Center for Language Education
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Japanese Advice Sheets |
LEARNING THE JAPANESE SOUND SYSTEM THROUGH THE JAPANESE WRITING SYSTEM |
JP3 |
The aim of this leaflet
This leaflet introduces you to the Japanese sound system. It will first introduce you to three types of writing systems, namely “hiragana” and “katakana” and “roma-ji (romanized system)”. The first two consist of part of the whole Japanese writing system, and the last one is a system used by those who want to learn Japanese only through romanized materials mainly designed as a quick remedy for speaking Japanese. Like IPA symbols, all of these systems are commonly used to denote the pronunciation of Japanese words in textbooks, reference books, and dictionaries. This is why they are of great importance in learning Japanese. This leaflet also gives suggestions on which systems you should follow according to your need of learning the language. It is hoped that after mastering any Japanese writing system, you’ll be able to pronounce unfamiliar words by consulting a dictionary on your own.
Choosing the medium for learning pronunciation: Hiragana / Katakana or Roma-ji
This section explains which type of medium to use for learning Japanese pronunciation. There are two types: the Japanese writing systems “hiragana” and “katakana” or the romanized system called “roma-ji”
“Hiragana” and “Katakana”
In Japanese, “hiragana” is used to write everything except for loanwords and onomatopoeia (transliterated sounds), all of which are written with “katakana”. The pronunciation of Chinese characters in Japanese is also denoted in “hiragana”. You should choose these two if your purpose of learning Japanese is not only to speak and listen but also to read and write the language.
In learning these two systems, “hiragana” is usually introduced first. As learners become more familiar with “hiragana”, “katakana” is then introduced. Since they are part of the whole Japanese writing system, if you familiarize yourself with them, you can not only master the Japanese pronunciation, but also read a wide variety of written Japanese materials. Most of the textbooks available at Language Commons are also written in “hiragana” and “katakana”. The disadvantages of choosing these are that it takes a lot of time and effort to remember new symbols, and that some symbols conventionally have two ways of reading them.
“Roma-ji”
“Roma-ji” is used in some textbooks and English-Japanese and Japanese-English dictionaries. Learning the Japanese language through “roma-ji” is a quick remedy because you will be able to speak and understand spoken Japanese without memorizing the complicated Japanese writing system. This is recommended to those who want to learn Japanese only for oral communication with Japanese people or travelling in Japan for a short stay. It is also useful to know “roma-ji” as it is used as an input method when typing Japanese in a computer software. The disadvantage of this is that this is not how Japanese people write their language, and different textbooks may use different romanized systems.
The Japanese Syllabary (1) — basic sounds
Basically, whatever medium you choose, you will learn that there are five vowels in Japanese, namely “a/i/u/e/o”. The order of vowels is conventionally set like this and nobody follows the pattern of “a/e/i/o/u” as is often found in European languages. Each Japanese syllabic sound typically consists of the combination of one consonant and one vowel. In some sounds, only vowels are used. Sometimes semi-vowels such as “y” and “w” are used instead of a consonant. “N” can form a syllable on its own (syllabic “n”). The below syllabary table lists all the basic Japanese sounds in the order of “hiragana”, “katakana” (those in brackets) and “roma-ji” (those in alphabets).
The Japanese Syllabary (2) — sounds using small characters
There are some sounds in Japanese which consist of a consonant, a semi-vowel “y” and a vowel (either “a”, “u” or “o”). In “hiragana” and “katakana”, these sounds are expressed by using small characters of // (hiragana) or // (katakana) beside the main character as in the following table. In “roma-ji”, the spelling of these sounds may not contain the letter “y” as in “sh”, “j” and “ch”.
The Japanese Syllabary (3) — sounds used for loanwords
As more and more words are “borrowed” into Japanese from foreign languages (mainly English), sounds that didn’t exist in the traditional Japanese syllabary have often been heard in Japanese people’s speech. These sounds are typically written in “katakana,” as in the following table. As you can see, with the sounds in brackets that are found in the conventional syllabary, the sound system looks consistent in that the same consonant is used for each vowel row.
You can listen to these sounds in the audiotapes and CD-ROMs in the Language Commons or on some Japanese learning website.
How to use the syllabary tables
With the Japanese syllabary, you can start to practise the Japanese sound system. You can use pronounce these sounds horizontally, thus always using the same consonant with vowels “a/i/u/e/o”. Alternatively you can pronounce them vertically, thus using different consonants with the same vowel.
Pronunciation Learning Hints
- Long vowels are expressed by adding the same vowel to the previous “hiragana”, or by adding a bar “─” to the previous “katakana”. Conventionally, long vowels “ee” and “oo” may also be expressed in “hiragana” by adding “i” and “u” respectively.
- There are sounds expressed by double consonants “kk”, “pp”, “ss”, and “tt”. These sounds are pronounced like “glottal stops” or putting some pause after the preceding syllable. These sounds are counted as one “mora” (a Japanese syllabic rhythm). For instance, “kitte” can be divided into three moras “ki-t-te”. It is often observed that the double consonants are often pronounced unaspirated (See JP4).
- Japanese vowels are not difficult, but you should notice that the vowel “u” is pronounced with your mouth rather spread than rounded.
- Different consonants may appear in the same consonant group, mainly due to the lack of some sounds in Japanese.
- Some grammatical words may have different pronunciations. For instance, “ha” is pronounced as “wa” when used as a topic marker. Likewise, “he” becomes “e” as a direction marker, and “wo” is pronounced as “o” as an object marker. In “roma-ji”, the spelling usually reflects the actual sound.
- Unlike Putonghua or Cantonese, Japanese is not a tonal language, i.e. language in which tones play an important role in differentiating meanings. Although the Japanese language generally sounds very flat, Cantonese speakers may be able to recognize the two different pitch levels “high” and “low” in each Japanese word. The difference in pitch may function to differentiate two words, but native Japanese can usually grasp the meaning of some words from the contexts where they are used, so you don’t have to worry too much about the correctness in pitch especially at the first stage. It is recommended for learners to follow the pitch pattern in each recorded Japanese word in isolation (used on its own) and in combination (used along with other words) and mimic them. It may be worthwhile to notice that the first syllable and the second syllable in one word always have different pitch levels.