Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "かばん" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce かばん in Japanese?

かばん is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ka.baɴ/. It means “bag.” ka-ba-n, three beats — the closing nasal is a full beat of humming.

ka-ba-n, three beats — the closing nasal is a full beat of humming.

かばん /ka.baɴ/

kaban

Three beats, the last with no vowel in it. English reads two syllables here and delivers two beats; Japanese counts three, with the extra time going entirely to the nasal. Hum it deliberately until the three-count is automatic.

Listen: かばん

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Sound it out

ka A k released with no puff, then a bright short a.

ba An unremarkable b into a second a identical to the first. The two open vowels should sound the same.

n The moraic nasal, taking a whole beat. Word-finally it's made far back with the mouth still open, so it resonates rather than snapping shut.

Hear it in a sentence

かばんを家に忘れました。

Kaban o ie ni wasuremashita.

I left my bag at home.

Listen: かばんを家に忘れました。

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かばんを家に忘れました contains 家 (i-e) with its vowel pair and 忘れました, six morae with a tap. So the sentence has a nasal beat, a vowel pair and a flap — three of the things English speakers most often mishandle — in a single short line.

Where English speakers slip

"ka-BAHN" stresses the second beat and treats the n as a syllable-closing consonant. Level the two a's, and give the ん its own count with the mouth still open. Learners who clip the nasal make a three-beat word sound like a two-beat one, which shortens it noticeably.