Get Japanese Pronunciation Right
Wednesday February 8, 2006A brief rant on pronunciation
Most English-speaking language students would probably put Japanese in the easy-to-pronounce category of languages, somewhere close to Spanish and far from the sing-song tones of Mandarin or the exotic consonants of Arabic.
However, the simplicity of the Japanese phonetic system can betray the fact that its rhythm and intonation are very different from English, and the phonemes themselves — while similar to English equivalents — are not at all the same. The simple truth is that without working at it, you won’t have good Japanese diction. If you don’t have good diction, you’ll have trouble acquiring a real ear for the language, and Japanese speakers will also have difficulty understanding you.
I once had a wonderful German professor who stressed the fact that getting pronunciation right shows respect for a language. It’s also my belief that phonetics is the brick and mortar upon which a language is built; if you don’t get that right to start with, everything you build on it will be shaky and crude.
I’ve known so many longtime English students who will never be fluent because their accents are terrible. Even after years of study, they can’t make out the difference between simple English words, and they’re never understood if they try saying anything difficult — all because their efforts were built on a flawed foundation. Don’t let that happen to you in Japanese!
Getting up to speed
The good news is that pronunciation is probably the quickest part of the language you can master (really!), and it’s never too late to begin improving it.
Part of the trick is to mimic Japanese speakers. Find some, listen closely, and try to make exactly the same sounds with your mouth and tongue that they make. Mimic what you hear, not what you think you hear.
I’ve outlined numerous specifics regarding Japanese phonetics below. While these are all areas I’ve noted as needing attention by English speakers, there may be some I’ve missed. Any additions or corrections are welcome in the Responses section at the end of this article.
Japanese Phonemes
Let’s look in detail at the sounds and syllables that make up Japanese, and the areas in which an English speaker is likely to mispronounce things. Basically, any sound that is not used in English, or not used in a similar vocal context, is a potential stumbling block.
あ — /a/ (pronunciation written using the international phonetic alphabet) — This sound exists in most European languages, but not English. It’s halfway between the a in hat and the o in hot. If you know French or Spanish, that’s the one.
い — /i/ — Easy enough to pronounce, but don’t ever use the i in sit instead. That sounds awful in Japanese.
う — /ɯ/ — Close to the English “oo”, but without the lips rounded the same way. Pronouncing this sound like the oo in boot sounds kind of silly.
え — /ᴈ/ — Like the e in let. Easy enough, except that it’s really hard for English speakers to pronounce this sound at the end of a word. We always want to turn it into the “ay” diphthong, like the end of stay.
お — /o/ — The trick here is that our English “o” sound is nearly always a diphthong. For example, the English “no” is pronounced with the vowel turning into a “u” sound. The Japanese お must remain crisp, without turning into う!
た、か、ぱ rows — The syllables that begin with the t, k, and p sounds are not “aspirated” as much as in English; that is, they don’t have the same strong puff of air following them. This one’s not a big deal, I suppose.
が row — /ŋ/ Most Japanese, at least in Nagoya where I live and on the learning CDs I own, pronounce the g sound more like the “ng” in sing. Putting this sound at the beginning of a word or syllable is hard for English speakers, but it’ll sound good if you manage to do that.
ふ — /ɸɯ/ — The f in the Japanese “fu” isn’t anything like the English f. You don’t press your teeth against your lower lips; instead, you purse your lips to restrict the air.
ひ — /çi/ — The “hi” syllable in Japanese gets pronounced with your tongue near the roof of the mouth. The result is a fricative sound much like the German “ch” in words like “München”.
ん — /ɴ̩/ — This sound is not really an n at all. It’s a nasal sound kind of like French nasal vowels. It does turn into n or m before certain consonants, but you’ll be impossible to understand when speaking certain words if you don’t get ん right. さんえん (1000 yen) will sound like さんねん (some years ago), and so on. Practice this one!
ら row — /ɺ/ — Please, please don’t pronounce the Japanese “r” like an English r! That sounds just awful, and a lot of my lazier classmates in university used to do it. As I’m sure your sensee taught you, it’s more of a flap of your tongue against that ridge in the roof of your mouth behind your teeth—halfway between an l and the “dd” in ladder.
りゃ、りゅ、りょ — These ones just take practice. It’s tricky combining that tongue-flap with a y sound.
Other aspects of Japanese pronunciation
Rhythm — Japanese doesn’t have the undulating rhythm of English; it’s very staccato, with each syllable held the same length of time. It’s essential for Japanese students to hear the double vowel sounds and “double consonants” (actually a one-syllable pause) of the language. If you have trouble with this, tap out the rhythm on your leg while you practice speaking. きて (come) should be two beats, while きって (stamp) should be three. Et cetera.
Intonation — Japanese does not pronounce certain syllables louder like we do in English, so don’t give in to that urge. However, Japanese does have intonation, with two pitches (high and low) that a syllable can be spoken at. This is a subtle aspect to learn, but try to mimic the intonation of every word you learn from a native speaker. Many words are identical except for intonation, and using the wrong intonation can really confuse a native speaker sometimes.
Well, there’s a lot to chew on. But learning good pronunciation is really such an easy task compared to all the grammar and vocabulary you have to master anyway. If you learn to pronounce your Japanese properly, you will get frequent compliments on it from Japanese people, and they’ll be genuine compliments rather than mere attempts at politeness when confronted by an incomprehensible gaijin.
Notes: There’s a useful article on Japanese phonology at Wikipedia.
commenting closed for this article
Hello.
I’ve followed your latest entries, and, I must say that they are all very interesting. Please follow this way.
For me, the most difficult japanese phonemes are “za”,”ze”,”zi”,”zo”,”zu”.
I’m spanish and I can’t pronounce well, because they are a mix between the Spanish “za” (very strong) and “sa” (very soft).
Greetings from Spain
— ragundo Feb 9, 04:10 am #That’s very interesting, Ragundo. You probably have no trouble with Japanese vowels, but yeah — Spanish doesn’t have that z sound.
— Paul Davidson Feb 9, 02:50 pm #Forget the basic sounds; it’s stressing the wrong syllable that’s a huge problem for English speakers. Every time I hear “naGOya,” “shiBUya,” “oSAka” I cringe.
— amake Feb 10, 02:24 pm #I agree, Amake. It’s hard for English speakers not to stress a syllable in each word, but Japanese doesn’t have that volume stress at all.
I think that over time, if one uses good Japanese rhythm and intonation, the urge to accent syllables goes away.
— Paul Davidson Feb 10, 07:11 pm #