それでは。

Searching here in Japanesepod101 I found how Mizu is pronounced but for me the “z” on Mizu and the “s” on Misu sounds exactly the same!!! The difference in pronuntiation is just Mísu (mistake) Mizú (water).

Ganbatte Kudasai

And now my doubt is how to pronounce Mizu. I have learned how to say Misu and Mitsu…but Mizu??? for me sounds like Misu

Ja Mata

Joan.

* Is there any consistency in the pronunciation of ず　versus　づ ?
My first guess is that ず should be like “zu”, i.e., a voiced “su”;
and づ should be like “dzu”, i.e., a voiced “tsu”. However, I have
heard a lot of exceptions, so I’m wondering what the rules are,
if any.

* In English, vowels on the non-stressed syllable often reduce to
a schwa. It sounds like Japanese does not do that, is that correct?
I think this must be a common mistake that Japanese learners make
(I have even heard Peter-san do it).

* What are the conventions for when vowel sounds are dropped?
I have noticed つ is often pronounced only as “ts”,
す as “s”, and many times the vowels at the ends of words are
very faint, indiscernable, or even clearly omitted.
For example, とうちゃく　(arrival) pronounced “tou-chak”.

* You mentioned the は pronounced as わ.　I also know of へ pronounced as え and を pronounced as お. Are there any others? What are the
conditions under which these hiragana are pronounced differently?

マッカーシー　エリック

Steve from St. Louis

Kriffix, you might find this site useful http://sp.cis.iwate-u.ac.jp/sp/lesson/j/doc/accentl.html I think it would be better if some kind of extended version of this was in the learning centre, and maybe developed over time, since the lesson format isn’t ideal. The best way to develop your accent is by shadowing as much as possible.

I teach actors how to do accents and dialects for theatre and film. Teaching the pronunciation of these sounds is something I specialize in. For Japanese /do/ and /ro/, linguistically speaking, the difference is HOW the sound is made. /do/ STOPS the sound for longer, whereas /ro/ is a TAP, so it’s more like a trilled R made at the front of the mouth with only ONE stroke. The speed and lightness of the “thumps” as Eric-san (sensei?) is the significant difference.

I do think that it helps to stop thinking of the /ro/ “R” as an R. It really isn’t. As you can hear from Naomi-sensei, in initial positions, it is often closer to /l/ than to other sounds. In English, the only thing that we have that is close to this tapped sound is how North Americans say the /t/ sound of words like “better” when speaking in quick, flowing speech. So the /ra/ sound is perhaps similar to the end of an expression like “I gotta”, when said quickly and effortlessly in the North American fashion. It’s NOT a /d/ sound, though it is voiced.

The little tsu that makes the “geminate” (twinned) consonant sound–this is mostly about TIMING, and I found that having the metronome sound in the background made it very difficult to hear the timing differences between the words. That was unfortunate. If you think of there being a pair of consonants e.g. batta (for “butter”), you make the first /t/ and stop on it, and then release the second /t/ into the second syllable. In this way, the little tsu is taking the consonant sound at the beginning of the kana that follows it, and tacks it onto the kana before. batta is bat–ta. It’s that hesitation that really counts.

I think that this little tsu is much easier for non-Japanese before a stop sound than it is when Japanese pairs non-stop sounds, like /s/ or /sh/ as in “zasshi”. Because the first consonant continues, rather than stops, it is harder to hear the subtle length cue in other speakers, and harder to get the timing right yourself when you’re saying it.

Finally, isn’t the second syllable in “pronunciation” said like NUN and not like NOUN? OK, I checked Mirriam Webster online — http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pronunciation and they do give BOTH pronunciations. But hey, the word isn’t spelled pronoUnciation, is it? It’s all in how you pronounce it, and if that’s what’s right for you, Eric-san, then I guess that’s ok!
It’s just not how _I_ would choose to pronounce it, that’s all…

Eric in Toronto

ぞーきー

Happy New Years, take care~!!

-ケイト

Pronounciation is all well and nice, but there`s plenty of resources around for this.
How about a lesson on intonation? Would i be correct in saying there has yet to be a lesson on words that are spelt the same in hiragana but infact have subtleties. (perhaps it belongs more in the intermediate section, currently my level)
But i think this is such an important thing for refining and sounding fluent!
Rain vs Candy and Bridge vs edge vs chopsticks etc.
“HAshi wo kau tame ni haSHI no haSHI wo watatta!”
(feel free to use that hahaha)

-Kriffix