wafl's Japanese information .:Pronounciation:. When most of us began studying Japanese, one of the first serious things we did is learn kana. This is natural, and very good, since knowing how to read is essential for basically everything else. However, along with kana, most everyone got a quick introduction to pronounciation too. Unfortunately, Japanese phonetics are not as straightforward as many would like to believe. The best resource for learning more about it is probably the wikipedia page on the subject. I suggest you get familiar with IPA if you really want to sound native. Otherwise, here are some tips that I have aggregated over study and observations: *Henceforth, when I refer to a specific kana, I will write the romanized form in uppercase letters, enclosed in quotes, such as "FU" 1) Pronounce your vowels correctly. This is actually pretty easy. "A" is as expected, that is as in f-a-ther. "I" is also straightforward, but I think it is a little more frontward in the mouth. "U" is pure, please don't ever say "yoo." "O" is similarly pure, and you should be able to say it without moving your lips or toungue. In fact, this holds true for all Japanese vowels. "E" is a little bit more difficult, because it is not quite what many have learned. If you live in Great Britain, this is probably not a problem for you, but if you are one of us Americans, you most likely prounounce "E" the same way you say the in m-e-t. This is not the correct pronounciation, however. "E" is represented in IPA as the letter /e/, which is best learned by listening to people say it. Also, most people already know that vowels can differ in length in Japanese. This is true, but it is a little deeper than that. Japanese uses a system of "mora," where each element gets one unit of time. This means that in the word "RE I N," "RE" "I" and "N" each get an equal amount of time. In practice things are slurred a lot, but one thing which is often kept is the distinction between vowels. In words like "A O I," "MA E," and "HA I," each vowel is considered separate, and should be thought of as so, even if not exactly pronounced that way. 2) Know your consonants. When most of us learn kana, we are told things like "SHI" is the in "sheep," and "FU" is the in "food." For the most part, these are correct, but there are some exceptions: "SHI" is pronounced must closer to the front of the mouth, making it almost like an sound. This is why it is grouped with the rest of the kana anyway. Try making an sound and making it sound more like , but keep your tongue in the same spot. "CHI" is similarly frontal, and is very close to the sound. To make this sound, find the "bump" right behind your top teeth. Place the flat part of your tongue, just behind the tip, on that spot, and make a sound. "FU" is very unlike the English sound. It is also very easy to make: open your lips slightly, and blow air through them. That's it. It's as if you were trying to lightly blow dust off of something fragile. "GA" and the other s tend to be a bit softer than the English , especially when "GA" is used alone as a particle. To match this, try saying "GA", but at a short - as in "ring" - right before it. There are some others, but these are the main differences. 3) Know your accent Unlike English, which has a stress accent system, Japanese has a pitch accent system. This is similar in effect to our own, so most people are never even aware of it. Essentially, each mora of a word is pronounced with either a relatively low or relatively high pitch. It is different for each word, and varies among regions. It is not particularly important to know the accent for each word. The best way that I know to get accent down properly is just to pay attention to how people say things, and emulate it the best you can. It is much more important, though, that you don't re-create English's stress accent system. This just sounds wierd.