Basics of Japanese Pitch Accent

In this video, I will show you a better way to understand Japanese pitch accent. In most Japanese course books and schools, they explain the pitch accent (if they explain it at all) in terms of High Pitch and Low Pitch, and that's how the pitch is marked in Japanese dictionaries. But in reality pitch goes up and down smoothly, so the way they show accent in Japanese dictionaries is not only confusing but also incorrect.

[asaka]

When I lived in Japan, I just tried to copy how Japanese people pronounce. It takes time but it comes with frequent exposure and practice.

[serg]

As a japanese who always struggled to explain the pitch accent to other people (it just seemed so random, yet so natural to me), I think this is the best video on the subject I've ever seen !

[peppermintsmokes]

I wish more tutors and teachers were like Kaname in the way he presents the information and structures it. It's so logical, easy to comprehend, and always makes absolute sense! Thank you!

[mythiccass]

This is one of the best concise explanations of pitch accent, an aspect of the Japanese language that is getting increasing attention.
Using a dot as a visual representation for pitch accent is much simpler. It's like putting up a tent; the cover gradually rises to the top then gradually down. Changes in pitch flow in a similar way.
While it might seem a little overwhelming that there are several different patterns & exceptions, you are likely to naturally get used to it over time as you practice listening & using pitch accent.

[Clifford-pwoi]

it’s interesting that most of these “rules” i’ve just unconsciously internalised while learning Japanese for almost 9 years now 😮

[azarishiba]

This. I think many people focus a lot on pitch accent in individual words isolated from sentences, when it's more important to know how it work on sentences, along with intonation. It's less overwhelming than trying to study lots of lots of word's pitch accents. As someone who doesn't put focus a lot on pitch accent, I have to say this video is great!

[ApricityLife]

It’s so interesting how worried this made me reading this in a book, but when you hear it spoken I can hear *why* these make sense even though I don’t know the technical reason. They just sound better stressed where they are supposed to be. This video was awesome thank you!

[TrainfanJanathan]

When I bought a Japanese grammar book for beginners years ago, it tried to introduce me to pitch accent, but I didn't understand it. It said, "The "ki" in 切る is stressed, but the "ki" in 着る is unstressed." I didn't know what that meant because I never thought about how words are pronounced in my own language. For years, I pronounced 着る as "kiru, " but pronounced 切る as

Then years later while watching "Naruto Shippuden, " I heard Sasuke say 早く服を着ろ, then it hit me. "OH! That book was saying that the last part of the word is higher! I get it now! So with 切る, the FIRST part of the word is higher."

[iamishin]

Bossman this helped a lot. Usually I see pitch accent explained in terms of the four patterns but that seems a lot more confusing than just identifying where the accented mora is in a word.

[PierceArner]

I really appreciate the way you structure your explanations of any concepts, as it makes it easy to see examples & understand the general rules to really quickly internalize them.

Especially things like how the rules often sound child-like without understanding the exceptions makes it easier to know what to listen for when you hear exceptions to pronunciation and how they flavor the tone of a speech pattern.

[lahagemo]

more videos on pitch accent please! i’ve seen an innumerable amount of videos on it before, but yours is the first one where i’ve truly *got* it. ありがとうございました ナイトウ先生！🙏🏻

[tenma]

PLEASE do more of these pitch accent videos !! you explain it so well

[Naruuli]

You might be the first person I've seen on YouTube who explained the pitch accent in a proper way. ありがとうございます! 貴方のチャネルが大好きですよ！❤❤❤❤❤

[lawnmower]

Kaname back with another banger video, as usual

[jeszeha]

This channel is such an incredible knowledge resource, ありがとうございます

[MJ-enhi]

It is crazy how much of this I've picked up learning Japanese without realizing. Never had it explained this well before though, Thank you!

[Biomelast]

Kaname-san, I was familiar with this rule and regional variance on the way some words are pronounced (and sometimes incorrect ways to pronounce words) which honestly made me very nervous with accented words as a concept. This video is the first one that was able to make me completely understand accented words. Thank you very much.

[fenarinarsa]

This way of showing where is the pitch accent is so much better.

[MelpomeneOhDearyMe]

I picked up some of the pitch through having a good musical ear while living abroad, but had always wondered about the rhyme and reason behind it. Very appreciative of you taking the time to explain it!

[DuBCraft]

I really wish I had been able to watch this 2 years ago when I first really started trying to learn about pitch accent! I had thought I was starting to get a handle on it several months ago and then I realized I was totally wrong and had actually developed some really bad listening habits because I had been forcing myself to hear the accents I had been told were associated with certain verbs, when in reality the accent had been overridden by by the ます form (ie I was forcing myself to hear 見ます or 立ちます as atamadaka when in reality the stress is on ま or is omitted).

Thank you for the great video kaname-sensei! I really hope you make more pitch accent videos :)