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Romaji | japanese-lesson.com
English

Cha ra cte rs

H iragana

Conve rsa tion

H iragana Drill

Voca b ula ry

Katak ana

R e source s

Katak ana Drill

Kanji

Sear ch

Kanji Drill

Romaji

About Rmaji
Introduction of Rmaji and lists of the Rmaji spelling for Japanese alphabets.
About Rmaji

Rmaji Spelling

How to Read Rmaji

Rmaji
Rmaji was developed to describe the sound of Japanese in Roman alphabet.
Rmaji is mainly used for the convenience of foreigners who are not familiar with Japanese characters.
For example, name of the train station is written in Rmaji along with Japanese characters.
In general, Rmaji is used alone, not mixed with other Japanese characters.
There are different ways of spelling. The H epburn Romanization is the most commonly used system.

-MIYAVI(Guitarist)

- MIYAV I- is a globally
renowned guitarist and
singer-songwriter.

Rmaji S pelling

MIYAVI's finger slap guitar

play is revolutionary, stylish
and like no other.

The following tables show the Rmaji spelling of Kana letters (Hiragana and Katakana).

People call him a "SAMURAI

GUITARIST".

Irregular spellings are colored in red.

G o j o n
a
column

i
column

u
column

e
column

o
column

ka

ki

ku

ke

ko

sa

s hi

su

se

so

ta
row

ta

c hi

ts u

te

to

na
row

na

ni

nu

ne

no

ha
row

ha

hi

fu

he

ho

ma
row

ma

mi

mu

me

mo

ya
row

( / )

( / )

ya

(i)

yu

(e)

yo

ra
row

ra

ri

ru

re

ro

wa
row

( / )

( / )

( / )

wa

(i)

(u)

(e)

a
row
ka
row
sa
row

Horizon

GANRYU
With H IFAN A (breakbeat)

Secret

HANABI

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/

With H iromits u
Agats uma (shamisen) and
Jin Ok i (flamenco guitar)

Dak uo n
a
column

i
column

u
column

e
column

o
column

ga
row

ga

gi

gu

ge

go

za
row

za

ji

zu

ze

zo

da
row

da

ji

zu

de

do

ba
row

ba

bi

bu

be

bo

a
column

i
column

u
column

e
column

o
column

pa

pi

pu

pe

po

Official Site
Wikipedia
YouTube Official Channel
iTunes

Hand ak uo n

pa
row

Y o n
/

k ya

k yu

k yo

s ha

s hu

s ho

c ha

c hu

c ho

nya

nyu

nyo

hya

hyu

hyo

mya

myu

myo

rya

ryu

ryo

gya

gyu

gyo

ja

ju

jo

ja

ju

jo

bya

byu

byo

pya

pyu

pyo

So k uo n
/
Make the first letter of the following consonant double.
Examples: sak ki, kippu, beddo, rok ku

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Lo ng V o w e ls
long a

long i

long u

long e

long o

ii

or ei

How to Read Rmaji

Basically, you can read Rmaji as you usually read English texts. But the pronunc iation of Japanes e
s yllables is not exac tly the s ame as Englis h.
To master the correct pronunciation, try to imitate the pronunc iation of native Japanes e s peak ers .

B asic Rule s
Eac h s yllable (eac h H iragana and Katak ana letter) is pronounc ed for the s ame length. For
example, when you say the word [aka] in 1 second, it takes 0.5 second for [a] and another 0.5 second for
[ka]. You don't have to be this precise, but it is important to keep it mind.
Letters with a bar on top - , , and are long vowels and the length should be double of the standard
vowels.
[f] sound: Create the sound with pursed lips (like whistling).
[r] sound: Tip of your tongue is rolled back for English [r], and is placed behind the upper teeth for English
[l]. For Japanese [r], the position is between these two. The sound is more closer to English [l].
[n] sound: It is considered to be one syllable, and the length should be the same as other syllables.
You can learn and practice the pronunciation at Hiragana Master Drill.

Related Topics
Hiragana
Katakana
Kanji

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