Page 45 - Basic Japanese

aspiration—and Japanese suki ‘likes’—two syllables, with u
unvoiced or dropped, but with slight aspiration of k.

Consonants are usually described in terms of the WAY
they are pronounced (voiced, voiceless; aspirated,

unaspirated; etc.) and the PLACE they are pronounced. In
general, Japanese uses about the same places in the mouth

as English—b, p, and m are made with the lips, and k and g
with the back of the tongue against the soft part of the roof
of the mouth. However, t, d, and n are all made farther front

than the English equivalents. For these sounds in English,
most of us touch the front of the tongue or the tip (or both)

against the ridge BEHIND the teeth, or even farther back
than that. But in Japanese, the tongue is pushed forward

against the teeth themselves. This gives the Japanese
sounds—called DENTAL consonants—a sharper quality; the

English sounds—called ALVEOLAR consonants (after the
alveolar ridge behind the teeth)—sound dull and indistinct

to a Japanese. Notice the difference between sounds in
certain Japanese and English words:

[cue 01-13]

English (alveolar!) Japanese (dental!)

toe tō ten

dough dō how

no nō No (Japanese

classical ballet)