Japanese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "シャツ" in Japanese?

Q: How do you pronounce シャツ in Japanese?

シャツ is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ɕa.tsɯ̥/. It means “shirt.” sha-tsu, two beats — "sha" is one mora and "tsu" is a single affricate, not "shirts."

sha-tsu, two beats — "sha" is one mora and "tsu" is a single affricate, not "shirts."

シャツ /ɕa.tsɯ̥/

shatsu

Two beats, both short. The word came from English "shirts," but Japanese has rebuilt it completely: the r is gone, the cluster has become an affricate, and a vowel has been added — so its rhythm has nothing in common with the source.

Listen: シャツ

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Sound it out

sha A palatal hiss combined with an a in one mora — not "shi-ya." The friction is lighter and further forward than English sh.

tsu One indivisible affricate, with an unrounded u that devoices at the end of the word. This inserted vowel exists because Japanese cannot end a word in a plain t or s.

Hear it in a sentence

白いシャツを着ています。

Shiroi shatsu o kite imasu.

I'm wearing a white shirt.

Listen: 白いシャツを着ています。

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白いシャツを着ています opens with 白い (shi-ro-i), three morae with a tap and a bare final vowel. So the sentence contains two different sh-type sounds — one before an i, one before an a — plus a tap and an affricate.

Where English speakers slip

Saying the English word "shirts" is the reflex, and it gets almost everything wrong: an r that doesn't exist, a vowel that is too dark, and a final cluster where Japanese has a full mora. Say sha and tsu as two clean beats, with the tongue blade doing the sh and the affricate as one release.