English vowel sounds The three a's of hat, hut and hot, and the other vowels that sound alike
Japanese has five vowels. English has more than a dozen, so several English vowels land on the same Japanese sound and start to sound alike. The biggest knot is ア (a): the æ in hat, the ʌ in hut and the ɑ in hot are three different vowels in English, and a Japanese ear hears all three as ア.
Hear them side by side first, then train them one pair at a time.
Hear the three a's
| æbright | ʌshort | ɑdeep |
|---|---|---|
Tap a word to hear it, in American voices from the app.
Three vowels, one ア
- æhat
- The jaw drops low, the tongue pushes forward and the lips spread a little. Bright, with a touch of the e in bet.
- ʌhut
- The mouth is half open and everything relaxes, with the tongue in the middle. Short and quick, like a surprised "uh".
- ɑhot
- The jaw drops all the way and the tongue pulls back, with the lips unrounded. Deep and open, the "ah" you say for a doctor. British English uses a short, slightly rounded ɒ here instead.
These three are hard for a Japanese ear to sort. Before training in a study by Nishi and Kewley-Port (2007), Japanese learners named the æ in hat correctly 70% of the time, the ʌ in hut 44% and the ɑ in hot 34%. ʌ and ɑ were mixed up most: each was taken for the other 27% of the time.
Three pairs, three different cues
Which cue tells two of them apart depends on the pair, so each pair has its own page, word list and quiz.
- æ vs ʌHearing hat and hut apart
Listen for length and brightness: æ is longer and brighter, ʌ short and dull.
See the words → - ʌ vs ɑHearing buddy and body apart
Listen for depth and length: ɑ is deeper, wider and longer. In British voices, listen for rounded lips.
See the words → - æ vs ɑHearing hat and hot apart
Listen for brightness alone: both are long and wide open, but æ is bright and ɑ is dark.
See the words →
Train all three, not one
In the same study, learners who trained on all nine English vowels improved by 25% on average, on new words and new voices too, and kept the gains 3 months later. Learners who trained only on the three hardest vowels got better at those three, but not at the six they hadn't practiced.
So rotate through all three pairs instead of finishing one first. Each pair page has a quiz with real clips from the app.
Studies: Nishi & Kewley-Port 2007
Other vowels that land on one Japanese sound
The same thing happens across the vowel space. Here is each pair, under the Japanese sound both of its vowels turn into.
Heard as アー (aa). English has a vowel Japanese lacks: the er (ɜː) of heard, work and bird. Katakana writes it as アー, so hurt and heart are both ハート (haato). Against the ɔː of walk, listen to the lips: ɜː is flat, ɔː is round.
Heard as オー (oo). oʊ glides from オ toward ウ, while ɔː holds still. Katakana writes both as オー: coat and caught are both コート (kooto).
Heard as イ (i). Japanese has a short and a long イ, so learners listen for length. But ɪ also sounds different: loose, and a little like the e of bet. Seat is シート (shiito) and sit is シット (shitto).
Heard as ウ (u). uː is long, with the lips rounded and tight. ʊ is short and loose, with the lips barely rounded. Katakana writes pool as プール (puuru) and pull as プル (puru), so learners listen for length alone.
Heard as エ (e). eɪ glides from エ toward イ, while e holds still. Katakana often writes eɪ as a long エー, as in ゲーム (geemu) for game, and the glide disappears.
Start hearing the difference.
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