Introduction to Perfect Japanese Pronunciation

Sign up in seconds. Access 100s of audio and video lessons and start speaking like a native speaker.

Step 2: Sign up in seconds for a Free Lifetime Account.
Step 3: Start learning Japanese the fast, fun and easy way!

In this lesson, you'll be introduced to Japanese vowels and consonants, and learn how long to pronounce them for.

Also, please LIKE, SHARE and COMMENT on our videos! We really appreciate it. Thanks!

#Japanese #LearnJapanese #JapanesePod101 #Language #Learning #Fluent #Lessons

[Thezairerouge]

Hi!!
My dad is african-american and my mom is half african-american half Japanese! I only know a few words, but I am very excited to learn more! You guys are helping me SO much! Thank you!

[hydrochloricDragon]

This is super helpful!

The chart certainly made it a lot easier for me to understand. :)

[breep]

Am i the only on who is completely set on this ? Like as we go a long i am taking notes and practicing each day XD I WILL BE THERE IN JAPAN SOME DAY !

[steevmac]

Many English-speakers pronounce the Japanese "a" as the /æ/ sound in "cat". I was once told off by a pedantic American man for using that sound as he said /ɑ:/ as in the American pronunciation of "nacho" was more accurate. In reality, my detractor was mistaken. Strictly, he was actually pronouncing "nacho" wrong and both the Japanese and Spanish sounds are in fact /a/ which is a sound in between English /æ/ and /ɑ:/. It is different in both length and quality.

At the time, I was using a Japanese word in an English sentence and therefore changed the pronunciation of the /a/ to /æ/ as is normal in my dialect. I don't think there is anything wrong with adapting foreign words to a more native pronunciation. However, if you are going to pedantically criticise people for pronouncing it wrong make sure you are also being 100% accurate yourself.

When speaking Japanese or Spanish /kana/ /natʃo/
When speaking British English /kænə/ /nætʃəʊ/
When speaking American English /kɑ:nə/ /nɑ:tʃoʊ/

[altheamakayan]

It is pretty similar to Filipino sounds especially for the R sound because the R sound is just the Japanese R but you have to vibrate your tongue

[fulltimefangirl]

I have been trying to learn japanese for so long. This is very helpful. I am practicing still and your channel is super helpful. Thanks!!

[sjtez]

I tried to practice writing out the words in part number 2 of this video, but had the hardest time making sense of it. Turns out I'm just slow, and the second part is written in katakana which is not on the chart shown earlier in the video. I still really like this video though! I found it to be a great straight-forward intro to the language. The succinct explanation of letters and pronunciation was easy to understand. It even gave insight into the cadence of Japanese speech which was wonderfully above and beyond what I was expecting for an Introduction video. Thank you so much for posting this!

[inkajoo]

The hardest part of Japanese pronunciation for me is the "tones", not like Chinese ones, what I mean is where a person lowers and raises the pitch when saying a word or an entire sentence in Japanese as opposed to English.  

[augurelite]

These videos are always beautiful and concise THANKS

[TheSleepyImsomniac]

0:56... That's really clever!! :D
Incredibly helpful. Thanks again!!!

[squidaker]

Japanese pronunciation comes easy to me since it is very similar to Spanish and I live in New Mexico.

[GengoNoTabi]

Ms. Yamamoto has pronounced her last name like the vegetable Yam, and nothing like the sound of the word やま, in every recording I have ever heard. I used to play it over and over because I couldn't believe it. 

[KZHX]

Thank you! I've only been learning for... a day or two but the graph makes so much more sense now

[ayszhang]

Not exactly true that all syllables are given the same amount of time, but it's good for a beginner. A few vowels are dropped systematically in natural speech such as す, し and く. Also you should include pitch accent as an essential part of Japanese language.

[ahmedgharbi]

I'm eagerly looking forward to the next lesson !
Thank you so very much.

[benj]

Wow I think I clicked on the wrong video. Is this Spanish or Japanese? Cause it sounds a lot like Spanish. LOL

[jfvt]

One of the hardest things for me to pronounce when I was learning it was つくえのうえ (tsukue no ue, top of the desk). It started sounding like “s’kuay instead of tsukue. I had to slow down and practice this phrase over and over.

[MsBabbi]

I speak Norwegian, so I haven't had much problem here ^^ English-speakers probably struggles a bit though

[moussasuwwan]

Thanks for your explanations. Now i can pronounce correctly the Japanese vowels.Salutations from Paris.Moussa Suwwan

[thereaper]

seems really easy for me, I speak portuguese