Lesson 1: Sounds§
The sounds themselves are easy for an English speaker. The hard part is what English does to sounds without you noticing.
| Letter | Say it like | Watch out |
|---|---|---|
| a | father | |
| e | bet | never "ay" as in day |
| i | machine | never "eye" |
| o | go, but cut short | no "oo" glide at the end (Spanish no) |
| u | rule | never "yoo" |
| p t k b d | as in English | |
| g | get | hard g is the standard |
| s | see | always s, never z |
| m n l f | as in English | |
| w y | we, yes | always consonants |
Every letter is said, every time. ewo "person" is e-wo, three sounds in two syllables, and apu is a-pu. Each letter has one sound, so if you can read a word, you can say it.
A syllable ends either in a vowel, as in to "I", or in n, as in kegin "evening". No other consonant can end one.
Some softening is harmless. Speakers may say k and g like "ch" and "j" before i and e, say a vowel plus n through the nose, or soften a consonant between vowels. These variants are never written and never change meaning. Grammar words always keep their consonants.
The big English habit to break is swallowing unstressed vowels. English turns most of them into "uh", so banana comes out as buh-NA-nuh. Here every vowel keeps its full sound, so apu is "AH-poo" and dili "day" is "DEE-lee". "AH-puh" and "DIL-ee" are the English habit at work. Aim for the even, clear syllables of Spanish or Japanese.
Stress§
Words of two or more syllables are always stressed on the first syllable: totu "dog" is TO-tu and guyi "house" is GU-yi. Stress here means a higher pitch. The syllable doesn't get longer or louder.
One-syllable words are grammar words, and they're said low and quick (to, me, pi, mu…). The digits 0–5 are the exception, since they're stressed.
Across a phrase, the stressed syllables step down like a staircase and reset after a comma or full stop. English already does this, so let it happen.
Questions don't need a rising voice, because min or a question word already marks them (lesson 4). You can still let your voice rise if you like.
Writing§
Write in lowercase. Capitals mean nothing, though they do no harm. A comma marks a pause and a full stop ends a sentence. ? and ! are allowed but add nothing, so questions often end in a full stop, as they do in this guide.
Numbers are written in digits, grouped in threes with a space (1 250 000), with . for the decimal point. Times, dates, unit symbols (5 km), links, handles and names stay as they are written.
For practice, read these aloud, first slowly and then at normal speed: ewo, osa, guyi, totu, pasu, upe, momu, nagu, lugo, oyi. Check that each vowel sounds the same wherever it falls in the word.