ucl kendo

This is a part of the Beginners HowTo Guides

There are only five vowel sounds in Japanese

    * a - as in ah
    * i - as in we
    * u - as in soon
    * e - as in get
    * o - as in old

Each of these can be extended, basically make the sound for longer

    * aa - long a
    * ii - long i
    * uu - long u
    * ei - long e
    * ou - long o

The last two are not typos. They reflect the way the long vowel is written in phonetic japanese script (kana), and its english equivalent romaji.

Consonants in Japanese are mostly familiar to English language speakers. The only different sound is 'Tsu' which is pronounced just as its spelled.

Double consonants indicate a glottal stop just before the double consonant

Numbers:

    * ichi
    * ni
    * san
    * shi
    * go
    * roku
    * shichi
    * hachi
    * kyu
    * ju

You will get plenty of practice with these, so don't worry about memorising them straight away.

Other Useful and Common words

    * Rei! - Bow
    * Onegaishimasu - Please (practice with me/teach me)
    * Domo Arigatou Gozaimashita - Thank You (ultra polite)
    * Arigatou Gozaimashita - Thank You (very polite)
    * Arigatou - Thanks (polite)
    * Domo - Thanks (informal)
    * Kotai - Rotate