Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ゲーム" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce ゲーム in Japanese?

ゲーム is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɡeː.mɯ/. It means “game.” ge-e-mu, three beats — a long e at the front and an unrounded u to finish.

ge-e-mu, three beats — a long e at the front and an unrounded u to finish.

ゲーム /ɡeː.mɯ/

geemu

Three beats for a word English delivers in one syllable. The long vowel accounts for one extra beat and the inserted final u for another, which triples the word's length compared with its English source.

Listen: ゲーム

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Sound it out

gee A hard g opening onto an e sustained for two full counts. The katakana ー is the length mark, and the vowel must stay in one position — no glide toward "gay."

mu Lips close for the m and then spread for the unrounded u. This vowel exists only because Japanese cannot end a word in m; it's an inserted mora, and a full beat.

Hear it in a sentence

子供たちはこのゲームが大好きです。

Kodomotachi wa kono geemu ga daisuki desu.

The children love this game.

Listen: 子供たちはこのゲームが大好きです。

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

子供たちはこのゲームが大好きです ends with 大好き (da-i-su-ki), four morae with a vowel pair at the front and two devoicing-prone vowels at the back. So the sentence pairs a loanword full of inserted length with a native word full of whispered vowels.

Where English speakers slip

Saying the English word "game" with a Japanese accent gives one beat and an English diphthong. Hold a pure e for two counts — no movement of the tongue — and then add a genuine third beat for the mu, with the lips spread rather than rounded.