1: Confusing /ɑː/ & /əː/


The vowel sound /əː/ occurs in many everyday English words, such as ‘work’, ‘girl’, ‘turn’ and ‘learn’. However, Japanese ESL students tend to use the sound /ɑː/ (as in ‘car’, ‘fast,’ ‘palm’) in place of /əː/. For some students it takes a lot of practice to consistently differentiate between the two vowels. Here are some exercises. 


Exercise 1: /ɑː/ & /əː/

  1. Hold your mouth open in a tall, oval shape, not a wide, circular shape. Practice performing the two vowels without closing your mouth or adjusting your mouth-shape in between. Only adjust your tongue position: back and low for /ɑː/, more forward for /əː/.
  2. Repeat the first exercise but, instead of using normal descending intonation, hold one single pitch, like singing. 
  3. Repeat exercise 2 but do both vowels in one breath, without stopping in between. Remember: allow your tongue to move in and out but do not make any adjustment to your mouth-shape.


Exercise 2: Word Pairs.

  1. fast first (/fɑːst/ /fəːst/) 
  2. star stir (/stɑː/ /stəː/)
  3. hard heard (/hɑːd/ /həːd/)


Each pair of words should look the same. You should open your mouth in exactly the same way for ‘fast’ as for ‘first’ etc. Your mouth-shape should be tall and oval, not wide and circular. 





2: Confusing /ɛ/ & /æ/


Many Japanese ESL students also have trouble differentiating the sound /ɛ/, which occurs in words such as ‘friend’, and ‘head’, from /æ/, which occurs in words such as ‘can’ and ‘had’. Here are some exercises. 


Exercise 1: /ɛ/ & /æ/

  1. Hold your mouth open in a wide, circular mouth-shape (imagine biting into a huge hamburger). Practice performing the two vowels without closing your mouth or adjusting your mouth-shape in between. Only adjust your tongue position in between: more forward for /ɛ/, more back for /æ/. /ɛ/ should sound relatively dark and mellow; /æ/ should sound brighter and harsher (much brighter than /ɑː/). 
  2. Repeat the first exercise but, instead of using normal descending intonation, hold one single pitch, like singing. 
  3. Repeat exercise 2 but do both vowels in one breath, without stopping in between. Remember: allow your tongue to move out and in but do not make any adjustment to your mouth-shape. 


Exercise 2: Word Pairs.

  1. pen pan (/pɛn/ /pæn/)
  2. head had (/hɛd/ /hæd/)
  3. bet bat (/bɛt/ /bæt/)





3: Adding /j/ between /k/ and /æ/


Many Japanese ESL learners tend to pronounce words such as ‘cat’ /kæt/ and ‘cap’ /kæp/ more like /kjæt/ and /kjæp/, adding a /j/ sound between the /k/ and the vowel. This problem is reflected in how certain English loanwords are pronounced in Japanese, such as the word kyanseru. (Note that in English ‘cancel’ is pronounced /kæn.sl/ not /kjæn.sl/.)

The key to fixing this problem is to focus on aspiration. In English, /k/ is aspirated meaning there is a distinctive exhalation between the start of the /k/ sound and the onset of the vowel. Here are some exercises.


Exercise 1: /kh/ /hæ/ 

  1. For this exercise you will practice the sound /kæ/ by breaking it into 2 parts. For the first part (/kh/), make the initial /k/ sound and quickly open into a circular mouth-shape while exhaling audibly. (We can use /h/ to represent this breath.) The breath should have the sound of the vowel (/æ/) but should not be voiced; i.e., it should sound like you are whispering the /æ/ vowel. Now pause with your mouth in that position (a wide circle) and, for the second part, make the /æ/ vowel, with voice, preceded by an exhalation (i.e. /hæ/).
  2. Repeat exercise 1 but remove the gap between the two parts. This will result in the breath at the end of part 1 joining with the breath at the start of part 2 to form a single long breath. Remember: do not add voice to part 1 and do not forget the /h/ sound (the breath) in part 2. 


Exercise 2:

Apply the above process to the following words: 

  1. cat /kh-hæt/
  2. cap /kh-hæp/
  3. catch /kh-hætʃ/


Exercise 3: /kæ/ vs. /kjæ/

For this exercise, practice making the sound /kæ/ (correct) and the sound /kjæ/ (wrong) so that you gain a better understanding of the distinction between the correct sound and the wrong sound. To do this exercise, simply alternate between the two sounds for one minute. 





4: Doing /uː/ Incorrectly.


Most English learners from Japan do the /uː/ vowel wrong. This vowel is a semi-diphthong, meaning that the sound changes slightly at the end. This change in the sound is produced by squeezing the lips. 

It is this squeeze of the lips that results in words such as ‘doing’ and ‘fluent’ having a /w/ sound in the middle: /ˈduː(w)ɪŋ/ /ˈfluː(w)ənt/. Most Japanese ESL students do not squeeze the lips properly when making this sound. 


