Japanese Long vowels

The Long vowels


I don’t know the rules in long vowels. All I know is that in Hiragana, long vowels mean longer sounds or double the length of pronouncing the vowel letters. Unlike in small ‘tsu’ which is the double of consonants, long vowels focuses on doubling the five vowel letters, ,,,,.

Others define the long vowels by adding a line above the vowel of a word in Hiragana, except for as it is written twice when they write the words in Romaji or its English term. I don’t usually put a line above the vowel when I use Romaji because, for me, it's quite confusing. That’s why I spelled the words on how it is written and type on the keyboard so it will not confuse me when I write the correct Kanji.

Example:

             

Japanese words

How others write the Romaji

How I write the Romaji

English

おかさん

Okāsan

Okaasan

Mother

おとさん

Otōsan

Otousan

Father

おねさん

Onēsan

Oneesan

Elder Sister

おと

Otōto

Otouto

Younger Brother

 

While the long vowel for Katakana represents only a hyphen or dash line (―). In Katakana, you don’t need to worry whether the vowels will be double or not. I also don’t use the line above the vowel when I put the Romaji of each word in order not to spell it wrongly. 

 

Japanese words

How others write the Romaji

How I write the Romaji

English

ブレースレット

burēsuretto

buresuretto

Bracelet

サッカー

sakkā

sakka

Soccer

クローゼット

kurōzetto

kurozetto

Closet

パーティー

pātii

pati

Party

 

For all the examples I will be using in all my posts, I will not use the line above the vowel when writing the Romaji, so it is easy to spell the words.

 

More examples will be posted soon as we already finish the basic Hiragana and Katakana. Please look forward to it.


See you soon.




If you want to learn about Hiragana and Katakana again, just click the link below. 

<< The Hiragana Characters                                         The Katakana Characters >>


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Latest Update March 29, 2024

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