Guide to Japanese PronunciationJapanese Pronunciation VowelsJapanese has both short and long vowels and the distinction is often important. In romanized Japanese, long vowels are followed with a dash (-), so that o- represents "long o". - a (あ/ア) like 'a' in "father"
- e (え/エ) like 'e' in "set"
- i (い/イ) like 'i' in "machine"
- o (お/オ) like 'o' in "rope"
- u (う/ウ) like 'oo' in "hoop"
Note that "u" is often weak at the end of syllables. In particular, the common endings -desu and -masu are pronounced as "des'" and "mas'" respectively. Japanese Pronunciation Consonants- b like 'b' in "bed"
- ch (t before i) like 'ch' in "touch"
- d like 'd' in "dog"
- f (h before u) like 'f' in "far"
- g like 'g' in "go"
- h like 'h' in "help"
- j (d before i) like 'j' in "jar"
- k like 'k' in "king"
- m like 'm' in "mother"
- n like 'n' in "nice"
- n (ん/ン) short 'n' at the end of a syllable, pronounced as 'm' before 'b', 'p' or 'm'.
- p like 'p' in "pig"
- r like 'r' in "row" (actually a sound between 'l' and 'r', but closer to 'r')
- s like 's' in "sit"
- sh (s before i) like 'sh' in "sheep"
- t like 't' in "top"
- ts (t before u) like 'ts' in "hot soup"
- w like 'w' in "wall"
- y like 'y' in "yard"
- z like 'z' in "haze"
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