| Yokoso!Welcome to my Japanese Lessons.Have you | | | | za da ba pagi ji - bi pigu zu - bu puge ze de be pego |
| ever watched an old Japanese samurai movie on the | | | | zo do bo poThere are situations where two |
| late show? Chances are you thought that everyone | | | | consonants are together with a vowel.They produce |
| was always angry at everyone else and spent a lot | | | | the following Tertiary Sounds:kya gya sha ja cha nya |
| of time yelling in monotonous staccato tones. I felt the | | | | hya pya bya mya ryakyu gyu shu ju chu nyu hyu pyu |
| same way. It was all unintelligible blabber, not a real | | | | byu myu ryukyo gyo sho jo cho nyo hyo pyo byo |
| language. Well, guess what? It is actually possible to | | | | myo ryoNow that you are armed with the correct |
| make some sense out of the nonsensical language | | | | sounds for the language, why don't you pull out your |
| that you hear on Japanese movies, etc. With a little | | | | Japanese Name or Phrase and give the pronunciation |
| understanding of how the language works, you will be | | | | a try? with a bit of practice you should be able to get |
| on your way to sounding just like those yelling, | | | | the sounds just right.One last thing to mention that I |
| sword-swinging samurai of yore.What I would like to | | | | found really helps with getting the pronunciation right. |
| do is provide you with a basic understanding of the | | | | Almost all of the sounds can be said without the use |
| Japanese language. It is not meant to replace formal | | | | of the lips. Think of yourself as a ventriloquist, speaking |
| study at an institute of higher learning. Not everything | | | | from a puppet. Don't move your lips, and keep them |
| can be covered, but I will do my best to provide | | | | relaxed. It should help. And practice.Here are a few |
| language tips that will help you develop your Japanese | | | | simple sentences that you can use for pronunciation |
| language skills.I will be working mainly with | | | | practice and begin to memorize for your future |
| "conversational" Japanese in nature; something that | | | | use:Practice Sentences:1. Watashi no namae wa Ken |
| you can use right away in certain situations. Learning to | | | | desu. (My name is Ken.)2. Kono biiru wa ikura desu |
| read and write can take years.Of course in order to | | | | ka? (How much is this beer?)3. Toire wa doko |
| truly become fluent in any foreign language it is always | | | | desuka? (Where is the toilet?)4. Mata ne! (See you |
| desirable, if at all possible, to immerse oneself in the | | | | later!)5. Ohisashiburi desu ne. (Long time no see.)6. |
| language and culture (like what I did - threw away a | | | | Ohayou gozaimasu. (Good morning.)7. Konnichi wa. |
| life in biotechnology for a brave new world). Coming to | | | | (Hello.)8. Konban wa. (Good evening.)9. Oyasumi nasai. |
| Japan will do wonders for your language ability if you | | | | (Good night.)10. Koko wa doko desu ka? (Where am I |
| ever have the chance. I understand that this is not | | | | now?)--------------------------- |
| feasible for most people, so I will strive to do my best | | | | The Culture Pocket: A Brief History of the Japanese |
| to provide you with current lessons and examples for | | | | Written LanguageMost scholars believe that prior to |
| study.Pronunciation in JapaneseMaybe you have | | | | the introduction of Kanji from China, there was no |
| recently had a phrase translated for you with the | | | | formal written language. No one is certain when the |
| corresponding pronunciation written in roman | | | | script first came to the islands but some believe that it |
| characters. Or how about a tattoo in kanji (Japanese | | | | could have been around the first century AD. In the |
| characters)? That is rather popular these days. But | | | | early third century, artifacts have been recovered that |
| how do you pronounce it so it sounds close to natural? | | | | depict some form of writing.Kanji was first used as a |
| Fear not for help is on the way! In this lesson you will | | | | system of writing sometime in the late 5th century or |
| learn a bit about the history of the language and how | | | | early 6th century. It is difficult to set an exact date |
| the language sounds. So sit back, take out your | | | | because of the writings being based on the Chinese |
| notebook and enjoy the first lesson Japanese Lesson | | | | calendar which is difficult to interpret. More than likely, |
| series.Let's get down to business.In Japanese there is | | | | Chinese or Koreans who came to the islands to live |
| no clear stress on syllables in words as there is in | | | | began using the characters.In the beginning kanji was |
| English. A non-Japanese speaker would pronounce the | | | | more than likely used to represent sounds (phonetics) |
| city of Yokohama as "Yoko-HAA-ma" and the family | | | | for loan words from other cultures. Also, the |
| name Yoshida as "Yo-SHEE-da". In English, stress | | | | introduction of Buddhism into China and eventually |
| tends to be placed on the second last syllable of | | | | Japan prompted translations of the scripts using the |
| longer words. Not so in Japanese. All syllables are | | | | script. Buddhism probably had the greatest influence on |
| spoken with equal strength and length. A Japanese | | | | the development of the language due to the huge |
| speaker would say "Yo-ko-ha-ma" and "Yo-shi-da" | | | | influx of people from the mainland to build temples, |
| without stressing any parts.Try saying the following | | | | translate documents, make statues, tiles, copy sutras, |
| words without putting any extra strength or stress on | | | | etc.Around the seventh century it seems that the |
| any of the syllables:1. Yokohama 2. Kawasaki 3. | | | | Japanese people began mastering the language |
| Nagasaki 4. Hiroshima 5. Amerika6. Osutoraria 7. koohii | | | | themselves and started to do some work of their |
| 8. Nippon 9. beesubooru 10. koppuSome texts say that | | | | own. The language began to make some changes as |
| there are long and short syllables in the Japanese | | | | it took on more than just a phonetic reproduction of |
