Common Unvoicing of "i" Jan 2010

Japanese unvoice "i" so often that standard "romaji" really is very misleading.  There are generally two case where "i" is onvoice

• Casual & Fast Speak where sounds like V+"teiru"  get contracted V+"teru"

• Normal Speaking, when it is just not pronounced.  This is what we will look at

Most commonly seen unvoicing of the "i" sounds is in "shi" when used in "mashita" is pronounced "MAH-SHTA"

• V+mashita - I did the verb (formal past tense of verbs)

• wakarimashita - I understand.

Also common unvoiced shita is

• Ashita - AA-SHTA - tomorrow.

• Shita - SHTA - under

• Shitaji - SHTA-JI - undewear.

• Kutsushita - KU+TSU+SHTA - socks

TIP to practice the invoicing

• practice reading "した" as a drawn out SHTA.

• practice reading "して" as a drawn out STEY

Unvoicing "i" in "irasshai" Dec 2009.

"rasshai" is not a word but you hear it.  When in markets you sometimes hear shopkeepers outside the store shouting "irasshai-rasshai-rasshai".  It means "welcome welcome welcome" or even "come in come in come in".  It also highlights the fact that Japanese often unvoice "i".  In this case, because the middle "i"s are unvoiced, they are actually saying "irasshai irasshai irasshai" but it all gets run together. 

When people leave your home, mansion, or apartment building (in the morning), you generally say "itteirasshai" but perhaps you didn't know the was an "i" in ther because you you were unvoicing the "i".  You are saying please go (itte) and come back (irasshai).

At home, you alo say "irasshai" when people are visiting the home for welcome.