enable the student to concentrate fully on the basic sentence patterns and useful everyday expressions that are introduced. Ample drills provide additional practice in this area.
Containing approximately 500 of the most commonly used words, this book covers the basics needed to get by in Japan. You will be able to exchange greetings, introduce yourself, board the right trains, order meals at restaurants, go shopping, talk about your holiday plans, and much more. Also, as you proceed through the lessons, you will be laying a firm foundation upon which further study of the language can be built.
Practice is the key to success. You will be surprised how much you can do with a basic vocabulary and a limited number of sentence patterns; all you have to do is to put them to work. Good luck and good wishes.
The Author
Pronunciation
VOWELS
The Japanese language has five vowels; a, i, u, e, and o. The vowels are pronounced as follows:
| あ | a | as in father |
| い | i | as in eat |
| う | u | as in rule |
| え | e | as in met |
| わ | o | as in solo |
Long vowels—those whose sounds are sustained twice as long as regular vowels—are marked ā, ii or ī, ū, ē, and ō. Because it is easier to read, in this book the double ii is used instead of putting a macron over a single i.
CONSONANTS
Japanese consonants are pronounced about the same as English consonants. One exception is the Japanese r, which is pronounced like a combination of the English r and l, with the result being that it is similar to a d sound.
Double consonants as in 曰光 Nikko (famous tourist spot) and 切手 kitte (stamp) are pronounced like the k sound in “bookkeeper” and the t sound in “hot tub.”
SYLLABLES
Each syllable should be pronounced clearly, although in ordinary speech, the i and u are often weakened as in 弾、hiku (play) and です desu (am; is; are).
When the consonant n is followed by a vowel or a y within a word, the n is pronounced like an independent syllable. Examples of this are 禁煙 kin'en (nonsmoking) and 本俊 hon'ya (bookstore). The mark (') is used to show a break between two syllables. In many cases, however, hon'ya is written as hon-ya because -ya is a suffix, meaning “a store.”
JAPANESE SOUNDS
Following is a table of Japanese sounds. With the exception of the n sound, each sound is made up of a single vowel, a consonant followed by a vowel, or a consonant followed by a y or an h, and then a vowel.
Each sound is distinctly pronounced—thus ai (love) is pronounced in two syllables, a-i; イ匕 hana (flower) as ha-na; and 百 hyaku (one hundred) as hya-ku.
Study the following table and clearly pronounce each syllable aloud. Then proceed to the next page for more practice.
| a あ | i い | u う | e 又 | o わ |
| ka 力く | ki 含 | ku く | ke け | koし |
| ga が | gi ぎ | gu ぐ | ge り | go ご |
| sa さ | shi し | su す | se セ | so そ |
| za 亡 | ji じ | zu ず | ze セ | zo そ |
| ta た | chi ち | tsu つ | te て | to と |
| da だ | — | — | de で | do ど |
| na な | ni に | nu ぬ | ne ね | no の |
| ha は | hi ひ | fu ふ | he へ | ho ほ |
| ba ば | bi び | bu ふ | be ベ | bo ぼ |
| pa ぱ | pi ぴ | pu ふ | pe へ | po ほ |
| ma ま | mi み | mu む | me め | mo も |
| ya や | — | yu ゆ | — | yo よ |
| ra ら | ri り | ru る | re れ | ro ろ |
| wa わ | — | — | — | — |
| n ん | — | — | — | — |
| kya きゃ | — | kyu きゅ | — | kyo きょ |
| gya ぎゃ | — | gyu さ吵 | — | gyoきょ |
| sha しゃ | — | shu しゅ | — | sho しょ |
| ja じゃ | — | ju しゅ | — | jo じょ |
| cha ちゃ | — | chu わゆ | — | cho ちょ |
| nya にゃ | — | nyu にゅ | — | nyo にょ |
| hva ひゃ |
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