Pronunciation guide

Reading and pronouncing the Japanese (Romaji) on this site.

Guideline #1
Each of the 5 vowels has only one sound in Japanese. No exceptions. Here are some reasonably close examples of how to pronounce the vowels seen in the Romaji of this website. Romaji is the system of using English letters to make Japanese words. In a Japanese word, these vowel sounds are to be sounded quickly. (1 beat)
a   Yoda, car, jar, Toyota, father
i    beep, cheap, spagetti
u   scoop, choo choo, you
e   enter, kept, slept
o broke, tomato, toilet

Guideline #2
If the following 2 adjacent vowels are shown, then the basic vowel sound of the first vowel (as shown above) is sounded but slightly longer.
aa   'kahh' sound, hold the a sound for two beats, whereas, an a by itself is held for 1 beat.
ii     "eeee" sound, hold the "ee" sound for 2 beats
uu   "oooo" sound, hold the "oo" sound for 2 beats
ei   "ehhh" sound, hold it for 2 beats, (sometimes pronouced as ee-ii)
ou   "ohhh" sound, hold it for 2 beats

Guideline #3
With any other combination of 2 vowels, each vowel is pronounced as shown in Guideline#1 and each sound last's for 1 beat.
ai 'ahee' sound, kaisha is pronounced kaheeshah, (means company)

Guideline #4
A dash in a Japanese word followed by 2 identical consanants, indicates a small break (about 3/4 of a beat)
ki-ppu - pronounced: kee - 3/4 beat break - poo (means ticket)

Guideline #5
tsu "tsoo" sound, one beat

Site Updated on December 6, 2002
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