rhyme this word exactly with
singer. It is as if we should spell the former word
fingger to show that we make first the back nasal sound (
ng) and then the back non-nasal sound (
g). Since you are not used to using this
ng sound at the beginning of a stressed syllable in English, you may want to practice it in the following way. Hold the tip of your tongue down with your finger or one of those flat tongue-depressors doctors use. Then try to say the sound
n as in
nine. You will feel the tip of your tongue try to come up, but keep it down and make the back part of the tongue do the work. You have then made the
ng sound. All you have to do after that is to train the tip of your tongue so you will not have to hold it down with a tongue depressor while making this sound. The Japanese
g in the middle of a word, then, is an
n made with the back of the tongue. If you find this sound too difficult, just use your English
g in all positions. You will not quite be talking Standard Japanese, but then neither do lots of Japanese! Here are some examples of the two kinds of
g:
| g- [g] | -g [-ng] |
| 学校 gakkō school | 小学校 shogakkō primary school |
| 銀 gin silver | 金銀 kingin gold and silver |
| 蛾 ga moth | …が … ga* but [subject particle] |
| 15 jū-go* fifteen | 銃後 jūgo non-combatant (status); behind the guns |
| 1,005 sen-go* 1005 | 戦後 sengo postwar |
* Exceptions!
The word gogo ‘p.m., afternoon’ shows both kinds: [go-ngo].
Another sound that may cause you trouble is ts. Unlike Japanese t (dental!), this sound usually starts at the alveolar ridge like an English t. It normally occurs only before the vowel u, and between the t and the u there is a slight hiss represented by the s. This sound does not occur initially in English, except for a few rare words like tsetse fly. However, you sometimes hear it in rapid speech: ts cool today (for it is cool today), ts all right with me (for it is all right with me). You may tend to slide over the t and only pronounce the s; this will cause confusion, because tsu and su distinguish a number of words, for example:
| s | ts |
| 隅 sumi inside corner, angle | 罪 tsumi guilt |
| する suru does | 釣る tsuru fishes |
| 住む sumu resides | つむ tsumu to pile up |
| 粕 kasu dregs | 勝つ katsu wins |
| すずき suzuki sea bass | つづき tsuzuki continuing; sequel |
Notice that the vowel u gets unvoiced or dropped when there is a following voiceless consonant:
| s | ts |
| 好き suki [s-ki] likable | 月 tsuki [ts-ki] moon |
| 進む susumu [s-su-mu] advances | 包む tsutsumu [ts-tsu-mu] wraps up |
| すすき susuki [s-su-ki] pampas grass | つつき tsutsuki [ts-tsu-ki] pecking, biting |
After you have practiced on the difference between tsu and su for a while, you might try these tongue-twisters:
| すすみつづけました | susumi-tsuzukemashita | continued to advance |
| つつみつづけました | tsutsumi tsuzukemashita | continued to wrap up |
The thing to remember about the syllable tsu is: DON’T OMIT THE t.
In addition to the simple consonants are the combinations ky, gy, py, by, my, ny, and hy. (There is also ry, for which see below, 1.8.) These are pronounced somewhat as are the corresponding English sounds in cute, gew-gaw or regular, rebuke, music, and Hugh, provided you distinguish Hugh from you). In English, these combinations are usually followed by a vowel corresponding to Japanese u, but in Japanese they are also followed by a and o. For example, byōin [byo-o-i-n] ‘hospital’ and biyōin [bi-yo-o-i-n] ‘beauty shop’ sound similar but differ in that the former has the combination of b and y whereas these consonants are in separate syllables in the latter. Here are some examples:
| 客車 kyakusha [kya-ku-sha] | passenger car |
| 郵便局 yūbinkyoku [yu-u-bi-ng-kyo-ku] | post office |
| 急行 kyūkō [kyu-u-ko-o] | express (train) |
| 逆 gyaku [gya-ku] | reverse |
| 実業家 jitsugyōka [ji-tsu-gyo-o-ka] | businessman |
| 牛肉 gyūniku [gyu-u-ni-ku] | beef |
| 八百 happyaku [ha-p-pya-ku] | eight hundred |
| 発表 happyō [ha-p-pyo-o] | presentation |
| ピューと pyū to [pyu-u-to] | with a hiss (like a bullet) |
| 三百 sanbyaku [sa-m-bya-ku] | three hundred |
| 病気 byōki [byo-o-ki] | ill |
| ビューロー byūrō [byu-u-ro-o] | bureau |
| 山脈 sanmyaku [sa-m-mya-ku] | mountain range |
| 明晩 myōban [myo-o-ba-N] | tomorrow evening |
| ミューズ myūzu [myu-u-zu] | muse |
| ニャー nyā [nya-a] | meow |
| 尿 nyō [nyo-o] | urine |
| 牛乳 gyūnyū [gyu-u-nyu-u] | milk |
| 百 hyaku [hya-ku] | hundred |
| 標準 hyōjun [hyo-o-ju-N] | standard |
| ヒューズ hyūzu [hyu-u-zu] | fuse |
1.8. Flapped r
The sound that seems to cause Americans most distress is the Japanese r. This is a sound called a flap. You make it by lifting the tip of the tongue backwards, then quickly and decisively bringing it down
