Combined Syllables
The following syllables are combinations of some of the ones appearing above. Two syllables are combined into one simply by merging them, and they are pronounced as “one” syllable, not two. Biyu (spelled byu in its combined form), for example, should be run together and sound like the Beau in Beulah.
| RYA | RYU | RYO |
| re-yah | re-yuu | re-yoe |
| MYA | MYU | MYO |
| me-yah | me-yuu | me-yoe |
| NYA | NYU | NYO |
| ne-yah | ne-yuu | ne-yoe |
| HYA | HYU | HYO |
| he-yah | he-yuu | he-yoe |
| CHA | CHU | CHO |
| chah | chuu | choe |
| SHA | SHU | SHO |
| shah | shuu | show |
| KYA | KYU | KYO |
| q’yah | que | q’yoe |
| PYA | PYU | PYO |
| p’yah | p’yuu | p’yoe |
| BYA | BYU | BYO |
| b’yah | b’yuu | b’yoe |
| JA | JU | JO |
| jah | juu | joe |
| GYA | GYU | GYO |
| g’yah | g’yuu | g’yoe |
I suggest that you practice saying these syllables for several minutes until you are able to say them smoothly and without hesitation. Soon you will be able to recognize individual syllables in the Japanese words you see and hear. The word arigato (“thank you”), for example, is made up of four syllables: a-ri-ga-to (ah-ree-gah-toe). Don’t forget to trill the ri syllable a bit, as if it were Spanish. (In fact, most of the primary syllables outlined above are pronounced almost exactly the way they would be in Spanish.)
The letters H and G are pronounced hard, as in ho and go. There are no true L or V sounds in Japanese, so they are not on the list of syllables. As these sounds are unfamiliar, Japanese people trying to pronounce English words that include them often say R instead of L and B instead of V.
Long vowels in Japanese syllables are pronounced twice as long as regular vowels and are indicated by a straight line, or macron, placed above them: ā, ī