Page 49 - Basic Japanese

The word gogo ‘p.m., afternoon’ shows both kinds: [go-
ngo].

Another sound that may cause you trouble is ts. Unlike
Japanese t (dental!), this sound usually starts at the alveolar

ridge like an English t. It normally occurs only before the
vowel u, and between the t and the u there is a slight hiss

represented by the s. This sound does not occur initially in

English, except for a few rare words like tsetse fly. However,
you sometimes hear it in rapid speech: ts cool today (for it is

cool today), ts all right with me (for it is all right with me).
You may tend to slide over the t and only pronounce the s;

this will cause confusion, because tsu and su distinguish a
number of words, for example:

[cue 01-15]

s ts

sumi inside corner, tsumi guilt

angle

suru does tsuru fishes

sumu resides tsumu to pile up

kasu dregs katsu wins

suzuki sea bass tsuzuki

continuing; sequel