How to pronounce romanised Japanese words

Usually [b]. But sometimes [β] unconsciously, in particular between vowels.

Note: Most speakers of Japanese cannot distinguish between the voiced plosives and the voiced fricatives. So, they cannot tell the difference between "b" and "v" by hearing or by speaking.

[h]: When followed by a vowel except /i/ and /iː/.
[ç]: When followed by /i/ or /iː/.

Note: The "h" sound is never dropped in Japanese.

Some people use this letter in meaning of lengthening out the preceding vowel, like German orthography. However, as the /h/ sound can appear in the middle of a word in Japanese, this use causes ambiguity. For example: "ohashi" can be considered as "o-hashi (/ohaʃi/)" which means "chopsticks" or as "oh-ashi (/oːaʃi/)" which means "big-foot".

[ʒ]～[ʑ] or [dʒ]～[dʑ].

Note: /ʒ/ and /dʒ/ had been different phonemes until about the 16th century in Japanese, but now in most dialects the distinction has been lost and they have merged into one phoneme. Thus, this unified phoneme has two variants, [ʒ] and [dʒ].

When necessary to distinguish, "zh" can be used for [ʒ]～[ʑ], and "j" can be used for [dʒ]～[dʑ].

Usually not used, because the Japanese language does not have the consonant /l/.

Rarely, "l" is used as a variant of "r" mainly to make some word pretend to be a Western word. Anyhow, even if you find the letter "l" in Japanese text or hear the /l/ sound from a Japanese (especially singers), it is a mere variant of /r/.

[n]: When followed by a vowel except /i/ and /iː/.
[ɲ]: When followed by /i/ or /iː/.

The Japanese language has one unique phoneme called "syllabic nasal". It is usually written as "n", but "m" is also used when this phoneme is followed by a labial consonant /p/, /b/ or /m/.

This "syllabic nasal" does not have its own particular sound. Its sound varies according to the position where it appears:

• [m]: When followed by a labial consonant except fricatives (/p/, /b/, /m/).
• [n]: When followed by an alveolar consonant except fricatives (/t/, /d/, /n/, /ts/, /tʃ/, /dz/, /dʒ/, /ɾ/).
• [ɲ]: When followed by /ɲ/.
• [ŋ]: When followed by a velar consonant (/k/, /g/, /ŋ/).
• When followed by a vowel or consonant other than the above, or at the end of a word: pronounced as a nasal vowel or a uvular nasal [ɴ].

However, in fact, you do not have to be sensitive to these differences, because most speakers of Japanese do not recognise that these varieties exist in the syllabic "n". You can even always pronounce [n] for every syllabic "n".

The only thing you have to take care of is not to pronounce the syllabic "n" and the following vowel continuously even though a vowel follows a syllabic "n". In such cases, you have to put a pause between them. Otherwise, some confusion may be caused; for example:

• "a-n-i" means "ease", but "a-ni" means "elder brother".
• "ge-n-i-n" means "cause", but "ge-ni-n" means "manservant".

[z] or [dz].

Note: /z/ and /dz/ had been different phonemes until about the 16th century in Japanese, but now in most dialects the distinction has been lost and they have merged into one phoneme. Thus, this unified phoneme has two variants, [z] and [dz].

When necessary to distinguish, "z" can be used for [z], and "dz" can be used for [dz].