Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "時間" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 時間 in Japanese?

時間 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /dʑi.kaɴ/. It means “time / hour.” ji-ka-n, three beats — a soft palatal j and a closing nasal that takes a whole count.

ji-ka-n, three beats — a soft palatal j and a closing nasal that takes a whole count.

時間 /dʑi.kaɴ/

jikan

Three slots, and the last has no vowel. English reads two syllables here and gives two beats, which shortens the word by a third. Hum the closing nasal deliberately until the three-count feels automatic.

Listen: 時間

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Sound it out

ji A voiced affricate made with the tongue blade broadly against the palate — lighter than English j — followed by a short tense i.

ka A gentle k — check with a palm at your mouth — and then a bright short a.

n The moraic nasal filling a beat by itself. Word-finally it's articulated far back with the mouth open, so it resonates rather than closing off sharply.

Hear it in a sentence

会議は二時間かかります。

Kaigi wa ni-jikan kakarimasu.

The meeting takes two hours.

Listen: 会議は二時間かかります。

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会議は二時間かかります compounds the word into 二時間 (ni-ji-ka-n), four morae. Note that かかります afterwards has two identical ka morae in a row — another place where English wants to differentiate repeated syllables and Japanese doesn't. Keep them matched.

Where English speakers slip

"JEE-kahn" is what an English mouth produces: a hard j, a long stressed first vowel, and a nasal treated as a consonant rather than a beat. Soften the j to a blade articulation, halve the i, and give the ん its own full count. The word should end on an audible hum, not a snapped closure.