Help with pronounciation + Other problems

I've just started self-learning Japanese and I've run into some problems with the basic pronounciation of some sounds. Here are the sounds I'm currently struggling with:

- au (to meet)
- ue (up)
- iu (to say)
- ao (blue)

And I've also read the phrase 'Anata wa' (When asking who someone is)

"(Anata wa) Tanaka san desu ka."

Finally, when asking what someone's name is, I've seen this example.

"(O)namae wa nan desu ka."

Why is there an (O) optionally there? Is it a male/female thing?

Anyway, any help with any of these will be greatly appreciated.

This "o" is the honorific prefix, which as its name implies can be attached to various words in order to make a sentence sound more polite. It is not strictly a male/female thing, although since females generally speak more politely than males, you will find it used more often by females.

Your two other "questions" are not really questions. ;)

For pronunciation, I will give English words that have "similar" sounds:
- au (to meet) = "Ou" as in "ouch"
- ue (up) = "We" as in "wet," but the lips less pouted
- iu (to say) = similar to "you"
- ao (blue) I can't think of one here.

Know the five vowels in Japanese individually - those are simply double vowels.

And I've also read the phrase 'Anata wa' (When asking who someone is)
"(Anata wa) Tanaka san desu ka."

I don't quite get your question, but often "anata wa" part is omitted.

Finally, when asking what someone's name is, I've seen this example.
"(O)namae wa nan desu ka."

"o-namae" is "(respectful) name." So it is clearly established that it is "your name."

Hello

There are 5 types of voyels tune in Japanese:

a like America
i like Italy
u like US
e like elevator
o like orange

Then "au" consists in the adition of the precedent sounds. The same goes for all sounds in japanese.

After these a i u e o
you will have ka ki ku ke ko (with the sound "k" like in camera)
then ga gi gu ge go (guitar)

and so on

but putting some syllables together never change the prononciation because each of them are pronounced independantly.


Concerning the "o" of "o-namae", it is an honorific preposition. If you put this "o" this means that you are talking with a certain level of respect. You cannot use this "o" about yourself, so you don't need to say "anata no namae" because it is evident it is not your own name you are talking about.

Use this site to hear pronounciations.
http://imtranslator.net/translate-and-speak/#window