Unlike English, Japanese vowels are always pronounced the same. In English, for example, the letter 'a' is pronounced differently in these words: 'father', 'ache', 'and', 'cat'.

In Japanese syllabaries, the vowels are always put in this order:

Letter	Pronounced like	Hiragana	Katakana
a	'a' in 'father'	あ	ア
i	'i' in 'machine'	い	イ
u	'ue' in 'blue'	う	ウ
e	'e' in 'hey'	え	エ
o	'o' in 'go'	お	オ

There is only one consonant that is not followed by a vowel: in hiragana ん, in katakana ン, it is pronounced as 'n' or 'm', depending on the context.

Consonants in Japanese are generally softer than the corresponding sound in English. Aside from the n / m mentioned above, consonants are always followed by a vowel to make a syllable. Again, the order shown below is the standard order for Japanese syllabaries. Note: syllables that break an expected pattern are shown in red.

Here is an audio file with pronounciation of the basic syllables. The first three parts pretty much map with the tables below. The last two parts have some extra sounds not discussed here.

NOTE the Japanese characters here are just showing off. The main point is to see how to pronounce the romaji in the sample vocabulary and statements pages.

Syllable	Pronounced like	Hiragana	Katakana
ka	'ca' in 'calamity'	か	カ
ki	'key'	き	キ
ku	'coo' as in 'cool'	く	ク
ke	'Kay'	け	ケ
ko	'co' in 'cold'	こ	コ
sa	'sa' in 'salsa'	さ	サ
shi	'she'	し	シ
su	'Sue'	す	ス
se	'say'	せ	セ
so	'so'	そ	ソ
ta	'ta' in 'tarp'	た	タ
chi	'chee' in 'cheese'	ち	チ
tsu	"s you" in "it's you"	つ	ツ
te	rhymes with 'stay'	て	テ
to	'toe'	と	ナ
na	last 'na' in 'banana'	な	ナ
ni	'knee'	に	ニ
nu	'new'	ぬ	ヌ
ne	'neigh' in 'neighbor'	ね	ネ
no	'no'	の	ノ
ha	'ha'	は	ハ
hi	'he'	ひ	ヒ
fu	between 'hu' and 'fu'	ふ	フ
he	'hay'	へ	ヘ
ho	'hoe'	ほ	ホ
ma	'ma'	ま	マ
mi	'me'	み	ミ
mu	'moo'	む	ム
me	'may'	め	メ
mo	'mow'	も	モ
ya	'ya'	や	ヤ
yu	'you'	ゆ	ユ
yo	'yo!'	よ	ヨ
ra	between 'ra' and 'la'	ら	ラ
ri	between 're' and 'lee'	り	リ
ru	between 'rue' and 'loo'	る	ル
re	between 'ray' and 'lay'	れ	レ
ro	between 'roe' and 'low'	ろ	ロ
wa	'wa' in 'wander'	わ	ワ
o	'oh'	を	ヲ

The above (both tables and the n / m) comprise the 46 syllables in the kana. The gaps shown represent characters that are no longer used in modern Japanese.

But the talk about "only 46 syllables" is a bit disengenous, I'm afraid. Some of the above syllables may have a special mark appended to produce a new sound. The marks are shown as two small dots (  ゛, called "nigori") or a small circle (  ゜, called "maru"). The additional sounds are as follows:

Syllable	Pronounced like	Hiragana	Katakana
ga	'ga' in 'garage'	が	ガ
gi	rhymes with 'glee'	ぎ	ギ
gu	'goo'	ぐ	グ
ge	'gay'	げ	ゲ
go	'go'	ご	ゴ
za	rhymes with 'spa'	ざ	ザ
zhi	'gee' / 'ji'	じ	ジ
zu	'zoo'	ず	ズ
ze	rhymes with 'say'	ぜ	ゼ
zo	rhymes with 'so'	ぞ	ゾ
da	'do' in 'Don'	だ	ド
dJi	rhymes with 'dee' in 'deed'	ぢ	チ
dzu	rhymes with 'zoo'	づ	ヅ
de	'day'	で	デ
do	'doe'	ど	ド
ba	'bo' in 'bob'	ば	バ
bi	'bee'	び	ビ
bu	'boo'	ぶ	ブ
be	'bay'	べ	ベ
bo	'bow' in 'rainbow'	ぼ	ボ
pa	'pa'	ぱ	パ
pi	'pea'	ぴ	ピ
pu	'pooh'	ぷ	プ
pe	'pay'	ぺ	ペ
po	'po' in 'poet'	ぽ	ポ

 

Furthermore, there are some combinations that produce separate sounds. In particular, the -ya, -yu, and -yo syllables may be written small following the "-i" form of most other syllables. The result is written as two syllables but pronounced as one. Here we are:

Syllables	Pronounced	Hiragana	Katakana
ki + small ya	kya	きゃ	キャ
ki + small yu	kyu	きゅ	キュ
ki + small yo	kyo	きょ	キョ
shi + small ya	sha	しゃ	シャ
shi + small yu	shu	しゅ	シュ
shi + small yo	sho	しょ	ショ
chi + small ya	cha	ちゃ	チャ
chi + small yu	chu	ちゅ	チュ
chi + small yo	cho	ちょ	チョ
ni + small ya	nya	にゃ	ニャ
ni + small yu	nyu	にゅ	ニュ
ni + small yu	nyo	にょ	ニョ
hi + small ya	hya	ひゃ	ヒャ
hi + small yu	hyu	ひゅ	ヒュ
hi + small yo	hyo	ひょ	ヒョ
mi + small ya	mya	みゃ	ミャ
mi + small yu	myu	みゅ	ミュ
mi + small yo	myo	みょ	ミョ
ri + small ya	rya	りゃ	リャ
ri + small yu	ryu	りゅ	リュ
ri + small yo	ryo	りょ	リョ
gi + small ya	gya	ぎゃ	ギャ
gi + small yu	gyu	ぎゅ	ギュ
gi + small yo	gyo	ぎょ	ギョ
zhi + small ya	ja	じゃ	ジャ
zhi + small yu	ju	じゅ	ジュ
zhi + small yo	jo	じょ	ジョ
bi + small ya	bya	びゃ	ビャ
bi + small yu	byu	びゅ	ビュ
bi + small yo	byo	びょ	ビョ
pi + small ya	pya	ぴゃ	ピャ
pi + small yu	pyu	ぴゅ	ピュ
pi + small yo	pyo	ぴょ	ピョ

 

All vowels and some consonants may appear as doubled. Doubling never changes the tone or sound. But doubled vowels hold their sound about twice as long and doubled consonants are actually repeated. Doubling in romaji, in these notes, is shown simply by repeating the doubled letter. Other texts have slightly different approaches, and in kana doubling is represented somewhat differently, but we won't worry about that here.