Pronuncation: Vowels

I think that before you begin to learn a language, it's best to learn what sounds it's capable of. Although English has many sounds, it does not use all of the sounds used in other languages. The same is true for other languages as well. Before I list any words for you to study, I would like to go over the sounds used in the Japanese language before posting any vocabulary. I will go over vowels first and then consonants in my next blog.



In English we have 5 vowels (excluding 'Y') which can make both hard and soft noises. Japanese also has 5 vowels, but they each make one sound. The vowels are as follows:

あ - "ah"

• Similar to the sound of a soft 'A' as heard in the word "comma" and is represented by an "a" when using Romaji

い - "ee"

• Similar to the sound of a hard 'E' as heard in the word "me" and is represented by an "i" when using Romaji

う - "oo"

• Similar to the sound of two 'O's as heard in the word "boo" and is represented by a "u" when using Romaji

え - "eh"

• Similar to the sound of a soft 'E' as heard in the word "head" and is represented by an "e" when using Romaji

お - "oh"

• Similar to the sound of a hard 'O' as heard in the word "smoke" and is represented by an "o" when using Romaji

Try to memorize the characters if you can. I will be using both Japanese characters and Romaji through all my posts. If you have any suggestions or requests please leave them in the comments section.