Pronunciation Challenge

みなさん、こんにちは！　お元気（げんき）でしたか？ 

It's now November, and it's time for the 6th challenge!

The sentences below highlight areas to improve how you sound when speaking. Please read through the points and practice with a guide audio file and a PDF for pitch accent and intonation.

When you decide to join the challenge, you'll be able to practice more, which will improve your speaking. So, it's important to make that decision now!

How to Participate:

1. Choose either the beginner, intermediate, advanced, or proficient level, record it, and upload it on the Forum as a reply to the announcement.

2. The deadline is Tuesday, November 19th, at 11:00 PM. JST.

Feedback: I will provide feedback via video on Saturday, November 23th on my website.

Sentences to Read: Here are the sentences you’ll read. Please choose one, record, and upload it. I added points for you to be careful with, but if there are any other points you want me to check, please let me know.

An audio

A PDF

【Beginner　初級（しょきゅう）】

Reading the hiragana table by vowel rows

あかさたな　はまやらわ→いきしちに　ひみいりい→うくすつぬ　ふむゆるう

→えけせてね　へめえれえ→おこそとの　ほもよろを→ん

Please note that we say い after み and り, う after る, え after め and れ to maintain rhythm. There used to be specific characters for those sounds, but over time, their pronunciation became the same as い, う, え so we no longer use the original characters.

Points

・The mouth shapes of the い row and the う row. Your mouth doesn’t move while pronouncing the sounds in the い row and the う row, except when making the “m” sound. Please look at the mirror and practice!

・The pitch accent of あかさたな(the last character in each row can be pronounced with either a high or low pitch).

・Please watch Mastering phonetics Part 1-1 for more details.

【Intermediate　中級（ちゅうきゅう）】

最近、食べても食べてもお腹がすきます。食欲の秋だからかもしれません。

（さいきん、たべてもたべてもおなかがすきます。しょくよくのあきだからかもしれません。）

“I've been feeling hungry no matter how much I eat lately. It might be because it's autumn, the season of appetite.”

Points:

・The repetitions of たべても. The second たべても is higher than the first one.

・The intonation of だからかもしれません. だからかもshould be higher than しれません.

【Advanced　上級（じょうきゅう）】

秋になりました。秋は紅葉の季節です。

きれいな紅葉の写真を撮りたいので、どこにいくか考えているところです。

（あきになりました。あきはこうようのきせつです。きれいなこうようのしゃしんをとりたいので、どこにいくかかんがえているところです。）

”Autumn has arrived, and it's the season of autumn leaves. I'm thinking about where to go to take beautiful photos of the autumn foliage.”

Points:

・The intonation of あきになりました. あきに should be the highest part. なりました is an additional part, so please say なりました lower than あきに.

・The pitch accent of こうよう（Heiban）.

・The intonation of 考えているところです. かんがえている should be higher than ところです.

【Proficient】

読みたいもの、言いたいことを３〜５文で録音してください。

自分のよく使う表現を練習してもいいかもしれません。

Please record in 3 to 5 sentences what you want to read or say. It might be a good idea to practice expressions you commonly use.

みなさんのチャレンジ、お待（ま）ちしてます！！

I can't wait to hear your recordings!

Have a wonderful day!!

Fumi