How to pronounce Japanese words.
On this page SAMPA is used to represent the pronunciation of consonants and vowels.
Summary
Vowel letters are pronounced like in the Italian or Spanish language, consonant letters are pronounced like in the English language.
Vowel letters
"a"
Represents the sound /a/.
It sounds like "a" in Ger. "mann", like "u" in Eng. "but". Not like "a" in Eng. "man".
"e"
Represents the sound /e/.
It sounds like "e" in Eng. "get".
"i"
Represents the sound /i/.
It sounds like "i" in Eng. "it".
"o"
Represents the sound /o/.
It sounds like "o" in Ger. "oft", not like "o" in American Eng. "hot".
"u"
Represents the sound /u/.
It sounds like "u" in Ger. "mutter" and in Eng. "put", never like "u" in Eng. "but".
"â"
Represents the sound /a:/ (long /a/).
It sounds like "aa" in Ger. "haar", like "a" in British Eng. "car".
"ê"
Represents the sound /e:/ (long /e/).
It sounds like "ee" in Ger. "tee".
"a" in Eng. "cake" is also approximate, but not the same.
"î"
Represents the sound /i:/ (long /i/).
It sounds like "ih" in Ger. "ihr", like "ee" in Eng. "feel".
"ô"
Represents the sound /o:/ (long /o/).
It sounds like "oh" in Ger. "ohr".
"o" in Eng. "so" is also approximate, but not the same.
"û"
Represents the sound /u:/ (long /u/).
It sounds like "uh" in Ger. "uhr", like "oo" in Eng. "food".
Notes:
Long and short vowels are distinguished; for example:
"obâsan (/oba:san/)" means "grandmother, old lady", but "obasan (/obasan/)" means "aunt, middle-aged lady".
The capital of Japan is "Tôkyô (/to:kjo:/)", not "Tokyo (/tokjo/)".
Nevertheless, the Japanese character code (called "JIS code") does not contain characters to represent the long vowels (e.g., characters with circumflex or macron, such as "â", "î", "û", "ê", "ô", ...) So when writing Japanese in the Roman Alphabet, most of the Japanese write long vowels as the same as short ones unwillingly.
In Eastern Japan, including Tôkyô, /u/ and /u:/ are usually pronounced as unrounded or compressed schwa-like vowels.
Consonant letters
"b"
Represents the sound /b/.
It sounds like "b" in Eng. "best". Sometimes the phoneme represented by this letter is also pronounced like /B/ unconsciously, which is like "b" in Spanish "haba".
Incidentally, most of the Japanese can not distinguish between the voiced plosives and the voiced fricatives, so that they can not tell the difference between "b" and "v" by hearing, nor by speaking.
"c"
Usually not used.
"ch"
Represents the sound /tS/.
It sounds like "ch" in Eng. "child" and like "tsch" in Ger. "Deutsch".
"d"
Represents the sound /d/.
It sounds like "d" in Eng. "do".
"dz"
See "z".
"f"
Represents the sound /p\/. (X-SAMPA)
This consonant is approximate to "f" in Eng. "full", but not the same. Exactly, "f" in Japanese is pronounced not with the lower lip and the upper teeth, but with both lips.
"g"
Represents the sound /g/.
It sounds like "g" in Eng. "get", never like "g" in Eng. "angel".
In other positions than the beginning of a word, the phoneme represented by this letter is also pronounced as /N/, which is like "ng" in Eng. "sing", or /G/ which is like "g" in Spanish "lago". The former sound (/N/) is considered as a model, but fading out nowadays.
"h"
This letter:
Represents the sound /h/ before a vowel other than /i/ and /i:/. It sounds like "h" in Eng. "hat" and in Ger. "Haar".
Represents the sound /C/ before /i/ or /i:/. It sounds like "ch" in Ger. "Ich" and like "h" in Eng. "huge".
The "h" sound is never dropped in Japanese.
Some people use this letter in meaning of lengthening out the preceding vowel, just like German orthography. However, the /h/ sound appears in the middle of a word in the Japanese language, so that some people dislike this "lengthening use" because it causes confusion when the next syllable begins with a vowel.
For example: "ohi" can be considered as "o-hi (/o:Ci/)" which means "queen" and as "oh-i (/o:i/)" which means "throne".
"hy"
Represents the sound /C/.
It sounds like "ch" in Ger. "Ich" and like "h" in Eng. "huge".
"j"
Represents the sound /Z/ or /dZ/.
The phoneme represented by this letter has two phonetic varieties. One is like "s" in Eng. "fusion", like "g" in Eng. "massage" and in Ger. "orange", and like "j" in Fre. "je". The other is like "j" in Eng. "joy" and like "dsch" in Ger. "dschungel".
