PRONUNCIATION GUIDE

Hiragana

Katakana

Rōmaji

Japanese example

T&P phonetic alphabet

English example

Consonants

a

あなた

[a]

shorter than in ask

i

いす

[i], [i:]

feet, Peter

u

うた

[u], [u:]

book, shoe

e

いいえ

[e]

elm, medal

o

しお

[ɔ]

bottle, doctor

ya

やすみ

[jɑ]

young, yard

yu

ふゆ

[ju]

youth, usually

yo

ようす

[jɔ]

New York

Syllables

b

ばん

[b]

baby, book

ch

ちち

[ʧ]

cheese

d

からだ

[d]

day, doctor

f

ひふ

[f]

face, food

g

がっこう

[g]

game, gold

h

はは

[h]

home, have

j

じしょ

[ʤ]

joke, general

k

かぎ

[k]

clock, kiss

m

さむらい

[m]

magic, milk

n

にもつ

[n]

name, normal

p

パン

[p]

pencil, private

r

いくら

[r]

rice, radio

s

あさ

[s]

city, boss

sh

わたし

[ɕ]

sheep, shop

t

ふた

[t]

tourist, trip

ts

いくつ

[ʦ]

cats, tsetse fly

w

わた

[w]

vase, winter

z

ざっし

[ʣ]

beads, kids