Yeah, I know (spent a long time either not worrying about it or just plain not speaking much). Any suggestions for techniques?
pm, I'm not sure, if my pronounciation is 'correct' or less gaijin-ish, but.. as we discussed with jettyke, the 'u' sound in Japanese sounds like the the sound between the German/Estonian 'ü', like in the word "Natürlich" (sounds like "Naturally", right?
). Slightly like that. Practice saying that. Watch how your mouth moves. There was a video of a German on youtube explaining in Japanese for Japanese how to pronounce the vowel and so called 'Umlaut' (ö,ü,ä) sounds correctly. Perhaps this will help you a lot, since she's showing how to move your mouth and Japanese vowel sounds sound like German/Estonian (jettyke
). Slightly.
Perhaps you'd like to listen to Bobby Judo (thedailyyoji.blogspot.com). I find his Japanese really good and understandable, although he's American.
I always try to somehow imitate voices. Female, male, both respectively. Can be quite fun sometimes. I have not spoken a word Japanese yet, which makes the first try really exciting, right?
Native UK English
Still have difficulties talking without accent. Can I record also my English voice (speaking freely is no problem for me in English) in order to get a feedback and suggestions how to improve?
P.S. Somehow all of your records sound quite.. depressing and very unemotional, haha XD
Last edited by Tori-kun (2011 May 28, 3:16 am)