Why Pronunciation Seems Hard (But Isn’t)
English makes you deal with silent letters, shifting vowels, and words that look identical but sound completely different. It’s no wonder learners hesitate.
Japanese is designed differently: sounds are predictable. Once you learn the handful of rules, you can comfortably rely on them.
The Sound System
Everything starts with five vowels. Put a consonant in front, and you have five new valid sounds.
The Foundation: Five Vowels
Everything starts with five short, steady vowels. Keep them crisp:
あ (a)
“ah” • father
い (i)
“ee” • machine
う (u)
“oo” • scoop
え (e)
“eh” • bent
お (o)
“oh” • oh
あ
a
い
i
う
u
え
e
お
o
か
ka
き
ki
く
ku
け
ke
こ
ko
さ
sa
し
shi*
す
su
せ
se
そ
so
た
ta
ち
chi*
つ
tsu*
て
te
と
to
な
na
に
ni
ぬ
nu
ね
ne
の
no
は
ha
ひ
hi
ふ
fu*
へ
he
ほ
ho
ま
ma
み
mi
む
mu
め
me
も
mo
や
ya
ゆ
yu
よ
yo
ら
ra
り
ri
る
ru
れ
re
ろ
ro
わ
wa
を
wo*
ん
n*
See how neat this is? Each column is one of those five vowels, and each row is a consonant pairing with them. Don't see the pattern? It might take a minute to click.
Variations worth noting include:
・ し = “shi” not “si”
・ ち = “chi,” つ = “tsu”
・ ふ = soft “fu,” like blowing air
・ を is more often pronounced “o”
・ ん can be "n" or "m"
Look at that — with just these patterns, you can already see what makes up most Japanese words. English never gives you this level of consistency.
Don’t worry about memorizing the full chart yet—we're just looking at the patterns right now. Now let's take a look at some real words.
Let’s put it together (Read left to right)
ねこ
ne + ko
“neh-koh” (cat)
すし
su + shi
“soo-shee” (sushi)
かみ
ka + mi
“kah-mee” (paper)
In the next lesson, we'll take a look at the major writing systems in Japanese, and how they all fit together.