Japanese Pronunciation Materials

[Stone_Cold]

Which audio/software program do you consider the best for learning proper/good pronunciation?

I’ve been learning to pronounce the individual Hiragana and it’s helped. I’ve been using the Japanese Learning Suite and the Genki Student CD 1. The International Phonetic Alphabet might also help. I’m wondering if there’s something better that can better help me pronounce Japanese.

[Infidel]

Which audio/software program do you consider the best for learning proper/good pronunciation?

I’ve been learning to pronounce the individual Hiragana and it’s helped. I’ve been using the Japanese Learning Suite and the Genki Student CD 1. The International Phonetic Alphabet might also help. I’m wondering if there’s something better that can better help me pronounce Japanese.

Pick a tv show or movie you like and follow the script. That way you'll not just learn pronunciation, but emotional queues as well.

[Stone_Cold]

Do you think "Speech Accent Modification" would help? I heard about it years ago, but have always thought it to be too expensive. I've seen regular people to actors do it. I'd most likely do this after becoming an advanced speaker.

[Yudan Taiteki]

That seems a little extreme, I think. That would only be worthwhile if you reach an advanced stage of Japanese but your pronunciation is causing significant problems and you are unable to correct it through your own work.

[Stone_Cold]

I've been testing out the trial version of Human Japanese (http://www.humanjapanese.com/). I didn't think much of it at first glance, but it definitely has some bonuses for learning Japanese. Helpful tips and etc... Well, give it a spin. Remember this is only a helpful learning tool and not program.

[Infidel]

One of the comments I'll always remember from sci.lang.japan, which I stopped frequenting a while back, was made by someone I respected, Mike, Jim Breen, someone of that nature.

To summarize, he said something like, My friend would act out movie scripts for practice. I thought he was crazy, but he ended up more fluent than I. Or something to that effect. So I always thought it might be a good idea to act out any good movie scenes etc.

I purchased Shadowing, Let's learn Japanese a while back, and what impressed me over most works is it sounded much more emotional and less scripted than other works. So I think if you want to work on prounciation, then it's best to mimic emotive speech over emotionless speech.

[Disco]

I agree with infidel. The Genki series' dialogue is so plain and scripted. Sometimes I watch Japanese drama with subtitles and mimic what all the people say (anime talk seems just plain unrealistic to me). You have to totally absorb the speech and make it your own, disregard your English tendencies; know the little rules and tricks, yet letting it flow. Like with my "hows my accent post", I made a lot of "boo-boos" like saying "suki", when "ski" would be more natural. Little things... I saw a book in Borders that showed basic Japanese phrases with dictionary-style pronunciation keys, stresses on the words and what not. It got my 50 year old father from saying "hajimagushtay" (hajimemashite) to saying it right.

[jcdietz03]

I would go watch some anime if you like that, movies if you like those, or drama if you like that. It can't really help you in the "how do I pronounce THIS word/sentence" situation though. And anime watching won't help you learn new words or grammar - at least I don't think so.

Also listen to your Japanese teacher if you have one, and try not to listen to the other students in your class.

Where do I get scripts for my favorite shows? Do I need to buy the Japanese DVDs just so I can get the subtitles?

[two_heads_talking]

personally, I think Japanese game shows to be the best for emotional variances.. I think Japanese news programs are a great way to increase your vocabulary, but game shows have so much exaggerated emotions, that it's easy to see the differences..