How to count in Japanese

Getting to know rudimentary Japanese is one of the rights of passage that comes with training in Okinawan karate.

Here are some tips on how to count to ten in Japanese. Practice a little, and in no time you will be counting like a native!

Number	Japanese	Pronunciation tip
1	ichi	The “i” is pronounced “ea”, as in “each”. The “chee” is pronounced like “cheek”.When spoken quickly, the “ee” part is barely pronounced, which makes the whole word sounds like “each”
2	ni	Pronounced “knee”
3	san	Pronounced “sahn”
4	shi	Pronounced “she”(Can alternately be pronounced “yon”, which is pronounced “yohn”)
5	go	When you say “go” in Japanese, leave your mouth rounded when you’re done to prevent slipping towards a “w” sound. English speakers have a tendency to say the word “go” as if it were spelled “gohw”.
6	roku	The Asian “R” is pronounced as cross between R and L. When pronouncing “roku”, it should sound similar to “loh-koo”. The Japanese R is pronounced using only the very tip of the tongue. (An English R is pronounced at the center of the tongue, and an English L is pronounced slightly back from from the tip of the tongue. )
7	shichi	Pronounced like “she-chee”, with a hint of tch on the “chee”.(It can also be pronounced “nana”, with the As pronounced “ah”)
8	hachi	Pronounced as “ha!” and “tchee”
9	kyu	Pronounced as the English letter “q”. Similarly to “go”, English speakers tend to pronounce it as “kyoow” – make sure you keep your mouth rounded on the “oo” sound so you don’t slip towards “w”.
10	jyu	Pronounced “joo”, with a hint of “zh” on the “j”

 

Counting from 10 to 19 is also easy — simply add the word “jyu” (10) before the word for the “ones” digit. For example,14 is said “ju shi,” which literally means “10 – 4.”

For 20 say “ni ju”.

Number	Japanese
11	jyu ichi
12	jyu ni
13	jyu san
14	jyu shi
15	jyu go
16	jyu roku
17	jyu shichi
18	jyu hachi
19	jyu kyu
20	ni ju

Happy counting!

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