Learn to Mark the Change in Japanese Pronunciation with Diacritics
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| Hi everyone! I’m Michelle Yamamoto. | |
| Welcome back to The Ultimate Japanese Pronunciation Guide at JapanesePod101.com. | |
| You've learned 46 basic kana sounds so far. In this lesson, you'll learn 23 additional sounds. The characters are familiar, but they are marked. And this changes the pronunciation. | |
| So, now you can pronounce these hiragana characters, right? | |
| か、き、く、け、こ | |
| What about these? | |
| が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご | |
| When this little mark is added to the kana, it makes a different sound. | |
| が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご | |
| The formal term for this in Japanese is "dakuten", but it's usually called "tenten", which means "dot dot". | |
| The tenten makes a sound voiced – let's look at how this works in practice so you can see what I mean! | |
| The first one is... | |
| が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご | |
| These "g" sounds are based on the initial k-group か、き、く、け、こ. | |
| When "tenten" is added to each kana, the "k" sound changes to "g". "k" is not voiced, whereas "g" is. Let's hear them again. | |
| が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご | |
| Repeat after me. | |
| が | |
| ぎ | |
| ぐ | |
| げ | |
| ご | |
| Let's hear some words. | |
| かぎ, key, か・ぎ、かぎ | |
| かがみ, mirror, か・が・み、 かがみ | |
| ぎ in かぎ and が in かがみ is a nasal sound. | |
| ぎ（nasal "gi") | |
| が (nasal "ga") | |
| When you have a "g" sound such as が or ぎ in the middle of a word or at the end of a word, it's sometimes pronounced with this nasal sound. | |
| Lately, many people, especially young people, don't use this nasal sound anymore. | |
| But, you might hear an announcer say かぎ or かがみ on TV. | |
| ぎ in かぎ is a nasal sound. | |
| ぎ in ぎんこう is not a nasal sound. | |
| Okay, here's another example. | |
| がむ gum、が・む、がむ | |
| かがみ mirror、か・が・み、かがみ | |
| が in かがみ is a nasal sound. | |
| が in がむ is not nasal. | |
| In the past, when you have a "g" sound such as が or ぎ in the middle of a word or at the end of a word, you pronounce it が or ぎ as a nasal sound. | |
| This sound is becoming less common, however, especially among young people. Instead, people will pronounce the consonants with a hard "g" sound. | |
| But, you might still hear a news reporter or anchor say かぎ or かがみ on TV." | |
| Next up is... | |
| ざ、じ、ず、ぜ、ぞ | |
| "They are based on さ、し、す、せ、そ | |
| " | |
| "When "tenten" are added, the s-group sounds become a z-group. | |
| " | |
| ざ、じ、ず、ぜ、ぞ | |
| The exception is じ. し becomes "ji", not "zi". | |
| Repeat after me. | |
| ざ | |
| じ | |
| ず | |
| ぜ | |
| ぞ | |
| Next up is | |
| だ、ぢ、づ、で、ど | |
| "These are based on た、ち、つ、て、と | |
| " | |
| "When "tenten" are added, the "t" sound changes to "d". | |
| " | |
| だ、ぢ、づ、で、ど | |
| The exceptions are ぢ and づ. | |
| "ち becomes ぢ (ji), not "di". | |
| つ becomes づ (zu), not "du."" | |
| Repeat after me. | |
| だ | |
| ぢ | |
| づ | |
| で | |
| ど | |
| Did you notice that we have already had these same sounds, "ji" and "zu" in another row? | |
| They appeared in the "z" row that we learned before. | |
| "Both pairs of "ji" and "zu" sound exactly the same. | |
| But, when it comes to writing, they have different kana, such as..." | |
| じかん time, じ・か・ん、じかん | |
| はなぢ nose bleed、は・な・ぢ、はなぢ | |
| じ in じかん and ぢin はなぢ are the same sound, but different kana. | |
| ちず map, ち・ず、ちず | |
| きづく notice, き・づ・く、きづく | |
| ず in ちず and づ in きづく are the same sound, but different kana. | |
| We use ぢ and づ in a few words, but じ and ず are more often used in writing. | |
| Next up is... | |
| ば、び、ぶ、べ、ぼ | |
| "They are based on は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ | |
| " | |
| "When "tenten" are added, the "h" sound changes to a "b" sound. | |
| " | |
| ば、び、ぶ、べ、ぼ | |
| Repeat after me. | |
| ば | |
| び | |
| ぶ | |
| べ | |
| ぼ | |
| There is one more set of sounds which is based on は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ, which is... | |
| ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、ぽ | |
| This little circle mark is added, and the "h" sound changes to "p". | |
| ぱ、ぴ、ぷ、ぺ、ぽ | |
| The little circle mark is formally called "handakuten", but usually called "maru", meaning "circle." | |
| Repeat after me. | |
| ぱ | |
| ぴ | |
| ぷ | |
| ぺ | |
| ぽ | |
| Here's a little pronunciation tip for ばびぷべぼ and ぱびぷぺぽ. | |
| In English when you pronounce "b" and "p" sounds, such as "bat" or "put", you breathe out a small puff of air when you pronounce them. "bat" and "put". In standard Japanese pronunciation, however, the air released is significantly less. | |
| So, try holding your hand in front of your mouth and pronounce ばびぶべぼ or ぱびぷぺぽ again! Do you feel any breath on your hand? Make sure that you're not making a puff of breath. | |
| Repeat after me. | |
| ば | |
| び | |
| ぶ | |
| べ | |
| ぼ | |
| ぱ | |
| ぴ | |
| ぷ | |
| ぺ | |
| ぽ | |
| You've learned 69 sounds so far! You should be familiar with almost all the Japanese sounds now. | |
| In the next lesson, you'll combine sounds using the や、ゆ、よ that you've already learned in lesson 4. Review these sounds before the next lesson. | |
| And record yourself to perfect your pronunciation! | |
| Have you been practicing in the mirror? Or have you found a better tactic? Share your experience in the comments. | |
| See you in the next Ultimate Japanese Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
25 Comments
HideHello Listeners! What do you think about this Lesson, was it helpful for you?
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your like! 👍 We hope you enjoy learning with us! If you ever have any questions, please let us know. :)
Kind regards,
Levente
Team JapanesePod101.com
👍
Hi Yan,
Thanks for your comment!
It is said that they are often pronounced as [dz]/[ʤ] for the initial letter or after /ɴ/ sound and pronounced as [z]/[ʒ] after a vowel.
But we normally don't listen that closely.
Thank you for studying with us!
Erica
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hello! Do you touch the roof of a mouth when pronounce “z” sounds? In other words, do you pronounce them as dza, dji, dzu, dze, dzo or za, ji, zu, ze, zo? Thank you!
I found it useful if before you begin to speak Japanese to review all the sounds at once and then they are fresh in your mind
i notticed an error... she said `hu` instead of `fu` when explaing the `b` sound
Hi Richard,
I'm glad to hear that it now makes sense.
Thank you,
Jae
Team JapanesePod101.com
Thank you for the example of かがみ. I have heard the different pronunciation of が in the Absolute Beginner Series Season 1, but had no idea why. Now it seems like maybe Masato is just older than the others. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
meama さん、
konnichiwa. :smile:
Thank you for your positive comment.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com
very good thanks:heart::heart::heart::heart::thumbsup: