This is one of the shortest pages on the site, but one of the most important as well. Japanese syllables are easy to pronounce, once you learn the pattern. And the pattern is simple, but some people don't take the time to learn it.

Vowel Sounds:
a - the "a" in "father"
i - the "ee" in "tree"
u - the "ou" in "you"
e - the "e" in "let"
o - the "oa" in "boat"

Consonant Sounds:
These are mostly the same as the consonants in English, with a few notable exceptions.
g - always a hard "g", like in "guy"
r - sometimes romanized as an "l", this sound is said by some to be a combination of the English "r" and English "l", and by others as a combination of the English "r" with the English "d". Either an "r" or an "l" sound or either of these combinations will be accurate enough to allow you to be understood by a Japanese person.