Japanese has five vowels (a,i,o,e,o) and nine consonants (k,s,t,n,h,m,y,r,w). There are totaling 45 basic sounds consisting of the 5 vowels alone and combinations of the consonants and the vowels. Some consonants have slightly different derivatives, but you don’t have to learn them specifically, as once you get used to the basic sounds, you will easily follow them. Japanese words are combinations of these sounds.

The English alphabet sound changes from word to word. For example, “take.” The pronunciation of the “a” sound changes, as in “talk” and “tablet,” or, “take” is pronounced differently from “talk” and “tablet.” However, in Japanese “take” has only one pronunciation. which is a combination of “ta” and “ke” (banboo). In other words, there is only one sound per letter in Japanese.

There are alphabetic sounds that are not used in Japanese, such as  “c” and “q,” for which “k” is used generally. In Japanese, there is no “v” sound, and the similar sound “b” is used instead. Eexample: viza → biza. Similarly, “l” is replaced by “r”. Example: milk → miruku, Japanese has no single consonant sound, so the consonant is followed by an easily pronounceable vowel sound to compensate. In this case “u.”

There are some notations unique to the Japanese language. One is the use of the long sound with a “-” marking. Example: cofee → ko-hi-. The other is a choked sound, which in English is called a double consonants. Example: hat → hatto. The “nn” sound has a special use. No word begins with this sound.

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