Japanese Language Culture Food - Learn Japanese pronunciation.

Reading order - the table below should be read in the following order:
- read each a, i, u, e, o basic Japanese sound section from top to bottom and then from right to left:
- then read each ya, yu, yo combination Japanese sound section from top to bottom and then from right to left:
  - ie: kya kyu kyo
Basic Japanese sounds - each colored cell of the table below contains a Japanese sound written in romaji, ie: ka . The Basic Japanese sounds are combined with English words to show the pronunciation of each sound. The romaji sound a is pronounced the same as o in the English word bop . Additional examples:
- ie: k + a = ka = cot ( co is the pronunciation of ka )
- ie: n + u = nu = new ( new is the pronunciation of nu )
- ie: r + o = ro = road ( roa is the pronunciation of ro )
- ie: w + a = wa = want ( wa is the pronunciation of wa )
Combination Japanese sounds - to form these sounds, pick a consonant from any of the horizontal rows (blue) at the top of each ya, yu, yo section and a ya, yu, yo sound from the vertical row (blue) on the right. Use the same pronunciation as the Basic Japanese sounds when making these combinations. Note: there are no English equivalents for the combination sounds, as keeya and nyou are not English words:
- ie: k + ya = kya = ki + ya = keep + yacht = keeya
- ie: n + yu = nyu = n + yu = ten + you = nyou
Exceptions
- ie: shi , chi , tsu , ji - see each example in the table
  - tsu is pronounced as in the borrowed Japanese word tsunami
- ie: fu , wa - two ways to pronounce
- ie: sha , shu , sho , cha , chu , cho - all pronounce the "y" but drop the "y" when writing in romaji
Sound equivalents - each sound has a romaji and a hiragana and a katakana sound equivalent:
- ie: sound "bop" = romaji "a" = hiragana あ = katakana ア

n	w	r	y	m	h	n	t	s	k
n ten	wa want hot	ra rot	ya yacht	ma mop	ha hot	na nod	ta top	sa sod	ka cot	a bop	a
		ri read		mi meet	hi heed	ni need	chi cheap	shi sheet	ki keep	i pee	i
		ru rude	yu you	mu moon	fu food hoop	nu new	tsu tsu	su suit	ku coop	u too	u
		re red		me met	he head	ne net	te tent	se set	ke keg	e pet	e
	wo low	ro road	yo yo-yo	mo mode	ho hose	no nose	to toe	so soap	ko cone	o low	o
					b		d	z	g
					ba box		da dot	za resolve	ga got		a
					bi bee			ji jeep	gi soggy		i
					bu boot			zu zoo	gu goon		u
					be bet		de debt	ze zen	ge get		e
					bo boat		do dope	zo zone	go goat		o
					p
					pa pot						a
					pi peak						i
					pu poop						u
					pe pet						e
					po post						o
		r		m	h	n	ch	sh	k
		rya		mya	hya	nya	cha	sha	kya		ya
		ryu		myu	hyu	nyu	chu	shu	kyu		yu
		ryo		myo	hyo	nyo	cho	sho	kyo		yo
					b			j	g
					bya			jya	gya		ya
					byu			jyu	gyu		yu
					byo			jyo	gyo		yo
					p
					pya						ya
					pyu						yu
					pyo						yo

	The consonants and vowels used to form Japanese sounds - read romaji
	Basic Japanese sounds (click each romaji sound for more information)
	Combination Japanese sounds
	Exceptions

Next step - Learn some basic conversation.


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