To say “hi” in Japanese, the standard word is “konnichiwa.” However, on the telephone, it would be “moshi moshi.” If you’re speaking to someone that you’ve not seen in a while, you would say “hisashiburi.” Just as our hello/hi/hey in English, there’s some flexibility in how you express “hello” in Japanese.
It’s not just about memorizing words. With Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion® methodology, you learn to speak the language . What makes Rosetta Stone effective is that we prepare you to use Japanese in your everyday life. It’s not just about the features, but what you’re able to do because of them. You’ll be ready to handle any situation with ease and confidence.
Learn to Speak Japanese Words A to Z
Learning Japanese may at first seem very intimidating, however you’ll find that learning and beginning to speak Japanese words comes rather quickly. This is because most characters in Japanese have only one correct pronunciation, a characteristic of the Japanese language which simplifies things for many beginner learners.
Japanese has five vowels just like the English alphabet. Once you’ve learned the Japanese vowel sounds, you’ll easily be able to pronounce some basic Japanese words. In addition to these five vowels, Japanese has only 14 consonants, each with only one accurate pronunciation. This means the Japanese alphabet has a limited number of letter combinations, and you’ll be able to quickly learn all the variations of sounds that can occur in spoken Japanese.
The syllables of Japanese words can also be easier to pronounce than other languages because they are given equal stress, with some slight differences in intonation. Japanese intonation has two pitches: low and high. There are some pronunciations which can be a bit more complicated than that, because they vary from region to region, so it’s best to mimic fluent local speakers. It’s also very important to know that the pitch of a spoken word in Japanese can alter its meaning which means you’ll want to listen carefully to spoken Japanese to make sure you get it right.
Kanji, the written script for Japanese, is a bit more complex. You’ll need to learn this system, adapted from Chinese, if you want to read and write Japanese. As an example, 今日 is the kanji character for “today,” but the radical in the second part of the character, 日, means “sun” or “day”. This same radical also turns up in phrases like “good afternoon” 今日は.
Receiving precise and immediate feedback when learning Japanese is essential to your success. Feedback allows you to make any and all needed corrections to your pronunciation. Rosetta Stone embeds the patented and proven TruAccent™ speech-recognition engine within every Japanese language lesson. TruAccent provides precise and instant feedback so you can match your pronunciation and accent with that of veteran Japanese speakers.
Once you have acquired the basic words and phrases that are the building blocks of the Japanese language, you’ll be able to transition to learning the longer phrases that make up so much of everyday Japanese conversation. 10-minute language lessons from Rosetta Stone are designed in exactly this way. You’ll feel comfortable and confident in your ability to use Japanese words correctly.
Try Our Award-Winning App
Surround yourself with Japanese whenever, wherever with the Rosetta Stone app .
Download a unit and knock it out on the train or a flight. Select a 5-10 minute lesson and sneak it in while you wait in line or for your ride to show up. And explore dynamic features, like Seek and Speak, where you can point at an object in the real world and get a translation .
The best part? You don’t have to choose between app or desktop. Both come with your subscription and sync, so you can switch between devices seamlessly.
