## Background

I am currently trying to learn Japanese and I've done really well in my
opinion (IMO). I am trying to learn about voiced consonants with Hiragana.

## What I need to know

I know you must have a vibration in your throat when doing these voiced
consonants but is sa (さ) and za ambiguous? How do I pronounce za?
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2018-06-21T10:04:11.160
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pronunciation
What's the difference between "sa" and "za" with pronunciation?
"sa" is pronounced like the "sa" in "salami" or "salsa" and "za" is pronounced
with the same "z" sound at the beginning of " **Z** oo", " **Z** ipper" or "
**Z** ebra" plus "ah"

it's possible that one thing that might be confusing you is the way that some
Japanese words that start with an "s" sound are changed to a "z" sound when
combined with other words... for exmaple "sushi" and "inarizushi" or "sen"
(thousand) and "nanzennen" (thousands of years) "saru" and "nihonzaru".

You should be able to hear the differences between sa/za se/ze su/zu if you
listen carefully, but if you still have trouble, just remember that 'z' sounds
cause your throat to vibrate, and 's' sounds do not... you can place your hand
on your throat to feel the difference.
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2018-06-21T13:18:41.353
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**TL;DR** The combination is secretly hidden in the word ' **buzz** '. Yes,
buzzing for vibration. in the nutshell.

You want voiced instead of voiceless, right? Then, you've got it, my friend!
All you have to do is this. The following.

The **z** sound can be pronounced with practice. Trust me. Please read.

You should find that it works when you copy the "zz" sounds in words like '
**buzz** '. That's what helped me better than just saying " **zoo** ".

As for the **s** sound, obviously you can try it out with **bus**.
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2018-09-05T17:24:01.037
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This website might be helpful to you: <https://forvo.com/> You can listen to
audio tracks by native speakers and submit words you want to hear the
pronunciation of.
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