Although Japanese is considered one of the more difficult languages to learn, simple phrases are easy to read and pronounce. Japanese does not have the complex tonal variations of many Asian languages, and the words are arranged in easy syllables. Japanese people are often scared to speak English with a foreigner, but will warm up after hearing a few Japanese phrases.

Pronunciation

Japanese is composed of five vowel sounds:

• a as the "a" in "father"
• i as the "ee" in "knee"
• u as the "oo" in "look"
• e as the "e" in "pet"
• o as the "o" in "horse"

The vowel sounds do not change, but can be combined or lengthened eg.:

• ai as the "y" in "my"
• uu as the "oo" in "food"

The consanants are:

k, g, s, t, ch, n, h, b, p, m, r¹, y

These are always attached to a vowel and cannot stand alone, with two exceptions:

1. n can be used on its own eg. sumimasen
2. The syllable su is oftened shortened to s in common speech. desu is therefore pronounced dess and desu ka becomes desska

Japanese words are not stressed as English words are. In order to keep the phrases understandable try to pronounce them according to the syllables eg. sa-yo-na-ra, kon-ni-chi-wa.

Everyday Phrases

Introduction

Questions

Emergency

Numbers