Diju go dada store?
This is probably a really bad idea for a blog post, I should really get my lazy ass up and make a video for it. But that aside, diju go dada store?
I was doing some tutoring work the other day, and I was trying to correct one of my student’s accents to make it sound more natural. Now keep in mind this is one of those bastard genius students that everybody secretly hates because they learn everything twice as fast. (I’m just kidding of course I love her)
But I couldn’t quite get it right, even though she was such a good student. That is until I had this little revelation. When you speak in English, do you enunciate every single syllable? I mean, even if you’re one of those people that do pride yourself in your speech, if you’re honest, I’d hallucinate that you really don’t. Because it just sounds weird when you talk to people like that.
It’s not natural, and frankly it’s more work too. And I hate work, so as you can imagine I’m one of the worst enunciators in the world. But, I sound like a native English speaker, probably cause I am.. I think.. But I believe a lot of it has to do with the fact I don’t enunciate everything. I don’t say words the way they are written. (<--big key when learning Japanese)
Now this might be influenced from slang, and if you’re British or something then you probably already think I talk like an idiot anyway and really shouldn't be encouraging it.
But if you look at the first sentence of this post, yes the one that looks like I fell asleep in spelling class.. which of course I did, just don't tell anyone… You’ll see the way you pronounce, “Did you go to the store?”, is a lot closer to “diju go dada store” if you’re speaking at normal speed in the middle of a conversation.
Now of course like I said in the beginning there are always exceptions, so you don’t need to get mad and throw rocks and stuff at me for it. But once I tried explaining this to my student, her Japanese pronunciation improved immediately.
Instead of trying to say “Ore wa shinobi da” just like it’s written.
(I’m a ninja)
Try meshing the 4 words together a little bit more. Think of the whole sentence as being one big word instead of 4 individual ones.
This is again a dumb idea for a blog post but if you get really close it should sound a little closer to something like.
Orea shnobi da
Let’s try another
Yatsu wa baka da yo
(He’s an idiot.)
If you mesh it together good enough, and don’t just try to say the whole thing really fast. Of course when you try this, the speed of the sentence does increase, but that’s not the only dynamic that occurs.
It should sound a little something like this…
Yatsa baka dao
Well I hope that helps your pronunciation a bit. I’d love to hear any other methods or ideas of how you have worked on your pronunciations, leave a comment below letting me know.
Talk soon!
Good point about enunciation! I actually don't think it's that difficult to pronounce Japanese words, but you just have to realize that there are simple methods to saying it. I rather thinking explaining how to say 'n' is harder, but that's just me lol.
I can't really explain it either, but I learned that the 'u' words (ku, su, tsu, etc.) are semi-silent, in that it kinda cuts off and you don't usually stress it. Same for the special ones like shi and chi.
I agree with Youko. It reminds me of beginner Japanese class where people would emphasize things that did not need to be, such as pronouncing です like dess ooo instead of des or どうして like dough she tay instead of dosh teh.
@Youko, ah yeah "semi-silent" is actually a really good way to put it, nice.
@Wolf, hahah yes I remember that all too well. Its kinda awkward but you feel a little bit sorry for them at the same time.
Do you know any good way to get Japanese at your high school. The only thing i can think of is a petition but my school district is kinda broke so haha.
-Response to question:
One good tip is to watch subtitled anime, listen to japanese podacasts, youtube videos, etc. to hear what the natives sound like. then eventually you will sound more natural. :D
Although your example for the English sentence was a good one, I don't think it's always the case in Japanese as much as it is in English. The vowels are blurred and semi silent alot of times, but I'm still not sure in your example of "Orea" how much the "w" sound disappears and mushes into "ore". I don't know if this would happen more in anime for some reason rather in real life. I guess I'm asking because you seem to watch or have watched more anime than me.
great post
@Anonymous, I believe you could be right, maybe the extreme is not as drastic as it is in English. But I would still hazard to say that meshing the words a bit together sounds a lot more natural than fully enunciating everything, or at least for people who run across that problem.
And yeah anime is almost by definition more slangy and casual than "real life". So this could also be the cause for my "revelation".
@Hunter JL, hmm I'll tell you what I'd do. Start a Japanese or Anime club! And if the demand is large enough, meaning you get enough members. Then the school will definitely see it as a smart idea to bring in a class. And if you don't get enough members than of course it wouldn't be smart for the school to bring in the class anyway.
pronouncing Japanese has always been very easy for me, i think its because i speak Spanish and some sounds are similar. i kinda think as Japanese as a 'soft language' and English as a 'hard language' because of how the words flow out when you speak and i consider Spanish as a 'soft language' so its easy to pronounce Japanese words....if that makes any sense.
yeah pronouncing japanese is easier for me too because i know spanish. Since is similar the way you read spanish...
@PanTh3R, yeah i hear the Spanish thing a lot. And i find the way you refer to English as a hard language, and Spanish and Japanese as a soft language very interesting. Very cool
Thanks!
Pronouncing Japanese has been easy for me too, and I'm Dutch... Just never really had a problem with it.
Btw, I'm really looking forward to seeing your method of teaching!
Datisookmooi
It was quite awkward when I was in my Year 8 Japanese class. The teacher was just so amazed at my pronunciation. He stopped the whole class and he was all "you must have learned Japanese before" etc. etc. It was kinda creepy. =.=;;
Though, by then, I had already watched 1000s of hours of anime. So, it would have been suckish for me if I DIDN'T have the pronunciation down by then!
Very Helpful! Also, thank you for replying to my email so quickly! I'm so glad i found your news letter. Although I am only a beginner to Japanese, I actually feel like I'm learning!
I find it really hard to pronounce Japanese words. That's probably because I'm German though... And the pronunciation of words in both languages are very different, as Japanese is a 'Soft Language'. I'd really like to be able to pronounce Japanese words!
I get the point of the post are the camparison you made is really a great example... But I think that I have it a lot easier... Romaji was based on Portuguese ortography, and as I'm portuguese, I read it just I read my own language, with this or that changing a little... (like "j", it sounds more like the italian "g" or something...) I guess Spanish is helpfull too, portuguese and spanish are a bit similar ... But yeah, I'm really proud of my language (the best thing in my poor little country, I have to say...) and know it even makes my learning japanese easier (if you're talking about pronunciation, of course) ^^
ups... that's supposed to be "and" on the first line and a "now" instead of "know" on the last part XD
when i cant spell something in japanese i just kind of reconstruct the sentence so that the words change but when you say it it has the same meaning..i cant come up with an example now but what i mean is "yatsu wa baka da yo" becomes something like "ya tsuwaba kadayo"
Hey...lol can you fit one more student? :D...PLEASE!! onegaishimasu!!!!!!!!!!!!??
thisw is somthing i try to explain to my step mother learning english so i find words in spanish with simular sound an have her say the word in spanish then tel her to use wat ever part of the word that she needs by it self the put it with the rest of the sentace in english an it helps not yet a tottal succece but getin there my problem i have no one at all to corect me in japanese if i mess up
I guess I wont have problem with that. We mostly pronunciate as its written.
Croatia :)
But... good point!