Pronouncing Japanese Words

Learning a new language can be a daunting task, but with the right tools, it can be a lot easier. In this post, we will be taking a look at how to pronounce Japanese words. Pronouncing Japanese words correctly is essential if you want to make the most of your learning experience. If you struggle to say a Japanese word correctly, it can actually have a negative impact on your learning. By learning how to pronounce Japanese words, you will be able to have a smooth transition into the language and make more effective use of your time. In this post, we will be providing you with a pronunciation guide for a few common Japanese words. We will also be providing you with a few useful resources to help you learn more about the Japanese language. So whether you’re a beginner or an experienced learner, read on to learn how to pronounce Japanese words correctly.

1. The Japanese language has a lot of unusual sounds

The Japanese language has a lot of unusual sounds. If you're trying to learn it, it's important to get a handle on these sounds so you don't make any mistakes when pronouncing Japanese words.
Here are a few of the more difficult Japanese sounds:

N: The n sound is made by putting your tongue in the back of your mouth and making a "nuh" sound.

H: The h sound is made by making a "huh" sound.

K: The k sound is made by putting your tongue in the front of your mouth and making a "kuh" sound.

S: The s sound is made by putting your tongue in the front of your mouth and making a "sah" sound.

T: The t sound is made by putting your tongue in the back of your mouth and making a "tuh" sound.

W: The w sound is made by putting your tongue in the front of your mouth and making a "whuh" sound.

Y: The y sound is made by putting your tongue in the back of your mouth and making a "yuh" sound.

2. The Japanese language uses a lot of honorifics

Honorifics are words that are used to show respect to someone. In Japanese, they can be used in the form of nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. For example, the word "chan" is an honorific for "boy" and "san" is an honorific for "woman."

The most common honorifics are "sama" (for men) and "onna" (for women). Here are some other examples:

- "kun" is an honorific for boys
- "sensei" is an honorific for men who are in a position of authority
- "han" is an honorific for boys
- "hanako" is an honorific for women

When speaking to someone who is older than you or someone you are lower in rank to, it is polite to use their honorific. For example, you would say "sama" to your teacher or "san" to your boss.

3. How to say "hello" in Japanese

When you're learning how to say "hello" in Japanese, the first thing you'll need to do is learn the Hiragana alphabet. Hiragana is the most basic form of the Japanese language and is made up of 20 characters.
Once you know the Hiragana alphabet, you can start learning how to say "hello" in Japanese. The most basic way to say "hello" in Japanese is to say はじめまして (hajimemashite). はじめまして is the formal way to say "hello". You can also say はじめました (hajimemashita) if you just recently met someone.
Here are some other examples of how to say "hello" in Japanese:

おはよう (ooyou) – good morning
また (mata) – see you later
ご機嫌 (goukiken) – how are you
ほんま (hondai) – really

4. How to say "goodbye" in Japanese

Japanese people know how to say goodbye in many ways. The most common way to say goodbye in Japanese is to say "Aishiteru." This means "I hope to see you again." Saying goodbye in a more formal way is to say "Konbanwa." This means "Goodbye for now."

5. How to say "thank you" in Japanese

Japanese has a lot of polite phrases that are used when speaking to someone. One of the most common polite phrases is "thank you." When you're speaking to someone, always remember to say "thank you" at the end of your conversation. Here's how to say it in Japanese.

"Arigatou" (ありがとう) is the most common way to say "thank you" in Japanese. You can say it when you're thanking someone for something they've done, or when you just meet them. It's polite to say it when you're not really happy with something, but you're polite enough to say it.

If you're going to say "thank you" more than once in a conversation, it's best to use the phrase "mada arigatou" (まだありがとう) which means "still thank you." This phrase is used when you want to say thank you for more than one thing.

6. How to say "I am" in Japanese

In this article, we will be discussing the how to say "I am" in Japanese.

When speaking Japanese, the polite way to say "I am" is "Amae o kimasu" or "Kimi o aishiteru." The polite way to say "You are" is "Anata o kimasu" or "Kimi o aishiteru." The polite way to say "He is" is "Himitsu o kimasu" or "Kimi o aishiteru." The polite way to say "She is" is "Omae o kimasu" or "Kimi o aishiteru."

7. How to say "you are" in Japanese

Japanese verbs are conjugated differently depending on the subject. For instance, "you are" is "arimasu" in the informal tense. To say "you are" in the formal tense, you would say "arimasen." If the person you are speaking to is not the subject, you would say "kimasu" instead.

There are also different verb endings depending on the person you are speaking to. For instance, if you are speaking to your boss, you would say "hokori" instead of "hokorii." And finally, there are also different verb conjugations for children and adults. For children, the verb conjugation is the same as the informal tense, while adults use the formal tense.

8. How to say "this is" in Japanese

When you're learning Japanese, one of the first things you'll want to do is learn how to say "this is" in Japanese. "Kono wa" is the basic form of the phrase and it's used when you're introducing something. For example, if you're talking about your dog, you might say "This is my dog."

If you're talking about a place, you might say "This is my house."

If you're talking about something that's not alive, you might say "This is a rock."

If you're talking about something that is alive, you might say "This is a person."

If you're talking about something that is small, you might say "This is a toy."

If you're talking about something that is large, you might say "This is a car."

If you're talking about something that is expensive, you might say "This is a lot of money."

If you're talking about something that is cheap, you might say "This is a little money."

If you're talking about something that is complicated, you might say "This is a difficult task."

If you're talking about something that is easy, you might say "This is a simple task."

If you're talking about something that is dangerous, you might say "This is a dangerous place."

If you're talking about something that is friendly, you might say "This is a friendly animal."