Exercise 1: Lip Squeezes

Put your lips into a /w/ position, squeezing tightly. Without moving your jaw or opening your mouth, slightly open and close your lips, as if imitating a goldfish. If you do this correctly you will be able to do it very fast (at least 3 times/second). Only open your lips vertically, not horizontally, keeping the corners of your mouth tightly pinched together and your cheeks sucked in. Repeat for 1 minute.


Exercise 2: /uː/ 

  1. Now make the /uː/ vowel, starting with your lips in the slightly open position and finishing with them squeezed tightly in the /w/ position. Repeat 10 times. 
  2. Make several /uː/ sounds in one continuous breath without stopping. This should sound like ‘ooh-woo-woo-woo’. Repeat for 1 minute.


Exercise 3: words

Remember to squeeze your lips at the end of each word. Repeat each word three times.

  1. do /duː/
  2. two /tuː/
  3. who /huː/
  4. sue /suː/
  5. zoo /zuː/
  6. loo /luː/





5: Doing /w/ Incorrectly


This problem is closely related to the previous one. Japanese students often struggle to make the /w/ consonant at the beginning of a syllable, as in the words ‘where’ and ‘war’. When Japanese people try to pronounce /w/ it tends to sound like a vowel: similar to /ʊ/ (the vowel in ‘put’ ‘good’ and ‘could’). 

This mistake is particularly obvious in the words ‘would’ (or ‘wood’) and ‘woman’, in which /w/ is followed by /ʊ/ (/wʊd/, /ˈwʊmən/). Japanese people tend to pronounce these words /ʊd/ and /ˈʊmən/ respectively, as they are unable to distinguish the /w/ from the /ʊ/.

To correct this mistake you must learn to squeeze your lips tightly together, as if whistling. (If you can’t whistle, now is a good time to learn.) When making the /w/ sound you must not start with a glottal sound, as doing so gives the impression of a vowel. Try to feel the sound coming from the lips, not the throat.  


Exercise 1: Lip Squeezes

The first exercise is the same exercise you did for /uː/. 

Put your lips into a /w/ position, squeezing tightly. Without moving your jaw or opening your mouth, slightly open and close your lips, as if imitating a goldfish. If you do this correctly you will be able to do it very fast (at least 3 times/second). Only open your lips vertically, not horizontally, keeping the corners of your mouth tightly pinched together and your cheeks sucked in. Repeat for 1 minute.


Exercise 2: /wʊ/

Note that saying /wʊ/ (the first syllable of ‘woman’) is the same as saying /uː/, except in reverse. 

  1. Make the sound /wʊ/, starting with your lips squeezed tightly together in the /w/ position and finishing with them in the slightly open position.
  2. Make several /wʊ/ sounds in one continuous breath without stopping. This should sound like ‘woo-woo-woo-woo’. Repeat for 1 minute.


Exercise 3: Words

Remember to squeeze your lips at the start of each word. 

  1. where /wɛː/
  2. were /wəː/
  3. war /wɔː/ 
  4. would /wʊd/ 
  5. wooed /wuːd/





6: Confusing /h/ & /f/


In Japanese there is no /f/ sound. However, in romaji the phoneme ふ is written ‘fu’, as in ‘Fuji’. To a native English speaker, when a Japanese person says ‘fuji’ it sounds like /ˈhuːdʒi/, with /h/, not /f/. By the same token, Japanese people tend to pronounce /f/ words with /h/. For example, Japanese people often say ‘food’ and ‘who’d’ the same way. 

The key to getting the /f/ right is to focus on lip/teeth position. You must raise your top lip so that your upper teeth are showing; this will cause your lower lip to stick out as if pouting. Your upper teeth must bite into your lower lip: there must be contact between teeth and lip.

If you have difficulty initiating an airstream from this position, start the exhalation with your mouth open and then bring your teeth into contact with your lip while maintaining the airflow. 


Exercise 1: /f/ /v/

  1. Practice making the /f/ sound with correct lip/teeth position. 
  2. Now add voice to make /v/
  3. Add a schwa: /fə/ /və/
  4. Now practice /fʊ/ /fuː/  
  5. Add voice: /vʊ/ /vuː/ 


Exercise 2: Words

  1. far /fɑː/ 
  2. fur /fəː/
  3. fair /fɛː/
  4. fear /fɪə/
  5. four /fɔː/
  6. food /fuːd/
  7. foot /fʊt/


Repeat each word 3 times. Be mindful of your teeth/lip position. Remember that /f/ is a fricative, so it has length. You must give the /f/ time before moving on to the vowel.





How can I Reduce my Japanese Accent?


To reduce your Japanese accent, focus on listening, not reading, and practice your vocal technique daily. Eventually you must consciously introduce new pronunciation techniques into your spoken English. I recommend you start with a single word. For example, every time you have to say the word 'learn' try to say it with the correct vowel: /ləːn/, not /lɑːn/. Once you feel comfortable doing this, add another word. If you repeat this process for several weeks or months your overall pronunciation will start to improve.  əːn/

My online British pronunciation course includes assignments where you submit videos of yourself and receive video responses from me. You can also get live, one-to-one lessons. Start for free!

I hope you have enjoyed this article. Contact me with any questions.

John