Pronunciation

わ(wa): Pronounced as "wah" (like "wa" in "water"). わ is Hiragana and ワ is Katakana.

How to Pronounce Japanese [w]:

1. Tongue Position:

• The tongue does not play a significant role in the production of the [w] sound. Instead, the sound is produced by rounding your lips.

2. Mouth Position:

• The key to the [w] sound is lip rounding. Your lips should form a small, rounded shape, much like how you would say the English "oo" sound as in "book."

• This is a smooth, fluid sound, not requiring much tension in the mouth.

3. Sound:

• The [w] sound is a semi-vowel and is often used in combination with other vowels like [a], [i], [e], [o], etc.

• For example: わ (wa), を (wo), etc.

A soft w sound is followed by あ(a).

Pronunciation

Pronunciation

Pronunciation

Pronunciation

を(wo): Pronounced as "oh" (like "o" in "open"). を is Hiragana and ヲ is Katakana.

Historically pronounced as "wo," but in modern Japanese, it is pronounced the same as お (o). It is used almost exclusively as a grammatical particle to mark the object of a sentence.

How to Pronounce Japanese [w]:

1. Tongue Position:

• The tongue does not play a significant role in the production of the [w] sound. Instead, the sound is produced by rounding your lips.

2. Mouth Position:

• The key to the [w] sound is lip rounding. Your lips should form a small, rounded shape, much like how you would say the English "oo" sound as in "book."

• This is a smooth, fluid sound, not requiring much tension in the mouth.

3. Sound:

• The [w] sound is a semi-vowel and is often used in combination with other vowels like [a], [i], [e], [o], etc.

• For example: わ (wa), を (wo), etc.

A soft w sound is followed by お(o).