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 Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 12:36 am
Post #1: Short and Long Vowels
There is a subtle difference between short and long vowels, but the difference is very important, especially in a language whose phonetic range is limited, such as is Japanese. For instance:
• Kūso くうそ = empty, vain
• Kuso くそ = s**t (literally)
Hiragana
To indicate vowel length, we write hiragana with a “u” (う) after sounds ending in “o” or “u”.
Ex: がっこう gakkō (pronounced gakkoh not gakkow)
Katakana
In katakana we will use a dash.
Ex: ニューヨーク nyūyōku (New York)
Whenever we need to transcribe a Japanese word into our alphabet, we will use a circumblex accent on top of “u” and “o” to indicate this vowel lengthening: ū and ō.
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:29 am
Post #2: Double Sounds
“Double” sounds are consonants that have a longer and/or more abrupt sound than normal ones. This effect is indicated by a small “tsu” character before the consonant to be doubled.
Hiragana: つ
Katakana: ツ
Examples:
• しゅっぱつ shuppatsu (starting, departure)
• きっさてん kissaten (coffee shop)
• まっちゃ matcha (green tea)
• マドリード madoriido (Madrid)
• ラケット raketto (from English “racket”)
• マッサージ massaaji (from English “massage”)
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:33 am
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