Pronouncing Vowels?

M

madformoney

後輩

21 Feb 2008

2

0

• 21 Feb 2008

• #1

I've been trying to learn Japanese in my free time, and I know these basic vowels:

あ
い
う
え
お

But how do you pronounce these? I've been searching for a week but I cant find anywhere that explains it!

Thanks to anyone that can help me.

 

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

Moderator

Donor

Twenty-year veteran

8 Aug 2005

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3,727

• 21 Feb 2008

• #2

did a quick search and came up with http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/m.rowley/resources.html

I remember seeing a few sites with pronunciation guides including audio samples, but i can't think of the url off-hand. Try Youtube, I remember there being a kind of a song or something. just search for "hiragana" or "katakana"

 

M

madformoney

後輩

21 Feb 2008

2

0

• 21 Feb 2008

• Thread starter
• #3

Well that site made no sence to meﾂ、but i search up hiragana and I found a site.


But when they say pronounced as "aa" or "ee" do they mean long vowels? Or not?

 

Tomii515

やった～！

16 Feb 2006

1,206

21

• 21 Feb 2008

• #4

Uh, i'll try to explain it I guess:

a = 'a' in 'father'
i = 'ee' in 'meet'
u = 'oo' in 'moon' (but ur lips are spead like saying 'ee' rather then rounded)
e = 'e' in 'met'
o = 'o' in 'no' (but you don't sya the sort of 'oo' sound at the end of the 'o' in 'no')
aa = 'a' but longer
ii = 'i' but longer
uu = 'u' but longer
ee/ei = 'e' but longer
oo/ou = 'o' but longer

basically?

:|

 

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

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8 Aug 2005

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• 21 Feb 2008

• #5

I try to avoid equating Japanese vowels to English ones, because they are only similar. Further complicating the matter is the fact that English speakers don't all pronounce them the same way. The best approach is to find actual recordings of native speakers and try to mimic them.

This is the video I was talking about, since the site with hundreds of links to study resources made no sense.

 

Nagato

後輩

14 Feb 2007

58

4

• 21 Feb 2008

• #6

Here for more sound, like dakuon (more convenient using opera)

Basic Pronunciation of Japanese Alphabet

 

Tomii515

やった～！

16 Feb 2006

1,206

21

• 21 Feb 2008

• #7

nice gaijin said:

I try to avoid equating Japanese vowels to English ones, because they are only similar. Further complicating the matter is the fact that English speakers don't all pronounce them the same way. The best approach is to find actual recordings of native speakers and try to mimic them.

Click to expand...

yeah, youre right.
i would have used IPA or x-sampa, but i dunno if he knows that so...