North Eastern Mindanao State University

A Handout for Foreign Language 1

JAPANESE
Learning Objectives

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:

1. accurately identify and use voicing marks and p-marks in Hiragana

2. correctly identify and write long vowels and words with double consonants in
Hiragana
3. pronounce and identify palatalized sounds in Japanese
4. read and write at least 50 basic Hiragana words and identify the Hiragana for at
least 10 body parts correctly, and;
5. correctly use "and", basic punctuation, differentiate between horizontal and
vertical writing, and write a 3-5 sentence paragraph with correct punctuation
and text direction.

Lesson 11: Voicing Mark and P-Mark

DAKUTEN & HAN-DAKUTEN Dakuten

A symbol that looks like this ". This dakuten symbol marks hiragana from certain
consonant columns and changes their pronunciation. It turns the consonant into a
"voiced" or "vibrating" sound, which just means your vocal cords vibrate when the
sound is made.

For example, with dakuten added, a K-sound becomes a G-sound. That means /' (KA)
becomes t° (GA), a (KI) becomes # (Gl), and so on - like the chart below shows.
The other diacritical mark is the p-mark indicated by a circular symbol that looks like
this •, called handakuten. This mark used only with the h-syllables and it changes
them to p-syllables

Lesson 12: Long Vowels and Double Consonant

Proper pronunciation of words in Japanese are crucial especially to beginners

who are learning Japanese since it will change the meaning of the word entirely. In this
lesson, we will explore the appropriate utterance of long vowels and double
consonants along with rules in Japanese phonetics to avoid misunderstanding.

Chouon 長音 (Long Vowels)

These are words that have long sounds, resulting in a lengthened pronunciation
in Japanese. When writing, there are some rules that come into play. Long vowels
ending in a あ, i い, u う are written with an extra vowel of the same sound.

Example:

Obasan おばさん (aunt) vs obaasan おばあさん (grandmother)

Ningyo にんぎょ (mermaid) vs ningyou にんぎょう (doll)

Biru ビル (multi-storey building) vs biiru ビール (beer)

Kado かど (corner) vs kaado カード (card)

Kutsu くつ (shoes) vs kutsuu くつう (pain, agony)

If the spelling and pronunciation do not match:

Long e え sounds are followed by an extra い or え.

→ For example, eiga 映画 ・えいが(movie) or oneesan お姉さん・おねえさん (older sister).

Ningyo にんぎょ (mermaid) vs ningyou にんぎょう (doll)

Sokuon 促音 (Double Consonants)

Sokuon involves the use of a small “tsu, つ ” to double a consonant in a word.

Called gemination in phonetics, this results in a clipped sound, or slight pause, when
pronouncing the word in Japanese. It’s not the easiest pronunciation point to get at
first, but you will get the hang of it the more familiar you become with the language.

When writing in romaji, you use a double consonant, while in kana you will use
the small “tsu” (っ for hiragana and ッ for katakana) in place of the repeated consonant.

Some examples of words that have sokuon:

Nippon
日本 (にっぽん)
Japan
Yukkuri
ゆっくり
Slowly
Yappari
矢っ張り(やっぱり)
As expected, likewise, nonetheless, still
Kitte
切手 (きって)
Postage stamp
Zasshi
雑誌 (ざっし)
Magazine
Itta
行った (いった)
Went
*For comparison, ita 板, which means board or plank, or ita 痛, meaning “ouch!” are
pronounced without the double consonant.
Nisshi
日誌 (にっし)
Journal, log
*Compared with nishi 西, which means west
Kappu
カップ
Cup
Lesson 13: Palatalized Sounds

PALATALIZED SOUNDS
- occur when a consonant sound is pronounced with the tongue against the hard
palate of the mouth
- can be seen particularly in the modification of certain consonants in the context of
certain vowels or in combination with specific sounds.

1. Palatalized Consonants in the Kana System

In the kana system, palatalization is often indicated with the small " や" (ya), "ゆ" (yu),
and " よ " (yo) characters, known as yōon ( 拗 音 ). When these characters are combined
with certain consonants, they create a palatalized sound.
Examples:
 き (ki) + や (ya) → きゃ (kya)
 し (shi) + や (ya) → しゃ (sha)
 ち (chi) + や (ya) → ちゃ (cha)
 に (ni) + や (ya) → にゃ (nya)
Similarly, this applies to other consonants like に (ni), ひ (hi), み (mi), etc.

2. Palatalized Sounds in Voicing

Some palatalized sounds involve a change in the voicing of consonants. This can be
seen in the combination of a consonant with a small "や", "ゆ", or "よ" after it:
 じゃ (ja) from じ (ji) + や (ya)
 びゃ (bya) from び (bi) + や (ya)
 ぴゃ (pya) from ぴ (pi) + や (ya)

3. Palatalization and Consonant Changes

The palatalization process can sometimes modify the consonants slightly when they
interact with the "ya," "yu," "yo" sounds. This can be seen in the transition from
sounds like t to ch, d to j, and h to hy:
 た (ta) → ちゃ (cha)
 だ (da) → じゃ (ja)
 は (ha) → ひゃ (hya)

4. Palatalization in Borrowed Words

Sometimes, palatalization can occur in Japanese through the influence of foreign
words, especially in borrowed words from languages like English. These are often
adapted to the phonetic patterns of Japanese.

