Japanese vowels are easy. If you have taken Spanish, you'll quickly see that they're the same. Unlike crazy English, vowels in Japanese are always pronounced the same, so once you've got them down you'll be well on your way to correct-sounding Japanese. (And then you can attack the consonants.)
Here are the five basic Japanese vowels, in Japanese alphabetical order:
•a - pronounced "ah"
•i - pronounced "ee"
•u - pronounced "oo"
•e - pronounced "eh"
•o - pronounced "oh"
Let's look at the word "house." In Japanese it's ie. Just say "ee-eh." Now a little faster. Got it?
The next important thing you must remember about vowels is to elongate double vowels, giving each one its own "time." Again, "house" in Japanese is ie. The word for "no" is iie. It's not as hard as it looks. Said slowly, "house" is "ee-eh," and "no" is "ee-ee-eh." Said at natural speed, the "ee" in iie should sound about twice as long as the "ee" in ie.
While we're at it, let's look at two more that foreign speakers seem to have a tough time with: obasan and obaasan. Obasan (aunt) is pronounced "oh-bah-san," and obaasan (grandmother) is "oh-bah-ah-san." Just remember to give each vowel equal time and you'll be all right.
