Japanese Accent Exercise - Amenbo No Uta Level 1

Amenbo no uta is a great exercise to improve your Japanese accent, Japanese rhythm, and Japanese pronunciation. You don’t need to understand the lyrics, but to get the most out of this exercise, here are 2 things you might want to keep in mind: 1. The Japanese accent In this exercise, try to be aware of the ups and downs of the pitch. Some Kanas (Hiragana and Katakana) are pronounced at a relatively higher and others at a relatively lower pitch. Download a script on which you can visually see the change in pitch: 2. The Japanese rhythm In Japanese, each Kana (Hiragana and Katakana) takes the same amount of time to pronounce. This applies to ん, a small つ, the long vowel, and Yōon as well. For example, the word, “きょねん,” let’s say each kana takes one beat to pronounce. Then, the word, “きょねん,” takes 3 beats to pronounce: きょ | ね | ん. This is the basics of the Japanese rhythm. However, when it comes to spoken Japanese, the rule above doesn’t apply. In spoken Japanese, it takes one beat to pronounce 2 Kanas. For example, かきのき, it takes 2 beats to pronounce it: かき | のき. There’re rules to group together 2 Kanas. When the following rules apply, you group together those Kanas first: 1. A Kana a long vowel 2. A Kana a small つ 3. A Kana ん 4. A Kana a vowel For example, あめんぼ, you first group together め and ん: あ | めん | ぼ. So, it takes one beat to pronounce めん, but it takes half a beat to pronounce あ and ぼ. Exception: “ぽっぽ” as in はとぽっぽ, you pronounce it as one beat. Japanese Accent Exercise - Amenbo No Uta Level 2: Japanese Accent Exercise - Amenbo No Uta Level 3: Check out my Patreon page: 0:00 Intro 0:43 Exercise 2:05 Outro #japaneselanguage #japanesepronunciation #japanesepitchaccent