Lesson 14: Reading and Writing Basic Words

Now that we understand the functions of the three Japanese writing systems, we
will begin practicing reading and writing basic Japanese vocabulary.

People and Pronoun Foods and drink:

わたし (watashi) / ぼく (boku) / おれ (ore) -I ともだ あさごはん (asa-gohan) - Breakfast

ち (tomodachi) - friend
ひるごはん (hiru-gohan) - Lunch
どうりょう (douryou) - colleague/coworker
よるごはん (yoru-gohan) - Dinner
ぶちょう (buchou) / しゃちょう (shachou) -
ごはん (gohan) - Rice/Meal
boss/president
パン (pan) - Bread
かぞく (kazoku) - family
にく (niku) - Meat
おとうさん (otou-san) - father
さかな (sakana) - Fish
おかあさん (okaa-san) - mother
やさい (yasai) - Vegetables
おにいさん (onii-san) - older brother
くだもの (kudamono) - Fruits
おねえさん (onee-san) - older sister
みず (mizu) - Water
おとうと (otouto) - younger brother
おちゃ (ocha) - Green tea, Tea in general
いもうと (imouto) - younger sister
コーヒー (koohii) - Coffee
おとな (otona) - adult
ワイン (wain) - Wine
こども (kodomo) - child
ビール (biiru) - Beer
おとこのひと (otoko-no-hito) - man
 おんなのひと (onna-no-hito) - woman

Colors: Verbs:

あか (aka) - Red たべる (taberu) - to eat

あお (ao) - Blue いく (iku) - to go

きいろ (kiiro) - Yellow のむ (nomu) - to drink

みどり (midori) - Green きく (kiku) - to listen, hear

しろ (shiro) - White ねる (neru) - to sleep

くろ (kuro) - Black おきる (okiru) - to wake up

むらさき (murasaki) - Purple すわる (suwaru) - to sit down

オレンジ (orenji) - Orange たつ (tatsu) - to stand up

ピンク (pinku) - Pink かう (kau) - to buy

ちゃいろ (chairo) - Brown はなす (hanasu) - to talk, speak

Body Parts of the human:

め (me) – eye あたま (atama) - head

みみ (mimi) – ear ひざ (hiza) - knee
はな (hana) – nose きゃく (kyaku) - leg (more formal)
くち (kuchi) - mouth
うで (ude) - arm
て (te) - hand
あし (ashi) - foot/leg

Lesson 15: Writing Sentences and Paragraphs

There are some writing conventions that must be observed when writing sentences
and paragraphs in Japanese.

A. The Markers: (は) wa, (へ) e, AND (を) o

1. (は) wa, is a particle that indicates a topic marker, we can translate this as;
‘as for..’ or ‘speaking of..’ in English.

(wa)
Example: As for tomorrow, it’s Saturday. あしたはどようびです。

Topic sentence Topic sentence

When asking a question, the particle (は) wa should be used when a question comes
after the topic sentence.
(wa)
Example: Where is the bathroom? トイレはどこですか。
Topic sentence Topic sentence

2. (へ) e, is a particle that indicates a direction marker or destination, we can translate

this as; ‘to’ or ‘towards’ in English.
 (e) (e)
Example: Welcome to Japan. にほんへようこそ。

3. (を) o, is a particle that often referred to as the direct-object marker, because it

usually comes after the direct object of an action.

(o)
Example: To eat sushi. すしをたべます。

Verb Object Object Verb

(o)
I read books. わたしはほんをよみます。

Verb Object Object Verb

B. Punctuations: (。) Kuten, (、) touten, (「」) quotation marks, (・) nakaten
 There is no space needed between words in Japanese writing. In formal writing, no
question marks or exclamation points are used, although in some casual writings
or published novels the western question marks and exclamation points are often
used.
1. (。) Kuten, a small circle and is placed at the end of each sentence.
Example: Excuse me. すみません。
2. (、) touten, a short stroke and is placed after a long phrases or other places that
would be helpful for readers.
Example: Yes, that’s right. はい、そうです。
3. (「」) quotation marks, quoted speech are indicated by the opening quotation
mark 「 and the closing quotation mark 」.
Example: “Hello”, said Ms. Yamada.
やまださんは「こんにちは」と、いいました。
4. (・) nakaten, a fat dot and it is used to separate words in a line. It is also placed
between given and family names rendered in katakana.
Example: Neva Shane Ariate - ネ バ・シエーン・アリアテ

Text Direction

Japanese paragraphs are written either horizontally from left to right, as in English, or
vertically from top to bottom and right to left on a page. In modern Japanese, literary
texts are generally written vertically from right to left, but other types of texts such as
business documents, contracts, academic or research papers and books, instruction
manuals and memos are conventionally written horizontally from left to right.
Small-sized characters are placed depending on the type of writing, whether
horizontally or vertically.

References

Tao. (2021). Double consonants and long vowels in Japanese pronunciation. Go Go

Nihon. https://gogonihon.com/en/blog/double-consonants-and-long-vowels/