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When I listen to "watashi wa", for example, sometimes I have the impression
that the 'w' sounds like 'v' as in "vial" or "violence" in English (Similar to
'w' in the German Language). Nevertheless, I also have the impression of
listening 'w' as in "wonderful" sometimes, so I'm confused. Do the Japanese
use both sounds? How 'w' is pronounced?
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pronunciation
How is 'w' pronounced?
There is no "w", except in "wa", so you only have to learn that. And it helps
to see a Japanese MC on tv with a microphone and a constant toothy grin, while
talking furiously. This is an important key, because it demonstrates that
Japanese can be spoken without ever moving the lips sideways. So the beginning
of the 'wa' syllable is basically done by opening your lips like a letterbox,
with purely vertical movement.

In loanwords, the combinations ウィ, ウェ, and ウォ also occur, but again these can
be made with the microphone and grin uninterrupted, simply moving the lips
vertically. But what cannot occur is ウゥ: not only does it not make sense,
since you would be replacing the end of a vowel with itself, but typically
Japanese speakers find it essentially impossible to pronounce (e.g.)
"Woolworths", which demands that the "w" represents a sideways opening of the
lips (twice!)
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## Short answer:

Japanese has two semivowels, /y/ and /w/.

  1. The semivowel /y/ is pronounced like the vowel /i/.

  2. The semivowel /w/ is pronounced like the vowel /u/.

To say `や`, try saying `いあ` /ia/, but focus on transitioning smoothly from one
vowel to the other. You'll end up with a `や` /ya/ sound. Likewise, to say `わ`,
start by saying `うあ` /ua/, but go smoothly from the first vowel to the second.
You'll end up with a `わ` /wa/ sound.

This is why Japanese has never had /wu/ or /yi/ sequences, even in Old
Japanese. If you start with an `う` sound and end with an `う` sound, you just
get /u/, not /wu/. Likewise for /i/, not /yi/.

Japanese /w/ is not pronounced [v].

* * *

## Long answer:

To pronounce Japanese /w/ properly, you'll have to learn how to pronounce
Japanese /u/ properly.

In IPA, the Japanese vowel /u/ is usually transcribed [ɯ], which is the symbol
for a **high back unrounded vowel** , but it's not exactly the same [ɯ] sound
you'll find in some other languages. Although in rapid speech it may be
unrounded, in careful speech the lips are "compressed", which is a little
different from what is usually called "rounded" or "unrounded":

> In compression [ . . . ] the jaw closes and brings the lips together
> vertically so that the side portions are in contact, but there's no
> conspicuous protrusion. Figure 3-3 illustrates with a Japanese /u/. The
> clear lip compression shown in Figure 3-3 is characteristic of careful
> pronunciation (§2.12) in Japanese.8 In connected speech at normal
> conversational tempos, compression is generally weaker, and often totally
> absent. As a result, Japanese /u/ is commonly described as unrounded.
>
> ( _The Sounds of Japanese_ , Vance 2008, p54-55)

And here's the picture from the book:

> [![lip
> compression](https://i.stack.imgur.com/N81fa.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/N81fa.jpg)

The Japanese /w/ is the semivowel version of the same sound. The IPA symbol
for this is [ɰ] (and again, this may be a little different from [ɰ] in other
languages because of the lip compression, at least in careful speech).

Once you can pronounce the Japanese [ɯ] properly, try making the same shape
with your mouth, but transition smoothly to the following vowel [ɑ]. You
should come up with a proper `わ` /wa/ sound.

* * *

## A note about phonotactics

Although in general in Modern Japanese /w/ only appears before /a/, you may
hear a non-phonemic [ɰ] inserted in certain contexts before /o/, and in recent
loans (外来語), you may come across the sequences /wi/ /we/ and /wo/ (spelled
`ウィ`, `ウェ`, and `ウォ` in kana). Speakers may not pronounce these consistently
today, but the sequences do seem to be re-entering the language through
loanwords, and you may hear them from time to time. You may also hear them in
colloquial pronunciations like `怖ぇ` /koweʜ/, although other speakers may
simply drop the /w/ as expected (resulting in /koeʜ/).

So it's not entirely true that [ɰ] is limited to `わ` /wa/.
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