Questions tagged [pronunciation]
発音. How the Japanese language is pronounced. For questions about which readings to use for particular kanji, use the "readings" tag instead.
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160 views
Unvoiced vowels in katakana: special case?
When foreign words or proper names are used in Japanese, some modifications are necessary, in particular a lot of vowels are introduced. E.g. 'plastic' (two syllables) becomes プラスチック (five). In this ...
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2answers
249 views
Are words always pronounced as spelled?
I came across the word ケーブルカー, or cable-car.
Based on the pronunciation I have, the ブ and ル are pronounced like one syllable (like 'brr') instead of two like I expected ('bu ru').
Is this an ...
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1answer
155 views
How to Read 醤玉子?
I know that 玉子 is read "tamago". I also know that 醤油 is read "shouyu". I can imagine that 醤玉子 refers to the boiled egg that is submerged in soy sauce. How do you read it though? I assume it's read ...
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1answer
65 views
Difference between おじいさん and おじさん
I'm wondering if there is much difference in the pronunciation of the words or intonation of them. Is it just the long vowel?
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1answer
138 views
Is it common for Kanjis to have several pronounciation like for 乾?
While doing introductionary courses of Japanese, I stumble on a fact that afrights me about the difficulty of the language.
When congratulating each other around a drink: 乾杯
the Kanji 乾 is ...
3
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1answer
150 views
Are there many occurances of elongated syllables throughout the language?
I've been studying Japanese through Duolingo and I wouldn't say I've progressed very far. I've learned some of the basics of Hiragana and it's beginning to transition into Kanji. While learning ...
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2answers
89 views
Do words differing only in the voicedness of consonants act as functionally homophonous?
In Japanese, there are some sound differences that clearly distinguish words from one another, such as falling on a different 行 or 段 on the 五十音 ([傘]{かさ} vs. [風]{かぜ} or [友]{とも} vs その); while other ...
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1answer
84 views
What's the difference between these two names?
オタ
オター
I want a name translated but not sure which to pick, what sounds the best and what's the difference between them? The name which I'm trying to translate is "Oter".
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1answer
174 views
Do native speakers pronounce long vowels えい or おう as one long vowel, or two different vowels?
In Japanese, long vowels ā, ī, ū are written as ああ (aa), いい (ii), うう (uu). However, ē and ō, in most cases, written as えい (ei) and おう (ou), but in other cases as ええ (ee) and おお (oo).
For example:
先生{...
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0answers
73 views
What's the difference between “on”, “oto” and “ne”
I've seen some various examples where the kanji "音" has different readings (おん, おと and ね) and couldn't found out when to use each one. Is there a general rule to know each one should I use in an ...
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1answer
117 views
On hiragana, romaji and pronunciation
I have heard a Japanese teacher explain how long vowels should be pronounced and how they should be written when using hiragana. That's what I saw on the whiteboard:
がっこう - gakkoo, (not gakkou)
Is ...
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1answer
121 views
What are the common practice of reading names of modern Chinese people?
From what I've seen from the Japanese Wikipedia, names of communist figures (Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Xi Jinping) seem to be read with on'yomi (Mou Takutou, Tou Shouhei, Shuu Kinpei). On the other ...
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1answer
171 views
Pronunciation Troubles with トラブル and トラブる: Loanwords with both noun and verb ending in ru mora
Following this comment:
What is the difference in pronunciation or pitch accent between:
トラブル and トラブる
ダブル and ダブる
What are the regional differences (if any)?
Is the pronunciation rule ...
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1answer
64 views
Why the pronunciation of some words is different than their components? [duplicate]
美味しい is being pronounced おいしい, but it is not the sum of the way its kanji components are being pronounced. I think I have also seen it in some other words. So why is that the pronunciation of some ...
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1answer
99 views
今しかない!! pronouncation
My memory from playing the VN that the sentence is based off of is 87% certain in the protagonist's voice pronouncing the above as
"YareshKA-nai!!"
and meaning something similar to "I have to do ...
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1answer
93 views
Different pronunciations of 主
I just stumbled across this - rather simple - sentence from the novel 堕落の王:
それは魔王の意思ですらない。その目的は力の使用だけで、結果には興味すら抱かない。
ただ、主を見ていた。
It wasn't even the demon lord's will. His goal was only to ...
