Japanese for Beginners. Learning Conversational Japanese

Chapter 1
Sounding Japanese First things first! Even before you
learn all the Japanese words you’ll soon be using, you will need to learn the
basic building blocks: the Japanese sounds that form them.
When you talk to your new Japanese friends or office colleagues, you’ll
want to make sure that they understand you clearly. And to do that, mastering
the basic sounds of Japanese is key. Here’s how to make sure you are ready to
pronounce the new words you will be learning.
Learning the Basic Japanese Syllables There are fifty basic
syllables in Japanese and they are arranged phonetically in the Gojūon-zu,
literally “the 50-sound chart.”
To read the Gojūon-zu, start from the top of the right-hand column and
read down the column: A, I, U, E, O; KA, KI, KU, KE, KO....
Say the syllables several times, until you start to feel comfortable with
them.