Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "電話" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 電話 in Japanese?

電話 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /deɴ.wa/. It means “telephone.” de-n-wa, three beats — a nasal beat in the middle, then a lightly compressed w.

de-n-wa, three beats — a nasal beat in the middle, then a lightly compressed w.

電話 /deɴ.wa/

denwa

Three slots, and the middle one is a hum with no vowel. Because a w follows rather than a stop, that nasal is harder to place than usual — it doesn't get shaped by the next consonant, so you have to hold it deliberately rather than letting it lean on something.

Listen: 電話

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Sound it out

de Dental d into a short front e that stays in one position rather than gliding toward "day."

n A whole beat of nasal, and an interesting one — with a w following, there's no consonant to assimilate to, so it stays a back-of-the-mouth hum.

wa Japanese w compresses the lips sideways rather than protruding them, then opens to a bright short a. Lighter than the w in English "watt."

Hear it in a sentence

電話が鳴っています。

Denwa ga natte imasu.

The phone is ringing.

Listen: 電話が鳴っています。

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電話が鳴っています uses 鳴って with its geminate — na-t-te, three morae with a beat of held silence. So the sentence has a beat of pure hum and a beat of pure silence within a few morae of each other: two very different ways of spending time.

Where English speakers slip

"DEN-wa" delivers two syllables with the n as a closing consonant. Hum it for its own beat. English speakers also round the w too hard, pushing the lips forward as they would for "war" — Japanese just squeezes them, which makes the sound lighter and shorter.