Step Up Nihongo

1.	Mora are the basic units of the Japanese sound system.
2.	Each mora represents a sound and a beat. It is important to pay attention to mora as the Japanese are very sensitive to mora.
3.	Spelling in parentheses ( ) is Nihon-style romanization while spelling without parentheses is Hepburn-style. This textbook employs both of these styles. (When using Japanese word-processing software, either style will be properly converted to Japanese characters by the machine.)
4.	Note, however, that the Hepburn-style conceals the regularity of the Japanese language because of the irregularity of the English spelling system on which the Hepburn-style is based. In order to prevent this, while at the same time preserving the English native's preferences, shi is used for the し／シ sound, ji for じ／ジ, chi for ち／チ, and tsu for つ／ツ. When it comes to grammatical analysis, the Nihon-style illustrates the regularity of Japanese more effectively, so si, ti and tu are used, respectively, instead.
5.	Because English spelling is very irregular in terms of the sound/spelling relationship, it is tricky to rely on English spelling. However, because spelling like cha/chu/cho looks more familiar to English natives than tya/tyu/tyo, or sha/shu/sho than sya/syu /syo, or ja/ju/jo than zya/zyu/zyo, Hepburn-style romanization is employed for these mora.
6.	Whether spelled chi or ti, the actual Japanese sound for ち／チ is neither "chi" nor "ti" in English. Whether spelled shi or si, the actual Japanese sound for し／シ is neither "shi" nor "si" in English.
7.	Fu for ふ／フ(Hepburn-style), as in Fuji, is entirely misleading as there is no "f" sound in modern Japanese. The actual sound is closer to the "h" sound in English; thus, hu is employed here. This romanization has the further advantage of preserving the regularity of the Japanese sound system.
8.	Whatever spelling is employed, letters can never express the actual sounds of the language. Remember always that letters are a mere and poor representation of sounds.
9.	Romanized Japanese functions as a phonetic script and merely as a reminder of the actual sound. It is not, in any way, legitimate Japanese writing.
10.	Legitimate Japanese writing consists of hiragana, katakana and kanji (Chinese characters).
11.	Although "r" is used for the ra, ri, ru, re, ro, rya, ryu and ryo sounds, the Japanese sound is far from the English "r". In fact it is rather closer to the English "l" sound in that the tongue touches the palate, although slightly further back. This is why la, li, lu, le, lo, lya, lyu and lyo are also shown. Whether spelled r or l, the actual Japanese sound is neither the English "r" nor the English "l". To learn the sound you must listen to the recording and work with your instructor.
12.	Although n（ん／ン）does not contain a vowel, it does constitute one mora. On its own, n is more like the "ng" sound in English. However, depending on the sound that follows, it may change into "n" or "m", such as: Ko-n-ni-chi-wa. Here, n is no longer "ng" but literally "n", hence, Konnichiwa. Ko-n-ba-n-wa. Here, the first n becomes "m" but not the second one, hence, Kombanwa.
13.	k, s, t and p may constitute one silent mora on their own in such spellings as: ikki, hisshi, kitte, happi, etc. Through the pronunciation practice on the following page, try to grasp the actual differences which these double consonants create.