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1answer
141 views
Ocha in Hiragana [duplicate]
I'm pretty early into learning Japanese. I've started learning hiragana, when writing "ocha" in hiragana I've noticed it comes up as おちゃ now I know お is "o" and normally ち is "chi" while ゃ is ya. Now ...
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1answer
98 views
'mo' and 'demo' pronounciation research
I am looking for a native speaker who could answer the following question:
Is there any difference in pronunciation of the morpheme 'mo' in the following words (are there any differences in tone):
...
3
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1answer
192 views
How Dakuten works with Romaji?
I was reading different hiragana charts and saw that "ち(chi)", applying dakuten it can be read as "dzi" or "ji".
Other hiragana words in dakuten also have different ways of pronunciation depending ...
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1answer
134 views
Does any Japanese dialect use the schwa?
Pronunciation of [ə] is notoriously difficult for Japanese speakers, and while trying to communicate its importance in languages such as English and French, I started to wonder: do any dialects of ...
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3answers
198 views
How to pronounce ❛ た❜？
I am learning Japanese at a beginner's level. I am wondering how to pronounce the letter ❛ た❜ because according to the chart it should be pronounce as ta , but in listening materials and everyday ...
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2answers
116 views
How are numbers pronounced in (movie) titles? (i.e. ジョーズ３)
For example, ジョーズ３ (i.e. "Jaws Three") is in a list of movies. Would the "3" be pronounced "さん"? Typically, counter words follow after a number in Japanese. And sometimes the number's reading ...
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2answers
2k views
Which language レシート is adapted from?
レシート is supposed to mean receipt. The adaptation of the word looks a bit odd to me. If it comes from English, why does it lose the "p"? Why it uses a "shii" sound instead of a "ce" (to me there are ...
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1answer
86 views
Different pitch accent patterns of もっとも?
The word もっとも has a few different uses. For example, jisho.org lists the following:
最も（もっとも）
Adverb
most; extremely
Other forms
最も 【もとも】、尤も 【もっとも&#...
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2answers
148 views
How to pronounce noun compounds
How do I determine the pronounication of compound nouns such as 来年夏.
Obviously 来年の夏 is pronounced らいねんのなつ but what happens when I remove the の? Does it just become らいねんなつ? My guess from everything I'...
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1answer
101 views
い Pronunciations
I've wondered this for a while now but never thought to ask it until now. With regards to the い sound in Japanese, I understand that it's pronounced like a sort of shorter version of the e sound in "...
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1answer
354 views
Prolonged sounds in place of an を
I have noticed them in speech in several expressions:
ざまあみろ
手エ、出して
気イ抜くなよ
They are clearly an informal (if i have got it right) variant of を. But how common is this phenomenon? What ...
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0answers
89 views
What common words are written one way - but almost always pronounced a different way? (eg. 言う is generally spoken as 「ゆう」)
I am aware that [行く]{いく} is sometimes read 「ゆく」 but I do not think it is mostly read as 「ゆく」except in combinations. 例えば、行く手・行く先・行く春.
Whereas I almost never hear 言う as いう. These are the only two ...
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1answer
169 views
Pronouncing さ and ざ [duplicate]
How do you pronounce さ and ざ in Japanese? I understand that they are voiced and voiceless but how do you say them? I am currently learning Japanese.
I am English, I can say "bus" and "buzz". However, ...
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0answers
151 views
Words in the Kagoshima dialect
Using this Wikipedia article here, I learnt that words in Standard Japanese may encounter something called sonorant gliding while converting to Kagoshima dialect. For what is written here, these are ...
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2answers
178 views
Why is 輩 in 先輩 pronounced ぱい while 輩 in 後輩 is pronounced はい?
I wonder in this case if there is any rule that turns H to P.
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1answer
105 views
What is the correct pronunciation of 唯一
For the word (or composition of two words): 唯一,
sometimes also written as: 唯一つ,
Two possible pronunciations come to my mind:
ゆいいつ [yuiitsu] -onyomi
and
ただ ひとつ [tada hitotsu] -kunyomi
Which one is ...
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1answer
136 views
What dialect replaces です with a shorter version of it (ーす)?
The title pretty much explains itself, here is an example: Nio from Akuma no Riddle, the whole thing has been bugging me for awhile, thanks in advance.
