How to Improve Your Japanese Pronunciation

Pronunciation advice always seems to be the same--listen to native speakers and imitate them. But what exactly are you listening for? If you're aware of a few significant differences between Japanese and English, you can improve your pronunciation more quickly and efficiently. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Don't make diphthongs out of your vowels. The syllable "no" in Japanese shouldn't drag out into a "w" sound, like the word "No" in English does. The syllable "ne" in Japanese shouldn't sound like it's got "i" or "y" at the end, like the word "neigh" in English. "Ni, nu, ne, no" should all seem like they've got something clipped off of them compared to the English version.
2. Pay attention to vowel length. You don't want to be directed to a building "biiru" when what you asked for is beer "biru." You need to make sure to give the vowel in that first word more time and the vowel in the second word less time. And don't forget step 1 especially with long vowels, because they are even more likely to become diphthongs in the mouth of an English speaker.
3. Pay special attention to not adding "y" and "w" after vowels when two different vowels follow each other. It really makes a difference. For instance, there are two subway lines in Tokyo, Keioo and Keiyoo. Listen to how you say the first one: you add a "y" in the middle, don't you? You're going to ask directions and end up on the other side of the city from where you want to be if you don't stop adding that "y."
4. Try your best to distinguish consonant length: the words "kita" (north) and "kitta" (cut, past tense) should sound different. This is even harder for an English speaker than vowel length because we really don't have anything comparable. One way to think of it is that you start the consonant and stop briefly in the middle before finishing. There will be an instant of silence while you're stopped.
5. Resist the temptation to stress syllables the way you would in English. A three syllable word like "tanuki" would be heavily stressed on the second syllable in English, but that doesn't sound like Japanese. Try to stress all the syllables evenly--if that's hard, think about moving the stress to the first syllable and that might help you even the syllables out. Note that long vowels may sound like stressed syllables to you, so that's one way to identify where to pay attention to vowel length.
6. Only a couple of consonants are really troublesome. "R" should sound like the "d" in the middle of an American English pronunciation of "rider" or "writer." It's kind of a quick flap, not like "d" sounds elsewhere in English and not at all like English "r." "F" is also different--more like "w" with a lot of air pushed through it. Listen for these two consonants especially when you're trying to imitate native pronunciation.