Dogen posts
Japanese Phonetics Episode 28—LIVE (Updated with native recordings!)
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening Patrons! The twenty-eighth episode of Japanese Phonetics, now updated with native recordings, is live! In this episode we talk about pitch-accent in question words and phrases, and cover some common phonetic mistakes that native English speakers make when dealing wi...
Japanese Phonetics Episode 27—LIVE!
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening Patrons! The twenty-seventh episode of Japanese Phonetics is live! In this shorter, more abstract lesson, I talk about sentence-level pitch-accent, reflect on phonetic awareness, and offer all patrons a simple, but effective phonetics challenge.If you have any quest...
Japanese Phonetics Episode 26—(Now replaced by Lesson 6.3!))
Note: On October 29, 2021, I took down this lesson, and replaced it with the newer version of lesson 6.3, which I believe provides a much better framework for sentence-level pitch-accent than this older lesson on 'terracing'. I will not be recreating this lesson, again, as I believe the newer information in les...
Japanese Phonetics Episode 25—LIVE (Updated with native recordings)
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening Patrons! The twenty-fifth episode of Japanese Phonetics is live! In this lesson, we begin to talk about sentence-level pitch-accent.If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment below. Thank you for the continued support and good luck with your...
Japanese Phonetics Anki Flashcards—Available Now!
Japanese Phonetics Bibliography Japanese Phonetics Index PageGood afternoon Patrons!I hope that this message finds you well. Long time Patron Neeson Champion has done us a huge favor—he spent countless hours of his own free time to create an Anki deck which includes all the examples from Japanese Phonetics (visuals a...
Japanese Phonetics Episode 24—Live, now with native recordings!
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening Patrons! The twenty-fourth episode of Japanese Phonetics is now live with native recordings! In this episode we test our knowledge of the adjective and verb pitch-accent. Answer sheets may be found attached to this post. Please note that the content of these two fil...
Japanese Phonetics Episode 23—LIVE!
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening Patrons! The twenty-third episode of Japanese Phonetics is live!In this episode I wrap up the pitch-accent patterns for verbs and offer some general advice for approaching verb pitch-accent studies. Apologies for the lack of background ornaments and slightly unusual...
(Read Description!) Japanese Phonetics Episode 22—LIVE!
Note: There are a very small number of 中高 verbs that exhibit their accents on the third mora from the end of the word, rather than the second from the end of the word. This occurs when the second to last mora is a long vowel (ー) or the trailing vowel of a double vowel set, such as the え sounds in both 蘇る(...
New playlist link (Removed)
Hello, Patrons.I had to take down the playlist because it was being shared to non-patrons; I hope you understand. All lessons, plus some other resources, are available on the index page.Japanese Phonetics Index PageThank you for your support!=====Good evening Patrons,I have created a new playlist for Japanese Phonetics...
Episode 21: Rules for determining verb pitch accent
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening Patrons! In this lesson I address several important rules for determining the pitch accent of common verbs. I originally intended on including the information in this video in the upcoming 中高 verbs episode, but the lesson became quite bloated, so I split the scr...
Japanese Phonetics Playlist (Removed)
Hello, Patrons.I had to take down the playlist because it was being shared to non-patrons; I hope you understand. All lessons, plus some other resources, are available on the index page.Japanese Phonetics Index PageThank you for your support!=====Good evening Patrons,Just wanted to let you all know that I created an un...
Episode 20: Pitch-accent patterns for atamadaka verbs
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening Patrons! In this lesson I address the pitch-accent patterns of atamadaka verbs.If you have any questions leave a comment below, and thank you very much for your continued support!Best from Beppu,Dōgen
Episode 19: Pitch-accent patterns for non-heiban conjugations of heiban verbs
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening Patrons! In this episode I address the various non-heiban conjugations of heiban verbs.Post-upload note: It is also acceptable to pronounce the 〜ながら form of these verbs with a down-step on the な, as in oSHIENAgara (教えながら) and yaRINAgara (やりã�...
Tofugu Article is Live!
Good evening Patrons! Just wanted to let everyone know that my article with Tofugu is live. I highly encourage everyone interested in both Japanese phonetics and creative writing in Japanese to give this a read; they did a great job of cleaning up my script and making the article very readable!I hope everyone can learn...
Episode 18: The importance of heiban verbs/pitch accent for heiban verbs
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood morning, everyone. In this episode I address the importance of heiban verbs. This is a big one!The verb only video I mention in this lesson can be found here: https://youtu.be/Q5aejRrsohs A few important notes regarding this video: 1. Though I haven't found any explicit...
