Just starting - To pronounce or not to pronounce?

[Skydog287_500137]

Hi all! Started the absolute beginner lessons and loving it so far. Up to lesson 5 now but I'm running into something I was wondering about. Right when I think I'm pronouncing it just right I noticed it is being pronounced differently sometimes in the dialogues...

For instance when she pronounces 'desu' slowly she says 'des-oo' but when she says it normally it sounds like just 'des'. Same with Gozaimasu, leaving off the 'u' when being spoken at regular speed.

Also with Hajimemashite, it sounds like they are pronouncing the 'i' near the end such as mash-eh-te when speaking each syllable but when spoken normally it sounds like they are saying mash-te. Same with 'do itashimashite'.

And there are other cases where the words come out differently in the dialogue tracks when they are speaking in a hypothetical conversation. So I've been pronouncing it more closely with the dialogues assuming that is how it usually spoken in Japan. Or maybe they are pronouncing it but I'm just not catching it because of how quickly they are speaking.

I have a sound file of me speaking an introduction to show how I'm currently pronouncing.
https://soundcloud.com/skydog28/introducing-myself

Any help greatly appreciated, thank you all! ありがとうございます

Skylar (If someone could tell me how my name is in Japanese that'd be awesome <3)

[MicahT]

こんにちは　Skylarさん!

From my understanding, the 'silent' u's and i's are more commonly used in everyday speech and is a bit more casual but can be voiced depending on different uses such as to add emphasis to the sentence. But I'm sure that someone else can come along to clarify...

As for your name I would write it as スカイラ or スカイラー depending on how long you pronounce the 'ar'

[Skydog287_500137]

こんにちは　Skylarさん!

From my understanding, the 'silent' u's and i's are more commonly used in everyday speech and is a bit more casual but can be voiced depending on different uses such as to add emphasis to the sentence. But I'm sure that someone else can come along to clarify...

As for your name I would write it as スカイラ or スカイラー depending on how long you pronounce the 'ar'

こんにちは MicahTさん! ^^

Ah that make's sense! That would explain why sometimes you hear it spoken and other times you don't.

Thank you for helping me with my name! I'm leaning towards スカイラー as it's closer to how I'm use to hearing my name, but still deciding, either way I love it.

ありがとうございます! よろしくおねがいします

[community.japanese]

スカイラーさん
こんにちは。
When ‘u’ is at the end, it’s not pronounced.
Regarding ‘i’, it depends on the next syllable.
In English when ‘ju’ is next to “d” or “t”, you don't pronounce them separately do you?

MicahT san,
Thank you for the explanation.

Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[Skydog287_500137]

スカイラーさん
こんにちは。
When ‘u’ is at the end, it’s not pronounced.
Regarding ‘i’, it depends on the next syllable.
In English when ‘ju’ is next to “d” or “t”, you don't pronounce them separately do you?

MicahT san,
Thank you for the explanation.

Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

こんにちは、由紀さん！はじめまして。よろしくおねがいします。

Thank you for the reply! Meant to get back to you sooner, was on a trip to visit family (downloaded future lesson mp3's to study while on the trip ). That makes a lot of sense, thanks for helping me clear this up!

Decided to do the "6 month challenge" offer and subscribed, love the site!

ありがとうございます、
スカイラー

[community.japanese]

スカイラーさん、

どういたしまして。

Yuki 　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com