Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "学生" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 学生 in Japanese?

学生 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɡa.kɯ̥.seː/. It means “student.” ga-ku-se-e, four beats — the ku whispers away and the ending is a long e.

ga-ku-se-e, four beats — the ku whispers away and the ending is a long e.

学生 /ɡa.kɯ̥.seː/

gakusei

Four beats: one clear, one whispered, and two given to a single long vowel. The word is a good example of how little correlation there is in Japanese between how much you can hear and how long something takes.

Listen: 学生

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Sound it out

ga A firm velar g into a bright short a. Word-initially this stays a plain g rather than the nasalised version used mid-word.

ku An unaspirated k with a u caught between two voiceless consonants, which devoices it — so this beat is mostly breath.

sei An s opening onto an e sustained for two full counts. As in 先生, the i in the spelling is a length mark rather than a vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

学生は図書館で勉強します。

Gakusei wa toshokan de benkyou shimasu.

The student studies at the library.

Listen: 学生は図書館で勉強します。

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学生は図書館で勉強します contains 図書館 (to-sho-ka-n), four morae with a nasal beat, and 勉強 with another nasal plus a long o. So the sentence has three moraic nasals and two long vowels — a great deal of duration that English would compress.

Where English speakers slip

"ga-KOO-say" voices and rounds the middle vowel, stresses it, and diphthongises the ending. Let the ku devoice with flat lips, level the emphasis, and hold a pure e at the end for two counts. Learners who have met the word written as "gakusei" almost always add an English "ay."