When you’re studying Japanese by yourself, it can be easy to just read, write and listen without ever actually saying anything out loud.\u00a0Then when it finally comes time to have conversations with native speakers, your mind goes blank and your tongue isn’t making the right sounds.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Japanese pronunciation is fairly simple and straightforward.\u00a0I’ve found that the key is just to say the words and phrases you’re learning out loud as much as possible\u2014and here are my favorite strategies to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Repeat everything you hear, paying special attention to the ups and downs or the “music” of the language (intonation), and also the tricky sounds (pronunciation).<\/p>\n
When you watch Japanese TV programs or movies, there will be many phrases and words that you’ll hear and think, “I want to learn that phrase.”<\/p>\n
Pause the movie and mimic what you hear, paying close attention to intonation as well as pronunciation. Remember to turn on the subtitles so you can echo back the same thing as the characters. Subtitles are available on most streaming sites and other video platforms, including the video-based program FluentU which adds interactive subtitles to its Japanese media clips.
FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n <\/p>\r\n You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n ![\"FluentU](\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/6\/NativeAd-Japanese.jpg\")
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