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Learn Japanese Pronunciation
Before we dive into Romaji, it's important to review the basic sounds of the Roman alphabet. This will help you to understand how the letters of the alphabet are used to represent the sounds of Japanese words. Don't worry, it's not as daunting as it seems. After all, we don't need to learn the entire Latin alphabet - just the subset used in Romaji.
Pronunciation Practice
Let's practice with some Japanese glyphs order. Practice saying these sounds out loud. Repeat after the audio. Get used to these sounds.
a
i
u
e
o
ā
ī
ū
ē
ō
ka
ki
ku
ke
ko
sa
shi
su
se
so
ta
chi
tsu
te
to
na
ni
nu
ne
no
ha
hi
fu
he
ho
ma
mi
mu
me
mo
ya
yu
yo
ra
ri
ru
re
ro
wa
wo
n
VOWELS
First, let's review the vowels. The vowels are the letters 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', and 'u'. These letters represent the basic vowel sounds in the English language. Here, we want to cover their "long" and "short" versions. However, "u" sounds are much different than the Latin pronunciation of "u".
a
/a/
ā
/ā/
e
/e/
ē
/ē/
i
/i/
i
/ī/
o
/o/
ō
/ō/
u
/u/
ū
/ū/
Som audio sound credit: PHONETICA LATINÆ by Ray Cui
CONSONANTS
Next, let's review the consonants we use in Romaji. The Romaji consonants are the letters 'b', 'd', 'g', 'h', 'j', 'k', 'm', 'n', 'p', 's', 't', 'v', 'w', and 'y'. These letters represent the basic consonant sounds in the English language.
b
/b/
d
/d/
g
/g/
/dz/
h
/h/
j
/j/
k
/k/
m
/m/
n
/n/
p
/p/
s
/s/
t
/t/
w
/w/
y
/y/
Z
/z/
71 Variation Sounds
ga
gi
gu
ge
go
za
ji
zu
ze
zo
da
ji
du
de
do
ba
bi
bu
be
bo
pa
pi
pu
pe
po
gya
gyu
gyo
sha
shu
sho
ja
ju
je
jo
nya
nyu
nyo
hya
hyu
hyo
bya
byu
byo
mya
myu
myo
rya
ryu
ryo
pya
pyu
pyo
Next Lessons
Rules of Romaji (15 minutes)
Rules of Romaji (15 minutes):
Introduce the basic rules of Romaji such as the use of "n" to indicate a nasal sound and the use of "u" to indicate a long "o" sound. Practice converting simple words to Romaji.
Practice (20 minutes)
Practice 2 (20 minutes):
Let's practice with some Japanese words with Romaji. Practice saying these sounds out loud. Get used to these sounds.