FOREIGN LANGUAGE 2 - JAPANESE
CHAPTER 2 – JAPANESE PHONETICS VOWELS
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the chapter, the learner should be able to:
a. Identify different types of VOWELS and
b. Demonstrate proper usage pronunciation of each short vowel
c. Demonstrate proper usage pronunciation of each long vowel.
INTRODUCTION TO JAPANESE VOWELS
Japanese is a relatively easy language to pronounce because the vowel sounds are easy.
Standard Japanese has five vowel phonemes or sounds that affect word meaning. Vowels can be
long or short. Vowel length affects word meaning, as in ojisan 'uncle' and ojiisan 'grandfather.'
Other Japanese dialects may have as few as three vowel phonemes or as many as eight.
They have five main sounds:
Front Central Back
あ(a) — pronounced: ah
い(i) — pronounced: ee Close i u
う(u) — pronounced: oo Close-mid e o
え(e) — pronounced: eh
お(o) – — pronounced: oh Open a
Now, if you think about English, there are numerous ways to pronounce the letter "a." For instance,
the sounds of the "a" in "cat" and "cartoon" are significantly different.
How Japanese Vowels Differ From English?
But in Japanese, the “a” sounds the same no matter the context.
For example, かめ(kame) and さる(saru) have different written characters but their pronunciation
of the “a” is essentially the same.
In general, the Japanese written language bundles consonants and vowels together, but the
vowels still have a similar sound to each other. ら (ra) and さ (sa) are written differently but have
the same “a” sound.
What are the Japanese Vowels?
Of the 46 ひらがな (hiragana) characters, the first 5 of these characters are vowels, while the rest
are consonants. All are pronounced in a single syllable. If you’re an English speaker learning
Japanese, you already have all of the necessary vowels. However, this is somehow different from
English vowels.
How to say “vowels” in Japanese?
PREPARED BY: KATHLEEN MAE LOPEZ 1
FOREIGN LANGUAGE 2 - JAPANESE
The word for “vowels” in Japanese is ぼ い ん (boin | 母 音 ), which specifically refers to “short
vowels.” If you’re referring to long vowels, you can use the word ちょうぼいん (chouboin | 長母音)
instead. These types of vowels will be discussed further.
SMALL VOWELS VS. LONG VOWELS
JAPANESE SMALL VOWELS
There are five main small or short vowels in Japanese called 短母音 (tan boin).
As you now know, Japanese vowels of the same type are usually pronounced the same. Unlike in
English, you don’t have to memorize the way a vowel is pronounced depending on the situation.
For example, the “i” in “fit” and “fight” are pronounced differently in English, right?
So, here are the Japanese small vowel sounds with similar words in English. Although English
vowels can sound similar to the Japanese vowel, it’s important to understand that the Japanese
pronunciation can be drier and shorter.
あ–a
The “a” sound is like the vowel sound in “ah”
い–i
The “i” sound is like the vowel sound in “he”
う–u
The “u” sound is like the vowel sound in “sue”
え–e
The “e” sound is like the vowel sound in “egg”
お–o
The “o” sound is like the vowel sound in “so”
JAPANESE LONG VOWELS
In Japanese, the long vowels are called 長母音(chou boin) and are just lengthened versions of the
short vowels. For example, the hiragana character か (ka) includes the “a” sounding vowel. If this
hiragana character is combined with another “a” it becomes a long vowel. The word おかあさん
(okaasan), meaning mother, has the long vowel “a” sound.
For borrowed words from other languages you’ll sometimes see a line “ ー” that indicates that the
vowel is held out longer during that time. In the word ラーメン (raamen) , a borrowed word from
Chinese, the “a” sound is held out using the line. Another example would be ス キ ー (sukii),
meaning “ski”, where the last “i” is held out longer.
PREPARED BY: KATHLEEN MAE LOPEZ 2
FOREIGN LANGUAGE 2 - JAPANESE
It’s also possible that two different vowels combine to form a longer version. The word for “love”, あ
い (ai), is a combination of two vowel sounds. In this case, you only need to pronounce it exactly as
written. You should add the sound for “a” with the sound for “i. However, there is one exception to
this rule. When the “o” and “u” vowel sounds combine, it creates a sound more similar to a long “o”
vowel. The word こうこう (koukou), is mostly a long “o” vowel sound with a slight “u” sound toward
the end.
Here are some more long vowel words in Japanese:
おばあさん – obaasan (grandma)
Long vowel “a”
クーラー- kuuraa (air conditioner)
Long vowels “u” and “a”
ほしい – hoshii (to want)
Long vowel “i”
オープンカー – oopunkaa (convertible)
Long vowels “o” and “a”
ケース – keesu (case)
Long vowel “e”
JAPANESE VOWEL CHART
In Japanese writing, the vowels are usually paired with a consonant sound. So, if you learn the
Japanese alphabet, you automatically master both the Japanese vowels and Japanese
consonants.
But, if you need a chart along with the sounds, take a look below. This vowel chart organizes the
hiragana writing based on the vowel sound.
a i u e o
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 (o)
There are also long forms of the same vowels: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū. The distinction between short and long
vowel pronunciation is critical because it can alter the meaning. Japanese vowels are never
shortened; they must always be fully pronounced. In terms of pronunciation, the consonants in
Japanese are nearly identical to those in English.
PREPARED BY: KATHLEEN MAE LOPEZ 3
FOREIGN LANGUAGE 2 - JAPANESE
MARKS
Mark Name Function
、 読点 tōten same as English comma
。 句点 kuten same as English period
「 かぎ括弧 kagikakko same as English quotation mark (beginning)
」 かぎ括弧 kagikakko same as English quotation mark (end)
？ 疑問符 gimonfu same as English question mark
！ 感嘆符 kantanfu same as English exclamation mark
You can assume that these marks have almost the same functions as English marks.
You don't have to read out these marks.
[ 、] and [ 。] as a group are called 句 読 点 [ kutōten | punctuation marks].
Quotation marks [「] (beginning) and [ 」] (end) have different shapes.
SUMMARY
Japanese language has five short vowels [短母音 tan-boin ] and five long vowels [長母音
chō-boin ].
あ, い, う, え and お are the five short vowels.
Long vowels ああ, いい, うう, ええ and おお are indicated by an additional short vowel
letter.
A horizontal bar is also used (e.g. あー, いー, うー, えー, おー). This is not the official way
but is used quite often in casual expressions.
In Rōmaji, long vowels ああ [ ā ], うう [ ū ], ええ [ ē ] and おお [ ō ] are indicated by a
horizontal bar on top. いい [ ii ] is double " i ".
PREPARED BY: KATHLEEN MAE LOPEZ 4