| language. I disagree. In most cases the longer sound of | | | | foreign words (KUN reading). Eventually it began to be |
| a syllable is due simply to an extra vowel placed after | | | | used to represent ideas and concepts.Chinese and |
| the previous syllable. For example Tokyo is actually | | | | Japanese are completely different. In terms of |
| pronounced like To-u-kyo-u and Kyoto is Kyo-u-to | | | | structure, Chinese is actually closer to English than it is |
| (note here that the final to in Kyoto sounds shorter | | | | to Japanese. And yet, the Japanese, in their amazing |
| than the middle to but it is just because it lacks the | | | | ability to adapt things to their own ideas, were able to |
| additional u which makes the sound appear to be | | | | take the Chinese and add marks so that it would |
| longer. Pronounced carefully, the "long" syllable takes | | | | conform to the Japanese word order. Then the kanji |
| twice as long to pronounce as the "short" | | | | began to take on a second reading, known as the ON |
| syllable.Practice these sounds:1. biiru 2. biru 3. konpyuuta | | | | reading, as mentioned above. It may be that the |
| 4. konpyuutaa 5. koka koora6. Toukyou 7. Kyouto 8. | | | | Korean language had influenced the development of |
| suteeki 9. ginkou 10. waapuroThere are five vowels in | | | | the Japanese language as both have similar word |
| the Japanese language: A, I, U, E, O. These vowels | | | | orders and also use honorific auxiliaries.In the Nara |
| have one sound apiece. Unlike the English "a" which | | | | period (710-784) there was an explosion of Japanese |
| can have the sounds found in cat, crawl, cape, the | | | | literature. It seems that much of the oral tradition of |
| Japanese A sounds like the vowel found in the word | | | | passing on history was translated into script for the |
| cup. And as a matter of fact, all of the syllables in | | | | future generations. The language began to become |
| Japanese are very short and clipped (Suzuki sounds | | | | more and more complex.Hiragana began to be |
| more like S'z'ki). Remember that whenever you see a | | | | developed around the Nara period as well. It has its |
| vowel in a Japanese word it will always have the | | | | roots in the simplification of a cursive-style of writing |
| following sound:Vowel: a i u e o | | | | kanji. This cursive style was mainly used privately |
| Sound: up heat soup left slopeMost consonants sound | | | | among individuals to make notes, letters and other |
| as they do in English with a few exceptions worth | | | | personal documents. For about 1400 years the |
| noting: K, G, S, Z, D, T, P, B do not have the puff of air | | | | hiragana had a very large set of letters. In 1900 it was |
| that is associated with same consonants in English. | | | | standardized in brushwritten and woodblock-printed |
| The N is also a very unusual sound as it can actually | | | | forms, mainly for artistic purposes. Because of this, |
| take on four different sounds, depending on where it is | | | | hiragana tends to have a roundish, flowing style and |
| found in the word.If it precedes a vowel (as in no) it | | | | shape.Officials and scholars continued to use classical |
| has the normal N sound found in English. Before t, ts, d, | | | | Chinese for their work for many hundred years. As |
| n, ch, j it also posses the normal n sound.If it is found | | | | the language developed, it became necessary to add |
| before p, b, m it takes on an m sound.If it is found | | | | notes next to the text to aid in the reading of the texts. |
| before k and g it sounds like ng as in finger.If it is found | | | | This began in the Heian period (794-1192). Because |
| at the end of a word, or before all other sounds, it has | | | | space was limited, scholars began using a shorthand |
| a nasal sound, similar to the French n as in pain | | | | version of the kanji used for pronunciation. This was |
| (bread).There is one other sound that we need to | | | | the beginning of Katakana. In the beginning it was not |
| discuss. It is the most difficult sound for foreigners to | | | | entirely different from hiragana but over time |
| pronounce correctly. It is the R sound. This sound is not | | | | developed a more square appearance, more scholarly. |
| found in the English language. It is a somewhere | | | | Eventually the katakana script evolved such that it |
| between the English L, D, R and is a rather short, | | | | began to be used solely for writing foreign loan words, |
| chopped sound. In this case the tongue quickly flicks | | | | or concepts that did not exist in the native Japanese |
| the roof of the mouth just in front of the soft upper | | | | language.Reference: Japanese Correspondence |
| pallette. This sound takes a lot of practice to get right | | | | Course for JET Participants, 1993- Cameron Switzer, |
| and in order to pronounce it correctly you need to hear | | | | Fukui, JapanCameron Switzer has lived and worked in |
| it to be able to reproduce it.The following chart shows | | | | Japan for over 15 years. He is fluent in the language, |
| all the possible combinations of consonants and | | | | the culture and business.To visit his personal site, |
| vowels in the Japanese Language. Note that in almost | | | | please go to where you can learn a lot about life in |
| every case (except for n by itself) all consonants are | | | | Japan and have a great time while doing it!If you would |
| followed by a vowel. This makes the language very | | | | like to continue studying the Free! Japanese Lessons, |
| easy to pronounce.a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa wo | | | | please visit: |
| ni ki shi chi ni hi mi - ri - - -u ku su tsu nu fu mu yu ru - | | | | today.For assistance regarding business related to |
| -e ke se te ne he me - re - - -o ko so to no ho mo yo | | | | Japan, please visit Cameron's business site, Intrmarket |
| ro - - -There are some other sounds which are not | | | | Solutions, at: |
| quite as common, but are actually a slight variation of | | | | today. |
| the main sounds.They are the Secondary Sounds:ga | | | | |