Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "グループ" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce グループ in Japanese?

グループ is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɡɯ.ɾɯː.pɯ/. It means “group.” gu-ru-u-pu, four beats — a long u in the middle and no rounding anywhere.

gu-ru-u-pu, four beats — a long u in the middle and no rounding anywhere.

グループ /ɡɯ.ɾɯː.pɯ/

guruupu

Four beats for a word English delivers in one syllable. Two of those beats exist purely because Japanese breaks up consonant clusters with vowels, and one comes from the long vowel — which together make the loanword four times the length of its source.

Listen: グループ

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Sound it out

gu A hard g into the unrounded u. Japanese has to insert a vowel here because it can't begin a word with the cluster "gr."

ruu One tap of the tongue tip, then a u sustained for two full counts. The katakana ー mark carries that length.

pu A p released without the strong puff English gives it, then a final unrounded u — another inserted vowel, since Japanese words can't end in p.

Hear it in a sentence

小さいグループで勉強します。

Chiisai guruupu de benkyou shimasu.

We study in a small group.

Listen: 小さいグループで勉強します。

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小さいグループで勉強します opens with 小さい, four morae with a long i at the front, and includes 勉強 with a nasal and a long o. So the sentence contains three long vowels and a moraic nasal, and the loanword is not the only place that needs holding.

Where English speakers slip

Saying English "group" with a Japanese accent gives one beat where there should be four. Every inserted vowel is a real mora: gu, ru, u, pu. Keep all three u's unrounded — English rounds them automatically — and hold the middle one for a genuine two counts.