Often the same vowel, or phonetic sound, is used consecutively, as in a ta ma (head), ko ko ro (heart), or to ko ro (place). Sometimes a phonetic sound is lost through contraction when saying certain words. For instance, when pronouncing kM fu ku (happy), one drops the middle u and slurs the f and k together. This results in the pronunciation kM f'ku. Practice saying it several times and you will see how easily the Japanese rolls off your tongue! Another basic word is the pronoun "I," which in Japanese is wa ta ku shi. It is pronounced correctly wa ta k'shi, with the loss of a u and the slurring of the k into the shi sound. In recent years "I" has been still further abbreviated to become wa ta shi.

Consonants can be tricky too. For example, the single-consonant "k" in the word kM ka gives us "school song," while the double consonant in the word kok ka makes it "national anthem."

Are there any rules as to which syllable should receive accent? Authorities differ, but some agree that it is better not to accent any syllable than to accent the wrong one. For example, the city of Numazu is pronounced nu ma zu, with equal emphasis on each syllable.

Especially since the seventeenth century, Japanese has borrowed many words from European languages. For instance, the Portuguese word "pao" (bread) becomes pan in Japanese. The Dutch "blik" (tin) is bu ri ki. "Butter" in English becomes ba ta. Another English word, "strike," expands to five syllables, with two different meanings. It is su to ra i ku in baseball jargon, but when some want better pay or working conditions, the word becomes su to ra i ki.

Other Things of Interest

One must realize that Japanese word order differs from that in most other languages. On a visit to Japan, you might say in English: "I would like to visit Mount Fuji." In Japanese you would say, "Watak'shi wa Fuji San o hMmon shitai desu." The literal word order is: "I Fuji Mount visit want." In Japanese the verb always comes at the end of the sentence. As noted above, verb endings are also most important. To know whether an expression is in the present or the past tense, or whether it is a positive or negative response to a previous question or statement, one must listen to the very last syllable of a sentence.

An unusual feature of the Japanese language is its system of honorifics or keigo. All conversations must take into consideration three things: the speaker, the one spoken to and the person spoken about. Besides these, the speaker must consider the respective positions, ages, belongings, families, friends and social groups embraced by the conversation. These factors affect-to name just a few-vocabulary, suffixes, prefixes and verb endings used in conversation. The pronoun "you," for example, is represented by many different Japanese words, according to the status of the person addressed. The polite way is often to use the person's name instead, or to omit the "you" altogether. One making one's residence in Japan should be determined to learn the various forms of address. The visitor on a temporary basis, however, will be forgiven blunders of this type. The Japanese, as a whole, are delighted to hear people make the effort to speak their difficult tongue.

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