UsingJapanese.

Japanese Syllables

We begin our lessons by telling you about how Japanese Syllables are constructed. The following 4 rules apply:-

• a vowel (a, e, i, o, u)
• a consonant + a vowel (62 combinations)
• a consonant alone (n, t, s, k, p)
• a consonant + y + a vowel (33 combinations)

Long Vowels

In Japanese there are few long vowels such as /aa/, /ii/, /uu/, /ee/ and /oo/. They are considered to be "long" vowels as when they are spoken the duration of it islong.

Long Consonants

There are consonants in Japanese that can also be long /t/, /s/, /k/ and /p/. these consonants will take full syllable length when they are present and there isnt a vowel. Examples are below:-

• 3 syllables: I-p-pon 'one long thing'
• 3 syllables: I-s-sho 'together'