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It is fairly easy for English speakers to pronounce Japanese.
There is very little variance in stress or emphasis between syllables.
What this means is that every "syllable" of a word is given equal weight
or importance, unless it is a special case and has a lengthened vowel
sound.
Syllables: Syllables can almost always be divided after a vowel. Even when a word is made up entirely of vowels,
each vowel is read individually, (with the exception of long vowels), for example the word aoi (blue) is pronounced
"ah-oh-ee".
Cluster of Consonants: Occasionally, syllables are made up of a cluster of consonants (ie: kyo, kyu, tsu, etc). When
they occur, they are to be pronounced as a single syllable. For example, kyu sounds
like the "cu" in the english word "cute". Another example is the Japanese city name Tokyo, which should
be pronouced as two syllables "To-kyo", and not as three syllables "To-ki-yo".
Long Vowels: Long vowels are usually identified by a macron above the letter (ie: ā) or as a doubled
letter (ie: aa, ii, oo), and in the case of the letter 'o',
also followed by a 'u' (ie: ou). A long vowel indicates that the duration of the sound should be doubled.
Note that you may not always see words written in that way for simplicity. However,
it should be understood that there can be a vital difference between the correct romanized spelling
and the spellings used for simplicity, for example the word komon (adviser) should not
be confused with the word kōmon (anus)!
"Whispered" or "Devoiced" Vowels: Sometimes, vowels become "whispered". This would usually happen following sh,
ch, s, and with ku, and is more common when the vowel is the last letter in
the word. For example, the word ichi (one), might be pronounced "ee-ch", sounding very much
like the english word "each". Note however that the final "i" IS NOT entirely silent or removed, but is
pronounced more quietly, "under your breath", ie: each-"eeh". Note, there doesn't appear to be
set rules for when you can do this, and therefore it is almost required that you had previously heard a word spoken in this manner. When in
doubt, it is best to pronounce the word fully, ie: "ee-chee".
Click here for an interesting discussion on the AikiWeb forum regarding syllables and devoiced vowels. Pay particular attention to posts by David Iannucci.
* Disclaimer: This pronunciation guide is by no means a complete guide to speaking proper Japanese.
Also, this guide was compiled from various sources on the internet and may not be 100% accurate.
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