How words and characters in Japanese sound when spoken aloud.
30
votes
3answers
946 views
What are the rules regarding “mute vowels” (“u” after “s” and “i” after “sh”)?
When you first begin to learn Japanese you are taught that Japanese has no stress and each syllable should be pronounced equally.
You also learn that certain vowels are not pronounced, or only ...
22
votes
3answers
1k views
What are the differences between じ and ぢ, and ず and づ?
The Japanese hiragana and katakana syllabaries can mostly be described as phonetic. But there are two exceptions, the two pairs of syllables modified to be voiced with the dakuten diacritic which ...
21
votes
4answers
1k views
How to choose between “よん” (yon) vs “し” (shi) for “四” (4) and “しち” (shichi) vs “なな” (nana) for “七” (7)?
Two numbers in Japanese have two pronunciation alternatives.
四 / 4 can be pronounced either "よん" (yon) or "し" (shi)
七 / 7 can be pronounced either "しち" (shichi) or "なな" (nana)
I know that "し" ...
18
votes
2answers
896 views
Why are the particles “は” (ha⇒wa), “へ” (he⇒e), and “を” (wo⇒o) not spelled phonetically?
As far as I know only three words (or particles) have irregular, non-phonetic spelling in Japanese:
"は" - The topic particle is pronounced "wa" but the kana is otherwise pronounced "ha"
"へ" - The ...
17
votes
2answers
463 views
Why is は pronounced as わ when used as a topic particle?
The particle は is pronounced similarly to わ (unlike the rest of the ハ行 kana) when used as a particle; why is this? What historical shifts went on to cause this irregularity?
17
votes
4answers
2k views
What is 「々」 and how does it affect meaning and pronunciation?
I've seen this symbol in various places, such as 「日々」, 「色々」, and 「人々」. What is it, and how does it affect the meaning and pronunciation of the word?
17
votes
4answers
1k views
What differences should I look out for between male vs female speech?
I was told a story where a male westerner learnt Japanese from his girlfriend and ended up speaking more like a female. The storyteller thought this was hilarious.
What important differences should I ...
16
votes
3answers
532 views
How 「えい」 should be pronounced in the words like 英語, 先生, etc?
P.S.: I heard that 「生」 (せい) in the word 先生 can be pronounced either as [sei] or as [see]. If it is so, is there any semantic difference between these variants?
16
votes
5answers
1k views
Pronouncing が as 'nga'
I'm a beginner and am learning from CD (Pimsleur). There are two native speakers going through the dialogue. One, the man, pronounces が as I would expect - 'ga'. The other (female) pronounces it as ...
14
votes
4answers
433 views
とっても versus とても
I've had a teacher flatly tell me that とっても is incorrect, but I do see it written here and there and I'm pretty sure I hear it as well. Is it just so informal relative to とても that I should never use ...
14
votes
3answers
722 views
Why the “H” is pronounced Sh in some cases.
I came from Stack Overflow and new to Japanese language. Happy I found out about this great place.
My first question is about the rules of pronunciation of the letter "H".
Like "Hijutsu" or "Hiyori".
...
14
votes
2answers
886 views
What does the little っ (tsu) signify when at the end of a word?
The small っ (tsu) is usually used before a consonant to indicate gemination, less technically known as doubled consonants, which is how they are transliterated in romaji.
I have seen it at the end of ...
13
votes
5answers
404 views
Modern names of the obsolete kana ゑ and ゐ
In modern Japanese, the kana ゑ/ヱ (we) and ゐ/ヰ (wi) are largely obsolete. Words formerly containing them now are pronounced with /e/ and /i/, so they were replaced by え and い, respectively.
But when ...
12
votes
3answers
571 views
Why is 「昨夜」 pronounced as 「ゆうべ」 {yuube} and 「今日」 as 「きょう」 {kyou}?
「ゆう」 is neither the kun'yomi nor on'yomi of 「昨」 and 「べ」 is not a pronunciation of 「夜」 either. The same can be said about the pronunciation 「きょう」 for 「今日」.
So how come the pronunciations of the two ...
12
votes
3answers
340 views
Why is “Xy” pronounced as “Ki Shi” in Xylitol「キシリトール」?
Why is "Xy" pronounced as "[Ki Shi]{キ シ}" in [Xylitol]{キシリトール}?
I believe "Xy" can pronounced as "Zai", which is probably a valid sound in Japanese.
I would like to know its etymology too, if there ...
12
votes
1answer
298 views
Voiced or unvoiced syllables in compound words
Examples first.