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0answers
75 views
Pitch accent in combination with the を particle
I learnt that a word like 花 (はな) is of pitch pattern (2), i.e. with a drop after the last mora in case it is followed by a particle. Yet, when I hear people use a word like this is combination with ...
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1answer
741 views
Should you say English loanwords in the Japanese pronunciation?
For example, if an American travels to Japan, would they ask for "kohi" in a "koppu", maybe a "foku" for their "supagetti", or would they use "coffee", "fork", etc.?
Which would be more socially ...
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0answers
57 views
Why is だいがく pronounced as daingaku instead of daigaku? [duplicate]
I was listening to a recording of a Japanese person pronouncing daigaku as in university. And the g sounded like ng. Why is this so? Should I pronounce it like that as well?
Thanks.
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1answer
100 views
pronunciation of は [duplicate]
Hello I'm a beginner and I'm wondering when to use the right pronunciation of は, because sometimes it's pronounced "ha" and sometimes "wa".
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3answers
351 views
What's the difference between “sa” and “za” with pronunciation?
Background
I am currently trying to learn Japanese and I've done really well in my opinion (IMO). I am trying to learn about voiced consonants with Hiragana.
What I need to know
I know you must ...
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1answer
130 views
Is it Amekakure or Amegakure?
In Naruto the village hidden in rain is called Amegakure in English Version and Pronounced like "Ame-ga-kure" in both Japanese and English Version.
But if you try to translate the kanji of this 雨隠れの里 ...
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1answer
383 views
Pronouncing “Tsu” and “R” sound in Japanese
I've been learning Japanese but I am having trouble with pronouncing a few sounds, including "Tsu" and the R sound.
When I pronounce "Tsu", do I say Tsk with my teeth together or make a fizzy kind of ...
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0answers
73 views
Rendaku for jukugo combinations
From my studies of Japanese, I know that it is common for certain jukugo expressions to be juxtaposed without an intervening particle (usually a noun+noun combination without a の). What I wanted to ...
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1answer
48 views
What sort of intonation should I have when using だろう/でしょう?
Pretty straightforward question. When using だろう or でしょう as a way to express unassertiveness on my sentence (i.e., "it seems", "it looks like"), what intonation should I use? Does it follow a pattern ...
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2answers
269 views
How do you find pitch accent? Is it important?
I've seen some people say it is unecessary to learn pitch accent, but with my current knowledge, there are multiple ways to say a word with pitch accent and if you don't know the pitch accent, the ...
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1answer
107 views
What's the correct pronunciation of 思 in と思つ? [closed]
In this manga, 思 is being pronounced as おもう.
However, on Google Translate, I'm getting shita. (In the same sentence: かわいいと思うよ.)
Why is this?
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1answer
91 views
Japanese phrase about risk
I heard in anime a phrase related to risk, like "all or nothing". It sounded like "icka backa" but I can't find the exact phrase.
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2answers
260 views
How to pronounce “×”?
The symbol × is sometimes used in titles like 「ラビ×ラビ -パズルアウトストーリーズ-」 or headlines like this one: 「スシロー×寿司ストライカー スペシャルキャンペーン」.
I imagine native speakers who read it might pronounce it as と, since it ...
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1answer
96 views
ズボン pronunciation variation & explanation for
I've heard it pronounced both low_high and high_low. Can anyone explain the meaning/reason behind the variation? (ie. difference in nuance, formal/casual, regional dialect, etc.) Ideally, I'd like to ...
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2answers
466 views
Why does Duolingo say that 中 is pronounced “naka” but spelled ちゅう?
I am currently doing the beta course for Japaneses on duolingo. In one of the lessons, I was confronted with this question which I kept getting wrong:
When I play the sound, the voice clearly says "...
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0answers
26 views
Correct pronunciation of「ひ」 [duplicate]
I used to pronounce it as "Hi" but recently i paid keen attention to natives speaking words like 「広い」、「低い」 and I find out they pronounce it as somewhat "che" but when i try to say "che" what comes out ...
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1answer
99 views
Why isn't the う (u) in どうして being pronounced?
According to Google Translate the phrase is pronounced dōshite (I've also heard it pronounced like that in anime and movies).
I couldn't help noticing that the う (u) isn't being pronounced. Why is ...
