Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "あそこ" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce あそこ in Japanese?

あそこ is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a.so.ko/. It means “over there.” a-so-ko, three even beats — and the two o's at the end must sound identical.

a-so-ko, three even beats — and the two o's at the end must sound identical.

あそこ /a.so.ko/

asoko

The melody peaks on so, and the three units are cut evenly. The word is そこ with an あ prefixed, so its rhythm is simply one beat longer — which means if you have そこ right, this should follow at the same tempo rather than acquiring a new stress pattern.

Listen: あそこ

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Sound it out

a Nothing but an open vowel here, jaw down, one beat long, standing on its own.

so An ordinary s into a stationary o, no lengthening despite sitting in the middle of the word.

ko A soft k and an o matching the previous one exactly. Consecutive identical vowels are where English instinctively differentiates.

Hear it in a sentence

あそこで待っていてください。

Asoko de matte ite kudasai.

Please wait for me over there.

Listen: あそこで待っていてください。

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あそこで待っていてください uses 待って with its geminate: ma-t-te, three morae including a beat of held silence with the tongue in position. Coming after the three flat beats of あそこ, that silence should feel like a genuine gap rather than a hurried consonant.

Where English speakers slip

"ah-SO-ko" with a stressed middle is the standard version, and it also tends to weaken the final o. Level all three beats and match the two o's exactly. Learners sometimes lengthen the opening a to "aah" because it stands alone with no consonant — it's one short beat like the others.