Job Discussion Forums

japanman · Joined: 24 Nov 2005 Posts: 281 Location: England

Japanese isn't that hard to pronounce, compared to other Asian languages that is. Although most foreigners speech leaves a lot to be desired. Mine is far from perfect but it's something i've been trying to work on recently. This came from listening to other foreigners and realising just how bad their's is. However, there are still a few words Jaoanese people have problems understand me saying. they are mainly words that include the sounds ryo and ryu. Words that spring to mind are
ryokan- inn
ryouri- cookery
enryo- reserve/restraint
ryouko- holiday
May have got long and short vowels wrong in a couple of those though.
Do othere people have the same problem? Any other words that create problems?

kdynamic · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 562 Location: Japan

You pretty much said it: rya/ryu/ryo are the hardest sounds for me. And it's very easy to mess up long and short vowels.

I think, however, the most important thing to work on if you want your Japanese to sound good is intonation.

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

personally I found the rhythm and long combinations pretty hard to get around
eg. atatakakata

TK4Lakers · Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 159

I consider myself to have pretty good pronunciation compared to other foreigners, but these words are pretty difficult sometimes:

-kawaii (I use to not emphasize the ii part)
-chui (again, the i)

-nyoro nyoro
-(the name) Yasuyo

kdynamic · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 562 Location: Japan

Neongene · Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 51

canuck · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 1921 Location: Japan

kdynamic · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 562 Location: Japan

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

canuck · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 1921 Location: Japan

kdynamic · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 562 Location: Japan

Hahah yeah I hate romaji too, and it took me a minute to figure out how many a's and k's that word should have... Confused

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Atatamete is hard- it just about never comes out of my mouth correctly, and I have to say it every time I buy a scone at Starbucks and want it heated. Atatakakatta/ atatakakattara are even worse.

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

Good responses everyone. And I completely agree. ryo...etc and alsol the long and short vowels.

The name Kotarou used to be impossible for me to say, but I thing I got it down now. Smile

Also Jun-kun never sounded right. I think you're supposed to close your mouth at the end of ん

kdynamic · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 562 Location: Japan

ん is an interesting character in that it covers at least three distinct sounds. In English orthography they would be N, M, and NG (or simply a slight nasalization). Which pronunciation is correct depends on the phonetic context. It's easy to think of it as N, but it's not the simple. This is very noticeable in words like shimbun, genin, etc.

Anyway, when I say Jun-kun, I naturally say something more link jung-kun or else it sounds weird and is hard to say.

japanman · Joined: 24 Nov 2005 Posts: 281 Location: England

Also, clusters of vowels together can be fricky. They tend to merge accidently into a dipthong. I had a student called aoi, never could get her name right.
Someone before said the intonation is tricky. Do you mean the exact pitch of each sound? Such as the difference between hashi for bridge and hashi for chopsticks? That kind of thing is tough.