Part Three

You’re SOO close!! Just a couple more things, and you will know JUST how to pronounce and read Romaji correctly!! (clap clap clap)

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Tsu

This is one syllable that some people pick up right away, but others don’t. I wish I could just sit there and tell you how, but the internet has its limits. ^_^ “Tsu” sounds just how it looks. Start to say a “tu”, but change to “su” in the middle.

Itsumo à “Ee - Tsoo - Moh”

Tsubasa à “Tsoo - Bah - Sah”

In hiragana, “tsu” is sometimes used to express a pause between two syllables in a word. When that happens, we don’t write “tsu” in Romaji; we double the second consonant.

Datte à “Dah (pause) teh”

Kitto à “Kee (pause) toh”

I like to think that, in slow motion, you say the first syllable and then “stop” it with the first consonant of the second syllable for the pause, like this:

Datte à “Daht (pause) teh”

Kitto à “Keet (pause) toh”

Of course, in normal-speed Japanese, there isn’t much of a pause there, it’s very hard to hear. Since we are only focusing on Romaji, don’t worry about how to use “Tsu” in hiragana. Just go with it. ^_^

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F

The Japanese have a hard time pronouncing “F”. Nonetheless, we can’t say that it’s wrong, that’s just how they do it. “F” is created by using “Hu” and then adding whatever vowel we want to the end. The “F” in Japanese is very soft, basically between ‘f’ and ‘h’. Don’t touch your top teeth to your lower lip like in English; you say it with an open mouth, like you’re about to kiss someone, then change to the second vowel.

Filia à “Huee - Lee - Ah”

Futari à “Huoo - Tah - Lee”

Fire (said with a Japanese accent)à “Huah - Ee - Ah”

Don’t stay on the “Hoo” for very long; it’s not really heard at all, it just gets your mouth in the right position to pronounce “F”.

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-ou

Every once in a while, you’ll see a word that has an ‘O’ followed by a ‘U’. This is kind of annoying in Romaji, because it makes Romaji less straight-forward; when a ‘U’ is directly after an ‘O’, the ‘U’ isn’t pronounced. The ‘U’ is there because in hiragana, to extend ‘O’, you add ‘U’. Here are some examples.

Kasou à “Kah - Soh - Oh” not “Kah - Soh - Oo”

Hontou à “Hoh - N - Toh - Oh” not “Hoh - N - Toh - Oo”

Keep in mind that “O” and “U” aren’t separate; they’re run together to make “O” longer than usual.

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-ya / -yo / -yu

Consonants r(l), k, n, and m are sometimes found with a ‘y’ after them. You say the consonant with a ‘i’ after it really fast, then the ‘y’ part. ‘ry’ can be kind of hard since you treat it like an ‘l’. Here are examples of each.

Ryoko à “Liyoh - koh”

Kyakuseki à “Kiyah - koo - seh - kee”

Nyaasu à “Niyah - Ah - Soo”

Myouji à “Miyoh - Oh - Jee”

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Ha / Wa

This is more stuff that has to do with people who don’t know Japanese…>_< In hiragana, there are no spaces, right? It’s all just one character after another. So in the language, they use TONS of particles to separate words and give them their role in a sentence. The most basic is the particle that follows the subject of the sentence; ‘Wa’. Since ‘Wa’ is such a common syllable in Japanese, it is written as ‘Ha’ and pronounced as “Wa”. Some people read the hiragana “Ha” and just write it in Romaji how it is, but that’s incorrect. In general, when you see “Ha” by itself in Romaji, the person didn’t realize this; pronounce it as “Wa”.

Boku Ha Haku desu. à “Boh - Koo Wah Hah - Koo Deh - Soo.” (means “I’m Haku”, FYI)

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Atariiiiiiiii!! You can pronounce Japanese and read Romaji! To celebrate, here’s a sample of part of Ayumi Hamasaki’s “Daybreak”, a translation (just for fun), and an explanation of how to pronounce it. Read it out first, then see if you were right.

donna ni tooku hanarete ite mo
bokura ha itsu demo soba ni iru
tatoeba kimi ga kujikesou na hi ni ha
ai shite kureru hito ga iru koto wo
omoidashite

No matter how far apart we are,
we're always together.
Remember that even when you feel
crushed by the weight of the world,
there's someone out there who loves you.

Doh N Nah Ni Toh Oh Koo Hah Nah Leh Teh Ee Teh Moh

Boh Koo Lah Wah Ee Tsu Deh Moh Soh Bah Nee Ee Loo

Tah Toh Eh Bah Ke- Mee Gah Koo Jee Keh Soh Oh Nah Hee Nee Wah

Ah Ee Shee Teh Koo Leh Loo Hee Toh Gah Ee Loo Koh Toh Oh

Oh Moh Ee Dah Shee Teh