Episode 17: Pitch accent of negative na-adjective conjugations and noun phrases
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening, Patrons! In this episode I talk about the pitch-accent patterns for the negative forms of na-adjective and noun based negative phrases.On the surface this may seem like a very simple lesson, but a lot of time went into research as there is very little academic lite...
Japanese Phonetics Episode 16 (outdated link)
This post has been replaced by the remade lesson 16, which can be found here: Japanese Phonetics 16 (Pitch-accent in the negative forms of i-adjectives)Note: I recently completely remade lesson 12, and in said lesson I included the 'easier to remember' く form of 3 mora い adjectives, which is uMAku. That sai...
Episode 15: Pitch accent for the 'sa' form of na-adjectives
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood evening, Patrons! In this episode I talk about the pitch-accent patterns for the 'sa' form of na-adjectives, covering two important rules. If you have any questions or concerns don't hesitate to leave a comment below!As always, thank you very much for the contin...
Episode 14: Pitch-accent patterns for na-adjectives
Note: 細か (こまか) is an exception to the 3-mora 〜か rule; this word can be pronounced as either 中高, as in koMAka, or 尾高, as in koMAKA (with the particle attaching low). Note that the correct pronunciation of this word used to be KOmaka, in alignment with the rule—the pitch seems to have changed over...
Japanese Phonetics Episode 13—(outdated link)
Hello, patron! You have found an old post for episode 13 that links to a video no longer available on YouTube. Please use the following link for the updated post:Episode 13If you have any questions or comments about the lesson please be sure to post them there.You can always use the index page to be sure you are access...
Japanese Phonetics Episode 12 (outdated link)
Hello, patron! You have found an old post for episode 12 that links to a video no longer available on YouTube. Please use the following link for the updated post:Episode 12If you have any questions or comments about the lesson please be sure to post them there.You can always use the index page to be sure you are access...
Episode 11: Pitch-accent test #1
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood afternoon, patrons! This episode is slightly different—today we are testing our knowledge of the information presented thus far in the series. Please see the 'Attachments' section directly below this post to access the test sheets in the form of PDF or DOCX files....
Episode 10: Pitch accent patterns for nouns in phrases
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageGood morning, everyone! In this episode I talk about the pitch-accent patterns for nouns in phrases. Specifically, I address how common auxiliary verbs such as だ, です, etc., attach to nouns. The information in this episode is a bit more challenging than previous lessons, so...
Episode 9: Pitch-accent patterns for nouns/compounds
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageHello, Patrons! In this episode I talk about the pitch-accent patterns for five mora nouns, as well as compounds. This one took longer than normal to produce—hope it proves to be beneficial! If you have any questions whatsoever please do not hesitate to let me know!Thank you a...
Episode 8: Pitch-accent patterns for 1-4 mora nouns
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageNote:I don't suggest that beginners worry about this, but some of the words in this lesson exhibit different pitch-accent patterns in certain special circumstances. For more information on this advanced phenomenon, please see the following lesson:Lesson 61This also isn't...
Episode 7: Free Japanese phonetic resources
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageHello patrons! In this episode I share three excellent free resources to help you with your pitch accent studies. Using these tools will help train your ear to recognize pitch patterns and improve your overall pronunciation. I recommend incorporating them into your regular study...
Episode 5: Pitch-accent Terminology
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index Page皆さんこんばんは!In this episode we take our first steps into Japanese pitch-accent study by introducing and explaining all relevant terminology. By the end of this video you should have a complete understanding of the following terms, and how they relate to each other...
Episode 4: Phonetic Awareness and Useful Practices
IMPORTANT NOTE:In this episode I recommend people record themselves speaking Japanese. While I do believe this is an extremely effective way to notice and fix errors in one's speech, it's also something that I only recommend people do if they've been studying Japanese fairly intensely for a minimum of six m...
Episode 3: Common Japanese misconceptions
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageThe third episode of 'Japanese Phonetics'. In this episode I talk about a few Japanese phonetic misconceptions, such as the "Japanese Intonation is flat" myth. Apologies for the typo in the English title at 6:05--currently on a business trip away from my PC and d...
Episode 2: How I studied Japanese / Series philosophy
BibliographyJapanese Phonetics Index PageThe second episode of Japanese Phonetics! In this video I talk about my Japanese background and the philosophy behind the series.Thanks for the support everyone!Dōgen
























