The concept of long and short vowel sounds is an important concept to understand when learning Japanese pronunciation. Vowels can be lengthened, and there is a very distinct difference between long and short vowels. Note that in this lesson, a macron (small horizontal line over a vowel) denotes a long vowel that we hold for twice as long as a regular vowel. double vowels and vowel pairs Sounds like... ああ aa あー ahh いい ii いー ee うう uu うー  ooh ええ ee えい ei えー ehh おお oo おう ou おー ohh In many cases, whether the vowel is long or short will determine the meaning of the word. Let's illustrate this with some examples: かど カード kado kaado "corner" "card" in the case of kaado ... Show more

You try your hand at Japanese at the ramen shop, and ask for "plain" ramen...but your bowl comes back covered in clams! Turns our you asked for asari ("clams"); when you meant assari ("plain"). in Japanese, sometimes you will see double consonants in the middle of a word, like (kk, ss, tt, cc, etc.). Here, you need to pause in the middle as we take extra time to pronounce double constanents. As with the example of "asari" and "assari", the double consonants can really change the meaning of words, so it is key to not overlook them. Did you know about these very similar sounding words? にし (nishi)"west"  and  にっし (nisshi) "daily report スパイ (supai) "spy"  and  すっぱい (suppai) "sour" かた (kata) "shoulder"  and かった (katta)... Show more

Are your eyes failing you, or is that hiragana character tinier than the other one? In Japanese, since there is a limit of hiragana characters, there is the need for some combinations. There are in total, 33 combination sounds that are made using small ya, yu, and yo. The following are examples of these combinations: KYA KYU KYO example : きゃく kyaku ( "customer" ), きゅう  kyuu  ("nine" ) SHA SHU SHO example : しゃかい  shakai  ("society" ) ; しゅみ  shumi  ("hobby" ) CHA CHU CHO example : ちゃいろ  chairo  ("brown" ) ;  ちゅんちゅん  chunchun  ("chirp chirp" ) NYA NYU NYO example : ぐにゃぐにゃ  gunyagunya  ("crooked" ) HYA HYU HYO example : ... Show more

This Japanese All About lesson will teach you five critical words and phrases you need to know to get around Japan unscathed-and without offending anyone who might be helpful to you. You'll learn how to say "please," "yes," and "thanks,"-and, just in case you do overstep your bounds, you'll also learn "I'm sorry" in Japanese. Sumimasen (すみません) "Excuse me" / "I'm sorry" / "Thanks"Sumimasen is a versatile phrase with a few different meanings depending on the situation, the closest of which is "excuse me." Doumo (どうも) "Thanks" / "Hi" Domo is a simple and easy way to say "thank you" as well as greet someone. Douzo (どうぞ) "Please go ahead" / "Please" If you're offering something to someone or would like someone to go ahead of... Show more

This Japanese All About lesson will help you with your Japanese pronunciation skills. You'll learn about the fourteen Japanese consonants and five vowels you'll need to know and about how to handle words with multiple syllables-with no stress.  Sounds and Syllables Compared with other languages, Japanese has a relatively small set of sounds, with only fourteen consonants (k, s, t, n, h, m, y, r, w, g, z, d, b, and p) and five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u). Japanese is made up of syllables, which are made up of a consonant and a vowel. The only exceptions are the vowels and the n sound, which stand alone.  Stress In Japanese, each syllable is held the same length of time and given equal stress. Stressing only certain... Show more

Mina-san, Marky here! As you can probably tell, JapanesePod101.com is truly a labor of love for us! We love learning and teaching Japanese and honestly, we’re having a lot of fun. But we’re always trying to think of ways to improve what we’re doing or thinking “how can we do something different?” And often the best ideas come from you all! Introducing 2 new Tracks added to the Premium Feed! The Review Track A lot of people have asked us to leave some blank space when introducing vocab so they could have some time to repeat and practice. Well, if you’ve been with us a while, you know we tried a while back. We had some good feedback about that, but it dragged the podcasts on with silence and ate up time for going through... Show more

Learn advanced Japanese with JapanesePod101.com. Today we introduce you to Japanese riddles! This is sure to boggle your mind. Not only did we bring you a great riddle, we brought in a true pro to do the reading! You don't want to miss this chance to get used to a type of voice you probably don't get to hear everyday. Answer in the comments! Good Luck!

Learn Japanese from other listeners of JapanesePod101.com!! Today we want to thank Minty Fresh-san and Frank-san from Canada for providing two great learning resources! Minty Fresh-san provided us with this hilarious video! I didn't know if they were serious or not, until half way through. Very, very funny! (first video) You definately want to see this! Thank you Minty Fresh-san! Please keep up the great participation! Frank-san provided us with this great article related to "Osu". This is an amazing article, well written, informative and well worth the read! We highly recommend that you check it out. Thank you Frank-san! Please keep the great participation coming! Appropriate Usage of "Osu" by: Rob Redmond

Today Natsuko and Sakura said: Osaka(Oosaka)・おおさか・大阪 Located in the Kansai region, located in the middle of Honshu Island, it is the third largest city in Japan with a population of 2.7 million. Osaka is the historical commercial captial of Japan. People are proud of and speak with a distinct dialect, Oosaka-ben, akan and honma are two popular words.

In today's lesson Sakura said, "Ohayou, Sapporo!" Sapporo・さっぽろ・札幌 - located in and is the capital of Hokkaido Prefecture, the second largest island and the largest prefecture of Japan. Famous for Sapporo beer, miso-flavored ramen, and the Sapporo Snow Festival held every year in February. Thank you for listening!