LingoDrop
Japanese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "川" in Japanese?
ka-wa, two short beats with two identical a's and a lightly compressed w.
kawa
Two matched beats on the same vowel twice. Standard speech rises across the word and drops on the following particle — 川が has its fall after the noun — so within the word itself nothing falls away.
Listen: 川
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
この川はとてもきれいです。
Kono kawa wa totemo kirei desu.
This river is very clean.
Listen: この川はとてもきれいです。
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この川はとてもきれいです ends with きれい and its merged long e. So a two-beat word with no length runs into a three-beat word whose final vowel takes two counts — the contrast makes the length easier to feel than any isolated drill.
Where English speakers slip
"KAH-wah" stretches and stresses the first beat, weakens the second, and rounds the w. Match the two a's exactly, keep both short, and compress rather than protrude the lips. English speakers also aspirate the k, which pushes the word further out of its light, quick character.