Lesson 1 - Vocabulary:
Greeting and Introducing
(photo
by paulsynnott used
under terms of Creative Commons license.)
The system of writing Japanese used in this course is called the Hepburn system. Pronunciation of most of the letters presents no difficulty to an American. Those letters or combinations of letters considered difficult to pronounce will be explained in this section of the lessons.
In this lesson you may have difficulty with the following:
1. When the letter n is the last letter in a word, it may sound somewhat like the ng in "sing." Listen:
Miura-san
2. When double letters appear in a Japanese word, as in konnichiwa the sound is repeated. Think of double letters as having a hyphen between them and pronounce both letters distinctly. Listen:
Kon-nichiwa
3. The letters with a bar above them, ō and ā are pronounced longer than ones without a bar. To help you hear the difference, Iisten to a pair of Japanese names:
Sako / Satō
4.
When i
and u are
written with
a slash mark
through them, they are
slurred, or barely
pronounced. Listen to
the
difference between the
i and
the i in
hajimemashite. Now listen
to the difference
between the u
and u in
the name
Kurusu.
|
ohayō gozaimas |
good morning |
|
konnichiwa |
good day |
|
kombanwa |
good evening |
|
kochirawa |
this (person) |
|
-san |
Mr. ; Mrs. ;
Miss |
|
des |
is; am;
are |
|
hajimemash |
how do
you do
|
|
dōzo yorosh |
pleased to
meet you
|
|
kochira koso
|
the pleasure
is mine
|
|
dewa mata
|
see you
later |
|
jā mata
|
see you
later |