If you're talking about something that is not friendly, you might say "This is not a friendly animal."

9. How to say "that is" in Japanese

Japanese has a number of words that end in -ta. For example, tabeta means "that is" and katawa means "that way". When you're trying to say these words, make sure to pronounce the -ta sound.
Here's an example:

Kotoba e tabeta. This is the word "that is".

Hajimemashita. You've arrived.

10. The Japanese word for "yes"

When speaking to someone in Japanese, the word for "yes" is "hai." However, there are a few variations depending on the situation.
If you are asking someone if they want something, you would say "kimochi desu" which means "do you want this?" If you are asking someone if they are okay with something, you would say "yasoo" which means "are you okay with this?"
If someone is agreeing to do something, you would say "ishii desu" which means "let's do this."

11. The Japanese word for "no"

The Japanese word for "no" is "muda." This word is often mispronounced by foreigners when they try to say Japanese words.

Muda is used when you want to decline an offer, decline an invitation, or decline an offer of help.

12. The Japanese word for "let's go"

The Japanese word for "let's go" is "yaru." When you want to indicate that you are ready to leave and go somewhere, you say "yaru."

13. The Japanese word for "stop"

The Japanese word for "stop" is "halt". When you hear this word, make sure to pronounce it correctly.

14. How to say "I have" in Japanese

Japanese word order is very different from English word order. In Japanese, "I have" is actually "Amae ga ita" where "Amae" is the subject and "ga" means "to have". For example, "Amae wa doko desu ka?" would be translated to "Do you have (something)?" In English, "I have" would be "Amae ga itai" where "Amae" is the subject and "ga" means "to have". For example, "Amae wa doko desu ka?" would be translated to "Do you have (something)?"

15. How to say "you have" in Japanese

In Japanese, "you have" is あなたに. あなたには is the informal form. あなたには means "for you." For example, you might say 来ないでください (lit. Please don't come), which means "Please don't come."
The polite form is 出ました (deました). 出ました means "I came." For example, you might say 試験が終わった (hituken ga owatta), which means "The exam is over."

16. The Japanese word for "pen"

The Japanese word for "pen" is "pen."

17. The Japanese word for "paper"

The Japanese word for "paper" is "hashi." When speaking Japanese, it's important to be able to pronounce the individual Japanese phonemes correctly. For example, the "a" in "father" is pronounced "a-da," and the "o" in "hot" is pronounced "o-da."
It's also important to be able to pronounce Japanese words in the correct order. For example, the word "banana" is usually pronounced "ba-na-na." However, if you're speaking to a Japanese person and they say "banana," they actually mean "hashi-banana." This is because the word "banana" is made up of the Japanese word for "hashi" (hashi-banana) and the word "na" (na-banana).

18. The Japanese word for "toothbrush"

The Japanese word for toothbrush is "toisutobu." When learning how to say Japanese words, it's important to remember the different pronunciations for each word. This is especially important when learning how to say Japanese words related to hygiene, such as "toisutobu" for toothbrush.

19. The Japanese word for "toilet"

The Japanese word for "toilet" is "toilets."

20. The Japanese word for "clock"

The Japanese word for "clock" is kakkoi.

21. The Japanese word for "watch"

The Japanese word for "watch" is "watchman."

When you arrive in Japan and start to learn the language, you'll notice that there are many words that don't have direct English equivalents. One of these words is "watchman."

A watchman is a person who is responsible for ensuring that a building or other structure is safe. So in Japanese, the word for "watchman" is さがしもの. This word is used to refer to someone who is responsible for monitoring something, especially in a professional capacity.

The word さがしもの is made up of the kanji characters for "watch" and "man."

22. The Japanese word for "key"

The Japanese word for "key" is "kagi." When pronouncing this word, you should say the "g" sound and then the "e" sound at the end.

23. The Japanese word for "money"

The Japanese word for "money" is ben. When learning how to say Japanese words, it's important to know the word for "money." This is especially helpful if you're going to be speaking with Japanese customers.

24. The Japanese word for "house"

The Japanese word for "house" is "nasu."

25. The Japanese word for "truck"

The Japanese word for "truck" is kuruma. When you hear people in Japan say "kuruma," they are actually saying "truck."

26. The Japanese word for "car"

The Japanese word for "car" is karuta.

27. The Japanese word for "child"

The Japanese word for "child" is "kodomo."

28. The Japanese word for "animal"

The Japanese word for "animal" is "Kemono." To say this word in Japanese, put the "a" sound in front of the "mono" sound. For example, "Kemono a," means "animal."

29. The Japanese word for "food"

旨 (maa) - This word means "tasty," "delicious," or "good." You might say things like, "This food is really maa."

食 (shoku) - This word means "to eat," "to drink," or "to receive food." You might say things like, "I'll have shoku for lunch."

ご飯 (gohan) - This word means "rice." You might say things like, "I'm going to make gohan for dinner."

30. The Japanese word for "life"

In Japanese, the word for "life" is "kitto," which is pronounced "kah-tee-toh." This word is used as the foundation of many expressions, such as "kitto arukitai" (meaning "to have high hopes for"), "kitto anata" (meaning "you're the only one"), and "kitto imasu" (meaning "I think so").



We hope you enjoyed our blog post on how to pronounce Japanese words. Japanese is a difficult language to learn, but with a little practice, you will be able to speak it like a native in no time! In this post, we outlined the basics of how to pronounce Japanese words and also included a pronunciation guide. We also included a list of Japanese words and their English translations, so that you can practice pronouncing them without any trouble. We hope that this post was helpful, and we wish you the best of luck as you continue your journey to learn Japanese!