First example: 空 {そら}. Almost all compound nouns for which 空 is the second component pronounce it as ぞら (zo ra): 青空 {あおぞら}, 夜空 {よぞら}, 星空 {ほしぞら}. There is at least one exception ...
12
votes
2answers
376 views
What is the more common pronunciation for the romaji letter 'Z' in Japanese?
I was on the phone with NTT the other day and things were going well (or as good as they could), until I had to spell some email address for the customer rep, and fell upon the letter 'Z'.
...
12
votes
3answers
649 views
Actual phonetic realization of “devoiced” vowels
Descriptions of Japanese phonology (such as Wikipedia's) usually describe high vowels between voiceless consonants (or word-finally) as "devoiced". For example, the pronunciation of ⟨圧⟩ 'pressure' and ...
12
votes
4answers
325 views
Pronunciation of 閾値 : いきち or しきいち?
Last week I saw the word 閾値 and when looking it up in Gjiten I see two pronunciations, both marked as "popular":
閾値 (いきち) (n) threshold (amount, dose, etc.); (P);
閾値 (しきいち) (n) threshold (amount, ...
12
votes
2answers
281 views
Pronunciation of “何” as “なん” or “なに”
"何" is pronounced as "なん" before counter-words like in "何時{なんじ}", "何歳{なんさい}" etc; or before particles like in "何で", "何とか" etc.
However, it remains to be pronounced as "なに" in some words like ...
11
votes
2answers
396 views
Pronunciation and meaning of
I just received an email ending like this:
是非是非また誘って
How to read the ?
Zero results on Google.
As for the meaning, is it equivalent to よ ?
11
votes
3answers
2k views
What's the difference between “さけ” (sake) “しゃけ” (shake)?
Today I saw onigiri claiming to contain "しゃけ" (shake), when I asked my friend what that was she said it was the same as "さけ" (sake), "salmon".
So are these two just different readings of a kanji, ...
11
votes
2answers
208 views
Do any of the Japanese particles have different pronunciations in any dialects? Or extra or missing particles?
I was wondering whether the differences in Japanese vocabulary between the dialects extend even so far as particles.
Are there dialects that pronounce any of the standard particles differently? ...
11
votes
5answers
338 views
Except for pitch, what are the differences in pronunciation between Kansaiben and Tokyoben?
I have tried to ask people this type of question on many occasions and the answer is always the same, but people are notoriously bad at evaluating their own language, so I ask here:
Apart for pitch, ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views
What is the difference between tori vs. dori?
In Aikido, different dojos seem to latch on to using either dori or tori when describing grabbing attacks. For instance one dojo might say:
Katate Dori
Another would say:
Katate Tori
Each dojo ...
10
votes
2answers
317 views
Does the letter “C” attract any superstition?
I've heard that the number four attracts superstition because of its similarity with the word for death. For example, yon is used instead of shi in some circumstances, and sometimes the number 4, ...
9
votes
4answers
733 views
How do you pronounce the Japanese “r”?
How do you pronounce the Japanese "r"? Is it more like an "l" or something inbetween? Would there be any picture or video explaining it correctly, please link it!
9
votes
4answers
688 views
When Chinese personal names are written in Japanese in kanji is there always an obvious reading?
In their comment to an answer on the question "Are foreign personal names usually written in katakana rather than Romaji?", user sawa says:
... Chinese names should be written in kanji rather than ...
9
votes
2answers
349 views
Is there a difference between すみません (sumimasen) and すいません (suimasen?)
I'm at the proverbial izakaya and my friend tells me one is more polite. I think theyre the same. Who's right? When can I use one or the other?
9
votes
2answers
302 views
How do you write the sound “wu”?
As in "Wu Tang" or something similar. Would it be something like ウゥ? I know that "wool" is written as ウール, but 1) the "woo" sound is pronounced slightly differently than "wu", and 2) ウール doesn't ...
9
votes
2answers
387 views
Is it true that the べつに when used to mean “nothing particularly” is pronounced differently from when it is used to mean “separately / apart”?
Is it true that the べつに when used to mean "nothing particularly" is pronounced differently from when it is used to mean "separately / apart" ?
Like am I right to say that these 3 examples belong to ...
9
votes
1answer
106 views
「はは」(母) and ハ行転呼
It occurred to me the other day that if ハ行転呼 had affected all applicable environments without exception, 母 /haha/ (or I guess properly it was /ɸaɸa/, right?)should have become /hawa/.
The Japanese ...
9
votes
1answer
176 views
What is the proper pronunciation for 十分/１０分? じっぷん or じゅっぷん?
