{"id":107043,"date":"2023-09-22T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T11:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/japanese-phonetics\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T13:27:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T17:27:34","slug":"japanese-phonetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/japanese\/japanese-phonetics\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Phonology: 9 Basics to Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me tell you a quick, personal story that I think underscores the importance of learning Japanese phonology or phonetics. It was a snowy day during my Japanese class at a small university in the middle of nowhere. As part of a grammar exercise, my teacher asked me a random question.<\/p>\n

She said\u00a0 “\u30b5\u30df\u3055\u3093\uff01\u5148\u751f\u306f\u304b\u308f\u3044\u3044\u3068\u601d\u3044\u307e\u3059\u304b\uff1f(\u3055\u307f\u3055\u3093\uff01\u305b\u3093\u305b\u3044\u306f \u304b\u308f\u3044\u3044\u3068 \u304a\u3082\u3044\u307e\u3059\u304b\uff1f),” which meant “Sami! Do you think I’m cute?”<\/p>\n

Trying not to look too<\/em> relieved at the fact that it was an easy question, I nodded and responded: “\u3046\u3093\u3002\u3068\u3063\u3066\u3082\u6016\u3044\u3067\u3059\uff01 (\u3046\u3093\u3002\u3068\u3063\u3066\u3082 \u3053\u308f\u3044 \u3067\u3059\uff01)” Basically, I said: “Yeah, you’re incredibly scary!”<\/p>\n

Shocked, my teacher made what sounded like a choking sound. A few people started laughing, but luckily, my friend quickly spoke up in my defense, telling the teacher that no, she’s cute, she’s really\u00a0<\/em>cute: “\u3044\u3084\uff01\u304b\u308f\u3044\u3044\u3067\u3059\uff01\u5148\u751f\u306f\u304b\u308f\u3044\u3044\u3067\u3059\u3088\uff01 (\u3044\u3084\uff01\u304b\u308f\u3044\u3044\u3067\u3059\uff01\u305b\u3093\u305b\u3044\u306f \u304b\u308f\u3044\u3044 \u3067\u3059\u3088\uff01)”<\/p>\n

That was the moment I learned the value of Japanese phonetics and clear pronunciation.<\/strong> By the end, you’ll have all the information you need to pick out the differences between \u3053\u308f\u3044 (scary<\/a>) and \u304b\u308f\u3044\u3044 (cute<\/a>)\u2014and then some.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. \u3093 Counts as One Mora<\/h2>\n

If you’ve tried shadowing Japanese speech, you might’ve seen that each of its mora<\/a> (the building blocks of syllables) gets one beat and has the same length.<\/p>\n

In other words, one mora is basically one kana<\/strong> (excluding small kanas like the \u3087 in \u304e\u3087<\/a>). So if you’re practicing pronunciation by clapping, the number of claps should correspond to the number of kana in a given word.<\/p>\n

As most Japanese sounds are “consonant + vowel” pairs, the language itself sort of forces you to have a relatively consistent rhythm. That’s the general rule, anyway.<\/p>\n

And then there’s \u3093.<\/p>\n

Remember that\u00a0\u3093 is one mora<\/strong> and should be vocalized as such. For example, the word for “now” or \u4eca\u5ea6 (\u3053\u3093\u3069) should get three beats (KO-N-DO), not two (KON-DO).<\/p>\n

2. All Five Japanese Vowels Are Pronounced the Same<\/h2>\n

Japanese has five vowel sounds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Hiragana<\/th>Katakana<\/th>Phoneme<\/th>What It Sounds Like<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
\u3042 <\/a>\n <\/td> \u30a2 <\/a>\n <\/td>\/a\/<\/td>The \"a\" in \"palm\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3048 <\/a>\n <\/td> \u30a8 <\/a>\n <\/td>\/e\/<\/td>The \"e\" in \"bed\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3044 <\/a>\n <\/td> \u30a4 <\/a>\n <\/td>\/i\/<\/td>The \"ee\" in \"seed\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u304a <\/a>\n <\/td> \u30aa <\/a>\n <\/td>\/o\/<\/td>\"oh\"<\/a> minus the \/\u028a\/ sound near the end<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u3046 <\/a>\n <\/td> \u30a6 <\/a>\n <\/td>\/\u026f\/<\/td>The \"oo\" in \"food\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Aside from the fact that\u00a0\/i\/ and\u00a0\/\u026f\/ become voiceless<\/a> when surrounded by certain consonants, these five vowels are always pronounced the same<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When I say “voiceless” in this context, it means your vocal cords don’t vibrate when producing these sounds. This is easier to understand when you feel it, though. Put your fingers on your neck as if you were checking your pulse. Say the phrase “Who are you?”\u00a0<\/em>out loud and then whisper the same phrase. Do you notice the difference?<\/p>\n

As there are only five sounds, make sure you’re pronouncing these correctly! And the best way to do so is to practice, practice and practice some more.<\/p>\n

Here’s the recommended method to practice sounds<\/strong> if you don’t have a speech teacher to consult (like I did):<\/p>\n