Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "考え" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 考え in Japanese?

考え is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /kaŋ.ɡa.e/. It means “idea / thought.” ka-n-ga-e, four beats — a nasal beat in second place and a bare e at the end.

ka-n-ga-e, four beats — a nasal beat in second place and a bare e at the end.

考え /kaŋ.ɡa.e/

kangae

Four beats, of which one is a hum and one is a bare vowel — the two units English is least likely to count. Delivered correctly the word is noticeably longer than "kangae" looks on the page.

Listen: 考え

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Sound it out

ka Soft k with no puff, then a bright short a.

n A whole beat of nasal. With a g following, the back of the tongue rises to the soft palate, so this hum is the "ng" variety — hold it before releasing.

ga A hard g into a second a matching the first. Coming straight out of a velar nasal, the two are made in the same place.

e A short front e as its own beat, arriving off the a with nothing between them.

Hear it in a sentence

いい考えがあります。

Ii kangae ga arimasu.

I have a good idea.

Listen: いい考えがあります。

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いい考えがあります opens with いい, a long i held for two counts, and ends with あります and its final devoiced su. So the sentence has a held vowel, a held nasal, a bare vowel and a whispered one — nearly the full inventory of Japanese timing devices.

Where English speakers slip

"kan-GUY" collapses the ending into an English diphthong and reduces the nasal to a closing consonant, delivering two beats where there should be four. Hum the ん for its own count, then give the a and e separate pulses. Both corrections add real length.