Japanese for Beginners. Learning Conversational Japanese

Japanese words, remember, are pronounced very clearly, one syllable at a
time, with equal stress placed on each syllable.
Let’s divide the following words into syllables and then pronounce them
distinctly. Read the word several times until you can say it smoothly.
First say: Then say: …
niku (meat) → ni ku → niku
shizuka(quiet) → shi zu ka → shizuka
atatakai (warm) → a ta ta ka i → atatakai
kyōdai (sibling) → kyo o da i → kyō dai
→ kyōdai
oyasumi nasai → o ya su mi na sa i → oyasumi nasai
→
oyasuminasai
(good night)
To help you properly pronounce the consonant n (the final sound of the
Gōjuonzu chart back on page 1) or the first letter of double consonants, you
can consider it part of the preceding syllable. Try it with these words:
First say: Then say: …
onna (woman) → on na → onna
densha (electric
train)
→ den sha → densha
motto (more) → mot to → motto
irasshaimase
(welcome)
→ iras shai mase → irasshai mase
→ irasshaimase
In this book, when n falls before a vowel or y falls within a word, an
apostrophe (’) will be used after n to help you know the correct syllable
breaks. Because once again, if you pronounce a word inaccurately, sometimes