Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "最初" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce 最初 in Japanese?

最初 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sa.i.ɕo/. It means “first / the beginning.” sa-i-sho, three beats — sa and i are separate, so the word doesn't start like English "sigh."

sa-i-sho, three beats — sa and i are separate, so the word doesn't start like English "sigh."

最初 /sa.i.ɕo/

saisho

High on sa, then stepping down — and all three units measured the same. Its natural partner is 最後 (saigo), which shares the same first two beats — drilling them together makes the sa-i separation automatic, since the difference between the words lives entirely in the third mora.

Listen: 最初

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Sound it out

sa A clean s into a bright short a, with no lengthening at the start of the word.

i Nothing but the vowel i, and it still counts as a full beat, arriving directly off the a. English hears one syllable here; Japanese counts two beats.

sho A light palatal hiss combined with the o in a single mora — not "shi-yo." The tongue blade approaches the palate and releases straight into a stationary o.

Hear it in a sentence

今日は最初の日です。

Kyou wa saisho no hi desu.

It's my first day.

Listen: 今日は最初の日です。

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今日は最初の日です ends with 日 read as "hi," a single mora with the palatal h. Just before it, 最初の runs four morae with no break — sa-i-sho-no. English speakers reliably deliver that as three, fusing the opening vowels, so the whole phrase comes out short.

Where English speakers slip

"SIGH-sho" is the classic collapse: the first two morae crushed into an English diphthong plus a stress peak. Pulse the sa and the i separately until three beats feel natural. And keep the sho as one gesture — English speakers sometimes insert a small i, producing "shee-oh," which adds a beat that isn't there.