The first set of Hiragana that I will need to master are the vowels. You can click on the Romaji letter to link to an audio file of each pronunciation.
Japanese has five basic vowels. They are romanized as a i u e and o. They are pronounced something like the 'a' in 'awful', the 'ee' in 'feet', the 'oo' in 'mood', the 'e' in 'met', and the 'o' in 'cold'.
If vowels are written in combination, each vowel should be pronounced separately. For instance ai sounds like 'eye' to the English speaker and oo is pronounced by stretching out the o sound.
The combination ei is not pronounced ay. Instead, it is usually pronounced as an enlongated version of the e (as in met).
The vowel u is usually pronounced faintly or dropped entirely when found in the syllable su. This is especially true at the end of words such as desu or -masu which tend to sound like des and mas. Another example is suki which tends to be pronounced as ski.
1. a pronounced as Kawasaki or the ah of "Ah ha!"
Japanese has five basic vowels. They are romanized as a i u e and o. They are pronounced something like the 'a' in 'awful', the 'ee' in 'feet', the 'oo' in 'mood', the 'e' in 'met', and the 'o' in 'cold'.
If vowels are written in combination, each vowel should be pronounced separately. For instance ai sounds like 'eye' to the English speaker and oo is pronounced by stretching out the o sound.
The combination ei is not pronounced ay. Instead, it is usually pronounced as an enlongated version of the e (as in met).
The vowel u is usually pronounced faintly or dropped entirely when found in the syllable su. This is especially true at the end of words such as desu or -masu which tend to sound like des and mas. Another example is suki which tends to be pronounced as ski.
1. a pronounced as Kawasaki or the ah of "Ah ha!"
2. i pronounced as kimono or skip
3. u pronounced as book
5. o pronounced as paw or Olga
Hiragana (a - i - u - e - o)
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