Japanese → English
English uses 43 sounds. You already own 14 of them from Japanese. The other 29 are the work — and 22 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: bilabial → labiodental
English: fish · written "f", "ff", "ph", "gh (laugh)"
Your /ɸ/ is the one in ふゆ fuyu (winter).
the move: alveolar → dental
English: think · written "th"
Tongue between the teeth, no voice.
Your /s/ is the one in さかな sakana (fish).
the move: alveolar → dental
English: this · written "th (function words, between vowels)"
the, this, that, they, mother, breathe.
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
English: ship · written "sh", "ti (-tion)", "ci", "ssi"
Your /s/ is the one in さかな sakana (fish).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
English: measure · written "s (measure)", "si (vision)", "ge (beige)"
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
English: church · written "ch", "tch", "tu (nature)"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in ちいさい chīsai (small).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
English: judge · written "j", "g (e,i,y)", "dge"
Your /d͡ʑ/ is the one in じかん jikan (time).
the move: close → near-close
English: sit · written "i", "y", "e (unstressed)"
Your /i/ is the one in いま ima (now).
the move: open → near-open
English: cat · written "a"
Between /ɛ/ and /a/; mouth wide.
Your /a/ is the one in あさ asa (morning).
the move: rounded
English: food · written "oo", "u_e", "ew", "ou (soup)"
Your /ɯː/ is the one in すうじ sūji (number).
the move: close-mid → near-close
English: book · written "oo (book)", "u (put)", "oul (could)"
Your /o/ is the one in おと oto (sound).
the move: alveolar → labiodental
English: very · written "v", "f (of)"
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
the move: uvular → velar
English: sing · written "ng", "n before k"
Your /ɴ/ is the one in ほん hon (book).
the move: open → open-mid
English: bed · written "e", "ea (bread)"
Your /a/ is the one in あさ asa (morning).
the move: close-mid → open-mid
English: law · written "or", "aw", "au", "al"
Your /oː/ is the one in とうきょう Tōkyō (Tokyo).
the move: fricative → lateral
English: light · written "l", "ll"
Dark [ɫ] at the end of syllables (full, milk).
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
the move: tap → approximant
English: red · written "r", "rr", "wr"
Silent after vowels in British English (car /kɑː/); pronounced in American.
Your /ɾ/ is the one in さくら sakura (cherry blossom).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: make · written "a_e", "ai", "ay", "ei (eight)"
Your /e/ is the one in えき eki (station).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: time · written "i_e", "igh", "y", "ie (pie)"
Your /a/ is the one in あさ asa (morning).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: house · written "ou", "ow"
Your /a/ is the one in あさ asa (morning).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: hair · written "air", "are (care)", "ear (bear)"
American: /ɛr/.
Your /e/ is the one in えき eki (station).
Words you may say identically
Two or more English sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in Japanese sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
cup
Closest thing you own: — but close-mid → open-mid, unrounded.
car
Closest thing you own: — but front → back.
near
American: /ɪr/.
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close → near-close.
bird
American: /ɝ/ with the r.
Closest thing you own: — but open → open-mid, front → central.
hot
American: /ɑ/.
Closest thing you own: — but close-mid → open.
boy
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close-mid → open-mid.
home
American: /oʊ/.
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close-mid → mid, front → central.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Japanese | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Mora-timed | Stress-timed |
| Stress | No stress in the English sense — syllables are not louder or longer, so a Japanese speaker reading English tends to flatten it, and an English speaker reading Japanese tends to hammer syllables that should be even. | Contrastive, and unmarked in writing — the single most common cause of not being understood. Dozens of noun/verb pairs differ only in where the stress goes, and every unstressed vowel collapses to /ə/. |
What you have that English doesn't
17 sounds with no job in English. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your Japanese has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned English from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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