These two consonants had been distinguished until about the 16th century (about 400 years ago) in Japanese, but now most dialects do not have this distinction. You therefore can pronounce this letter as either /Z/ or /dZ/.
Some sensitive people, if necessary to distinguish, use "zh" to represent the former consonant(/Z/), and "j" for the latter consonant(/dZ/).
"k"
Represents the sound /k/.
It sounds like "k" in Eng. "kind".
"l"
Usually not used, for the Japanese language does not have the consonant "l". But rarely, "l" is used as a variant of "r" mainly to pretend that a word is a Western word.
Anyhow, even if you find the letter "l" in a Japanese text or hear the /l/ sound from a Japanese (especially singers), it is always only a variant of /r/.
"m"
Represents the sound /m/.
It sounds like "m" in Eng. "me".
"n (before a vowel)"
This letter:
Represents the sound /n/ before a vowel other than /i/ and /i:/. It sounds like "n" in Eng. "nice".
Represents the sound /J/ before /i/ or /i:/. It sounds like "gn" in Fre. "champignon" and in Ita. "segno".
"n (syllabic nasal)"
The Japanese language has one rare sound called "syllabic nasal". It is usually written as "n", but "m" is also used only before labial consonants /p/, /b/, /m/.
This "syllabic nasal" has several phonetic varieties, does not have its own particular sound. Its sound varies according to the position where it appear. For example:
Before labial consonants except fricatives (/p/, /b/, /m/), pronounced as /m/ like "m" in Eng. "man".
Before alveolar consonants except fricatives (/t/, /d/, /n/, /ts/, /tS/, /dz/, /dZ/, /r/), pronounced as /n/ like "n" in Eng. "not".
Before /J/, pronounced as /J/ like "ny" in Eng. "canyon".
Before velar consonants (/k/, /g/, /N/), pronounced as /N/ like "ng" in Eng. "king".
Before a vowel or a consonant other than the above, or at the end of a word, pronounced as a nasal vowel or a uvular nasal (no corresponding letter in SAMPA. /N\/ in X-SAMPA.)
Nevertheless, you do not have to be sensitive to these differences. Because most of the Japanese usually do not recognise these above varieties being in pronunciation of the syllabic "n", so that you can even always pronounce the /n/ sound for every syllabic "n".
The only thing you have to take care is not to pronounce the syllabic "n" and the next vowel continuously when a vowel follows a syllabic "n". In such cases, you have to put a pause between them. Otherwise, some confusion may be caused; for example:
"an-i" means "ease", but "ani" means "elder brother".
"gen-in" means "cause", but "genin" means "manservant".
"ny"
Represents the sound /J/.
It sounds like "gn" in Fre. "champignon" and in Ita. "segno" and "ny" in Eng. "canyon".
"p"
Represents the sound /p/.
It sounds like "p" in Eng. "put".
"q"
Not used.
"r"
Represents the sound /r/.
It sounds like "r" in Scottish Eng. "rose", or like "tt" in American Eng. "matter". That is, "r" in Japanese is usually pronounced as a tap or flap. Some people pronounce it as a trill.
"s"
Represents the sound /s/.
It sounds like "s" in Eng. "so", not like "s" in Ger. "so" or in Eng. "is".
"sh"
Represents the sound /S/.
It sounds like "sh" in Eng. "shall", like "sch" in Ger. "schein", and like "ch" in Fre. "chou".
"t"
Represents the sound /t/.
It always sounds like "t" in Eng. "ten", never like "tt" in American Eng. "better".
"ts"
Represents the sound /ts/.
It sounds like "ts" in Eng. "cats" and like "z" in Ger. "zu".
"v"
Not used. The Japanese language does not have the consonant "v".
"w"
Represents the sound /w/.
It sounds like "w" in Eng. "way".
"x"
Not used.
"y"
Represents the sound /j/.
It sounds like "y" in Eng. "you", "year", and like "j" in Ger. "jahr".
"z"
Represents the sound /z/ or /dz/.
The phoneme represented by this letter has two phonetic varieties. One is like "z" in Eng. "puzzle", the other is like "ds" in Eng. "cards" and like "z" in Ita. "zucchini".
These two consonants had been distinguished until about the 16th century (about 400 years ago) in Japanese, but now most dialects do not have this distinction. You therefore can pronounce this letter as either /z/ or /dz/.
Some sensitive people, if necessary to distinguish /z/ and /dz/, use "z" to represent the former consonant, and "dz" for the latter consonant.
This letter, however, is never used to represent a consonant like "z" in Ger. "zwei".
"zh"
Seldom used. See "j".
Notes
Long and short consonants are distinguished before a vowel, just like the Italian language; for example: "ita" means "was/were, stayed", but "itta" means "went, gone".
