we mean by that.

When ん (n) has a vowel after it or comes at the end of a word, the vowel before ん (n) becomes longer and nasalized.

When ん (n) is followed by "n," "t," "d," "s" or "z" sounds, it is pronounced as the letter "N" as in the English word “train.”

When ん (n) is followed by an "m," "p" or "b" sound, it is pronounced like the letter “M” in the English word “mother.”

Lastly, when ん (n) is followed by a “k” or “g” sound, it is pronounced like the “ng” sound in the English word “song.”

These different pronunciations of ん (n) are very subtle, so don’t worry too much if it’s hard to tell the difference at first! The main thing to remember is that the character ん (n) is the only consonant that does not need to go with a vowel.

Double Consonants

Japanese also has double consonants. These are written using a smaller version of the character つ (tsu). When you see two consonants next to each other, like “TT” or “KK," insert a little pause before the “t” or “k” sound. For example:

We will go over all of this again in the Writing lessons, so just remember the pronunciation differences for now!

Long Vowels

When there are two vowels beside each other or doubled up, it is called a “long vowel” and the pronunciation of that vowel becomes twice as long. In rōmaji, we represent long vowels by using a macron (-) on top of the vowel. For example:

It is important to pronounce these sounds as long vowels because they can sometimes change the meaning of a word entirely! Take these two similar-sounding words as an example - can you hear the difference in the long vowel?

Silent and Short Vowels

In some words, vowels are shortened, or might even sound like they’re not there at all! This is common with the vowels い (i) and う (u) when they are placed between the consonants "K," "S," "T," "P," "H" or when they come after one of these consonants.

When we pronounce these words, we almost leave out the vowel sound altogether. Listen to the examples below and try it for yourself!

Intonation

The Japanese language has something called a “stress accent.” Stress accent is about where stress is placed in a word. Each syllable is still pronounced equally in length but changing the stress placement of a word can also change the meaning entirely!

This difference in stress is known as “intonation,” and is something that can be a bit tricky to get used to. But don’t worry: we are here to help!

Have a listen to the intonation in the examples below. The stress in each word is shown in bolding.

Here’s a tip: if you’re not sure which word someone is saying, try guessing the word based on the context of the sentence! It wouldn't sound right if someone was talking about crossing a “chopstick” or eating the “rain,” would it?

On a side note, intonation in Japanese can also change depending on which part of Japan you’re in. In the Kansai region, for instance, the intonation of “candy” and “rain” is the other way around! But don’t panic: most parts of Japan will follow the standard intonation.

Once you learn how to use intonation correctly, your Japanese pronunciation will sound even more natural!

Practice your pronunciation of Japanese

Now that you know the most important sounds in Japanese, let's get some practice with them. We'll use some really important phrases as examples so that you can start speaking right away!

Note that さようなら (sayōnara) or “goodbye” is often said when you will not see someone for a long period of time, whereas じゃあ　また (jā mata) or “see you later” is more informal but used more often in daily conversation.

Good job! Now that you’ve got a good understanding of how to pronounce Japanese and know some basic phrases, we can start making sentences!