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| 26311 |
Need help with Japanese
I do not know how to pronounce these:
aii (as in kawaii)
I'm sure there is more but I am just learning.
I speak English, can someone give me an example of how this should sound with an English word?
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Language pair: English; All
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| 26402 |
Re:Need help with Japanese
The pronounciation of "aii" is similar to "ar" in "car" and "e" in "Eva". for example, "Kawaii"can be seperate to three parts to pronounce:"ka-wa-e". You got it?
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Language pair: English; All
This is a reply to message # 26311
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| 26415 |
Re:Need help with Japanese
"Kawaii" is like "hawaii" with a "K"
Japanese vowels are very similar to Spanish.
a as in fAther
i as in hawaII
The smallest unit of a Japanese word is a syllable, not a letter. "Tomato" backwards in Japanese is "tomato"! not "otamot."
Japanese see it as "To-ma-to"
therefore, think about "kawaii" as "ka-wa-ii" with the "A" like "A" in "father" and the "ii" like "ee" in "keep" or the "ii" in "Hawaii"
you got it.
need to boost your Japanese vocab? Try Japanese Kanji Flashcards by White Rabbit Press
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Language pair: English; Japanese
This is a reply to message # 26311
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| 26902 |
Re:Re:Need help with Japanese
Just to clarify, "Eva" could be pronounced as "eeva" or "ayva" depending on where you are from, so maybe it's not the best example word.
The ii in Kawaii aproximates to the sound "ee" as in the English words "see", "be", "free", etc.
Also, because the i is doubled it is actually a long ee sound, but perhaps that wouldn't be so evident in the word "Kawaii". In Japanese you always pronounce every vowel on its own. Putting vowels together just sounds like those vowels strung together, it doesn't change the sound of the vowels as it would in English.
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Language pair: English; All
This is a reply to message # 26402
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