The Japanese Tricky Alveolar Consonants

The first step in this process is developing an awareness of the Alveolar Tap sound. This means discovering where it occurs in the mouth as well as the manner of articulation.​

Let’s start by taking the English consonants /d/ /t/ and /n/. Take your tongue and make each of these sounds and note where you put the tip of your tongue (it’s the alveolar ridge). The Alveolar R sound is made at this exact spot, too (hence the term Alveolar Tap).

There is one major difference between the /d/ and /l/ sounds and the Alveolar R sound: length. 

For /d/ /l/ and /n/, there is a certain amount of time required to make the sound. If you create a /d/ /l/ or /n/ movement in less than that time, you are effectively making an Alveolar Tap.

In other words, making the /d/ /t/ or /l/ sounds really fast and you will create a tap sound.

To show you, repeat after me in the audio below. Eventually, your tongue will be moving so fast that the consonant will evolve into an alveolar tap /&/.

You will probably not be able to move your tongue this fast for now, but you can build your speed with practice. To help, I’ve created the following two drills.

The audio files below represent one “set” each. Complete 5 sets per training session and at least one set per day (ideally morning and night). The more you push yourself to burnout, the faster your tongue muscles and neural connections will build.

• Make the sound /&a/
• Repeat the sound over and over again
• Gradually build the speed until you are unable to go any faster
• Repeat five times

• Start by saying the sound “&a” once per beat
• Double the speed for two measures
• Double the speed again for two measures
• Return to the original speed
• Do this five times continuously without dropping the beat
• Once you can do this easily, increase the tempo slightly

After a session of doing these drills, your mouth will feel fatigued. This is how you know you did enough work. Any fatigue you feel today will translate to new ability tomorrow.

Once you build the speed on your tap in isolation, your next task is to practice combining the tap with other consonants. Remember, you can refer back to this drill set whenever you like.