How
to Pronounce Romaji Japanese
Created
by Minako134
Part Two
You may have noticed
something about the Japanese alphabet; it doesn’t have r, th, b, j, d, p, g, z, f, or parts of y and w! I’ll
address each of these separately in this section. Most of the time, it has to
do with…well, that’s just the way it is.
~*~
The ‘R’ in Japanese is VERY
different from an ‘R’ in English. In fact, I and my Japanese teacher believe
that the Japanese pronounce it closer to ‘L’; that’s why I made a ‘L’ row instead of an ‘R’ row in the table on the first
section. If you speak like you’re saying ‘L’, Japanese citizens will have an
easier time understanding you. English ‘R’s are too long and
‘rrrrr’-ish. From now on, in romaji, ‘L’ is the same as ‘R’, but you should really say
‘L’.
“Sakura” sounds better if you pronounce the ‘r’ like
an ‘l’: “Sa - ku
- la”
“Arigatou” It annoys me SO much when people say “Arrrigatow!” It should be said like this: “A - Li - Ga - Toh - Oh”
~*~
This sound has a simple rule;
Japanese have more trouble pronouncing this sound than any other. ^_^;; Most often, they say “J” or “Z” instead (which is kinda funny to hear in J-pop lyrics…”Zank
you!!!”
~*~
Here’s where things get
interesting; sounds like b, p, d, z, and g are made by adding extra marks to
certain characters in the hiragana alphabet. Luckily for you, you’re not
learning hiragana, you’re learning Romaji! When you
see a ‘B’, it can also be treated like a ‘V’, but they both end up sounding
like ‘B’.
“Valgav”
is pronounced “Bah - loo - gah
- voo”
“Venus” is pronounced “Bee
- nah - soo”
This sound can be written as
‘B’ or ‘V’, but it will most likely be a ‘B’.
~*~
‘J’ is pretty simple; it
sounds just like it looks. If someone puts a ‘y’ after it, just ignore it; they
don’t know how to read hiragana. I’d explain, but I don’t want to scare you off
with all that stuff…
“Romaji” is pronounced “Loh
- Mah - Jee”
“Jou” is pronounced “Joh
- Oh”
“Jyou”
is ALSO pronounced “Joh - Oh”
~*~
‘D’ is also very simple, and
is pronounced how it looks.
“Doko” is pronounced “Doh
- koh”
~*~
Yet another easy one! I’m
spoiling you before we get to the hard stuff…^_^
“Piyo” is pronounced “Pee - yoh”
~*~
The important thing to
remember about ‘g’ is that is never EVER sounds like ‘j’. The ‘g’ is hard, like
in “garage” and “alligator”. An interesting tidbit is that even
though most young people in
“Arigatou” is pronounced “Ah - Lee - Gah - Toh” OR “Ah - Lee - Ngah
- Toh” ( run all together, it’s “Alingatou”)
“Gomen” is ONLY pronounced “Goh - Meh - N” (we can’t
use ‘ng’ since it’s at the beginning of the word)
~*~
Another easy one! Always ‘z’.
“Zannen” is pronounced “Zah
- N - Ne - N”
~*~
Simply
because they are never used in everyday Japanese conversation. If you ever hear something like “Yeh”
or “Wee”, that person wasn’t originally born in
If this syllable is ever
written, it isn’t pronounced “Woh”; it’s “Oh”. If you
see “wo” in j-pop lyrics somewhere, that person needs
to learn more about hiragana.