Answering Your Japanese Questions-2
For Alesha!
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The Japanese "i" and "u" are only silent if they occur between two unvoiced consonants(k, s, sh, t, ch, h, f, p) or at the end of a few certain words. So unlike English, you very rarely have to guess how Japanese words are pronounced.
≫The basic five syllables (Vowels)
[a] - the sound "a" in "father", but shorter.
[e] - similar to the vowel "e" in "egg", but the mouth is not opened as wide.
[i] - similar to the vowel "ee " in "eat", but shorter.
[o] - similar to the first part of the "o" in "go", with less lip-rounding.
[u] - similar to the vowel "oo" in "look", but lips are not rounded, but spread.
≫Whispered Vowels
There are sometime vowels that are whispered in Japanese.
They are [i] and [u]. They are usually silent when they are before p, t, k, s, sh, etc.
e.g. kuchi - pronounced as 'kchi', tachisukumi - 'tachiskumi', futari - 'ftari'
# Japanese vowels are pronounced briefly, except for long vowels.
# The vowels i and u are often silent or barely pronounced in most Japanese words, especially when they are located at the end of certain verbs. It is also the case of the vowel "u" that follows the consonant "s". For example, "arimasu" (there is) is pronounced "ah-ree-mas", "deshita" (was) is pronounced "deh-shtah", and "suki" (to like) is pronounced "skee".
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