Mastering Pronunciation of Japanese Alphabet (Hiragana) with Audio
Learning Japanese alone can be a lonely and frustrating experience as it is not an easy language to master.
Pronunciation of alphabets (Hiragana) is a crucial aspect of the language, and I’m providing assistance to those struggling with it.
This post is designed to assist you in the following ways:
- You can learn with phonetics (lip movements and tongue positions)
- You can learn with audios so you can practice on your own
As a native Japanese speaker who learned English as a second language, I realised that pronunciation is crucial for effective communication in any language. That’s why I’m here to help Japanese learners improve their pronunciation through this blog.
Method of Learning Pronunciation of Japanese Alphabets (Hiragana)
Based on my experience of learning English pronunciation, it is important to practice pronunciation of alphabets through the following methods whcih are applicable to Japanese pronunciation:
- Learn phonetics of each sound
- Compare your pronunciation with example audio
- Practice till:
- your pronunciation sounds very similar to the audios
- you can pronouunce without looking at Romaji, but only using Hiragana
Some people might argue that phonetics such as lip movements, tongue positions aren’t essential and that mimicking native speakers is enough.
While this may work in some cases, I personally don’t recommend it as many English speakers struggle to remove strong accents.
I also suggest not relying on Romaji as its spelling can give you false idea of pronunciation.
To improve your Japanese pronunciation, it’s best to stick to Japanese letters and avoid looking at English letters.
Pronunciation of Japanese Alphabets (Hiragana)
I have split Japanese alphabets (Hiragana) into 5 charts below.
- Vowels and Unvoiced Sounds
- Voiced Sounds
- Unvoiced Y Sounds
- Voiced Y Sounds
- Special Alphabets
To support your learning, I’ve also provided the followings in this post:
- A chart of Hiragana
- Audio for each sound
- English word with a similar sound
- Description of phonetics
Try to go through all alphabets, then focus on tricky ones for your practice.
You can hear audios of each letter by clicking/tapping them.
Vowel & Unvoiced | k | s | t | n | h | m | y | r | w |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ (a) | か | さ | た | な | は | ま | や | ら | わ |
| い (i) | き | し | ち | に | ひ | み | - | り | - |
| う (u) | く | す | つ | ぬ | ふ | む | ゆ | る | - |
| え (e) | け | せ | て | ね | へ | め | - | れ | - |
| お (o) | こ | そ | と | の | ほ | も | よ | ろ | を |
Voiced | g | z | d | b | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ (a) | が | ざ | だ | ば | ぱ |
| い (i) | ぎ | じ | ぢ | び | ぴ |
| う (u) | ぐ | ず | づ | ぶ | ぷ |
| え (e) | げ | ぜ | で | べ | ぺ |
| お (o) | ご | ぞ | ど | ぼ | ぽ |
Unvoiced Y | ky | sh | ch | ny | hy | my | ry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ (a) | きゃ | しゃ | ちゃ | にゃ | ひゃ | みゃ | りゃ |
| い (i) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| う (u) | きゅ | しゅ | ちゅ | にゅ | ひゅ | みゅ | りゅ |
| え (e) | - | しぇ | ちぇ | - | - | - | - |
| お (o) | きょ | しょ | ちょ | にょ | ひょ | みょ | りょ |
Voiced Y | gy | jy | by | py |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ (a) | ぎゃ | じゃ | びゃ | ぴゃ |
| い (i) | - | - | - | - |
| う (u) | ぎゅ | じゅ | びゅ | ぴゅ |
| え (e) | - | じぇ | - | - |
| お (o) | ぎょ | じょ | びょ | ぴょ |
Special | n | ts | - |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | ん | っ | ー |
These are the digestive chart of Japanese alphabets (Hiragana).
The other Japanese letter, Katakana has exactly the same proniunciation as Hiragana, so you don’t need to practice how to read them (need to learn letters though).
Summary
Most of Hiragana are formed by a combination of consonant and vowel. So, the pronunciation of vowels are critical in Japanese.
The pronunciation can be improved dramatically step by step through learning:
- Hiragana with phonetics
- Word with accents
- Sentence with intonations
Hope this post is useful for you and other self-learners. Let me know if you have any question or request for Japanese learning materials :)
I have also written a post for the overall guide of learning Japanese pronunication. Check it out via the link below.