My Japanese textbook only lists じゅっぷん. Our Japanese sensei (a quite old woman) says じっぷん but notes that it's optionally じゅっぷん. Our TAs all say じゅっぷん.
I understand that Middle Chinese 十 was "jip" and ...
8
votes
3answers
188 views
do people actually, if ever, say みょうにち ?
Hi all I've heard people using あした (the common one) and あす (rather uncommon) to refer to "tomorrow".
I was wondering does anyone actually uses the reading みょうにち ?
8
votes
4answers
467 views
What changes are made to the pronunciation of gairaigo?
What changes are usually made to the pronounciation of gairaigo?
I notice that vowels are often added between multiple consonants and to the end of words (eg "programmer" => "puroguramaa" (プログラマー)), ...
8
votes
3answers
267 views
Repeating the vowel sound of the mora that precedes gemination in songs
I noticed in songs, the vowel sounds of the morae that come before geminations are sometimes repeated.
For example, the first lyric line of “マジカルちょーだいっ” is sung as しらんぷりをしたあって where the line is ...
8
votes
2answers
233 views
How do we decide if 中 is ちゅう or じゅう?
How do we decide if 中 is ちゅう or じゅう ?
For example, in this sentence １０人中３人はビデオを持っている which pronunciation should we use?
What about this: そのピアニストの演奏中、彼らは一心に耳を傾けた。
8
votes
1answer
346 views
Why is konnichiwa spelt こんにちは?
Why is は used at the end of こんにちは? Is the last letter the particle は, or is there a different explanation?
I suppose you could equally ask "Why is こんにちは pronounced 'konnichiwa'?" - I guess gaikokujin ...
8
votes
2answers
467 views
Does it matter whether you drop vowels in spoken Japanese?
(This question started as a dual question about when to drop vowels and whether it matters. The first question is well answered at What are the rules regarding "mute vowels" ("u" ...
7
votes
5answers
3k views
I am looking for an online Japanese dictionary with audio pronunciations
Does anyone know any online Japanese dictionary which provides audio reading?
7
votes
2answers
522 views
Why is the Japanese currency pronounced “yen” in English?
I'm wondering what the reason for the mispronunciation of 円 in English came to be "yen". I can understand how some words like 東京 became "Tokyo", but "en" to "yen" seems strange. On a side note, why is ...
7
votes
3answers
345 views
[父]{ちち} vs. [乳]{ちち} — father vs. breast
Can one differentiate by pronunciation between [父]{ちち} and [乳]{ちち} (as for 雨 and 飴)?
If not, does anyone have a reasonable explanation for why 父 and 乳 have the same pronunciation? It seems unlikely ...
7
votes
2answers
383 views
Are there many words that have the same pronunciation ambiguity as Nihon/Nippon?
Wikipedia says that 日本 can be pronounced either [にっぽん]{nippon} or [にほん]{nihon}.
Does this ambiguity in pronunciation happen with other words? If so, does it only happen with words that originated ...
7
votes
1answer
231 views
Pronunciation of しゃししゅしぇしょ
Now I understand that although all the morae mentioned in the title are written in Hepburn as "sha shi shu she sho", they are actually palatalized and sound quite different (the little や makes it ...
7
votes
1answer
109 views
Do the various verbs pronounced つく differ in intonation?
Related: Dissecting つく verbs
There are many verbs which are pronounced つく, and I was simply wondering: Do their intonation patterns differ?
If so, what are the intonation patterns of the most ...
7
votes
1answer
204 views
Difference between うーん and ううん
What is the difference between うーん and ううん?
In a comment on Pronunciation of ううん, paullb said that he usually sees the negative interjection ううん written as うーん. This confused me, because I thought ...
6
votes
2answers
248 views
How to say 24 divided by 8 equals 3
Pretty sure you have to use 割 but I don't know which pronunciation to use and how to say "equals" in this context.
6
votes
2answers
221 views
Encountered な with ten-ten
I am currently reading a manga for studying Japanese and encountered something strange. A girl exclaims「な゛?!」
The situation is that she has just had water squirted up her nose, so I am guessing it's ...
6
votes
2answers
251 views
Utterance initial [ɾ]
According to The sounds of Japanese (Vance 2008):
When /ɾ/ is the first phoneme in an utterance, the tip of the tongue is already resting lightly on the alveolar ridge, and /ɾ/ is produced by ...
6
votes
2answers
130 views
Help translating よなも in a song
This is from a Trigun soundtrack, song called Sound Life (lyrics), 3rd line:
３つ目の夜に ワルツの子は世界面にウエーブを 打つ
The 世界面 is translated as "world face", however pronunciation is given as よなも.
I can't find ...
