Page 13 - Japanese Character Writing for Dummies

Pronouncing Japanese Sounds

Japanese sounds are very easy to pronounce because each syllable is simple and clear. There are
only five vowels: a, i, u, e, and o (pronounced ah, ee, oo, eh, oh). Including these vowels, there are
46 basic sounds. Each hiragana and katakana corresponds to one sound. A sound consists of one
consonant and one vowel such as ka [kah] (k as the consonant and a as the vowel) except for ん n,
which is the only stand-alone consonant in Japanese.

Take a look at Table 1-1, which has the basic 46 hiragana. The pronunciation of each sound is
indicated in rōmaji. There are some missing sounds, but don’t worry — it’s not a mistake! These
sounds do not exist in contemporary Japanese. You have to read from the right column to the left
column and from top to bottom in each column.

Table 1-1 Hiragana Table
n w- r- y- m- h- n- t- s- k-
ん n わ wa ら ra や ya ま ma は ha な na た ta さ sa か ka あ a -a
り ri み mi ひ hi に ni ち chi し shi き ki い i -i
る ru ゆ yu む mu ふ fu ぬ nu つ tsu す su く ku う u -u
れ re め me へ he ね ne て te せ se け ke え e -e
を (w)o ろ ro よ yo も mo ほ ho の no と to そ so こ ko お o -o

In this book, you don’t have to know katakana, but for your information, Table 1-2 provides basic
sounds in hiragana and katakana.

Table 1-2 Basic Hiragana and Katakana
Rōmaji Pronunciation Hiragana Katakana
a ah あ ア
i ee い イ
u oo う ウ
e eh え エ
o oh お オ
ka kah か カ
ki kee き キ
ku koo く ク
ke keh け ケ
ko koh こ コ
sa sah さ サ
shi shee し シ
su soo す ス
se seh せ セ
(continued)

CHAPTER 1 Wrapping Your Head around Japanese Writing and Pronunciation 7