Let's Enjoy Japanese: It's easy to say

Most of my readership at the moment probably has little to no Japanese experience, so this kind of entry may die out. For now, however, I've decided to periodically write about 日本語 (nihongo - Japanese language). I've been studying for about 5 years now and have spent a total, on and off, of roughly 19 months in Japan. If I were a cleverer or more diligent man, I'd be fluent by now. Neither being the case, though, I'd gauge myself as Upper-Intermediate. Two Decembers ago I passed the JLPT level 3, and next year I think I'll be gunning for level 2.

Anyway, if anyone is curious at all about the language, feel free to ask questions and I will answer to the best of my ability. If let to my own devices, I'll probably just post some seemingly random words and grammar points of various difficulties. Oh, and in case you were wondering about the title of the post, "Let's enjoy __________" is a standard English pattern that students learn over here, and you see it all over the place. Why, just last week I helped teach an open-house demonstration lesson. The title of our offering was, of course, "Let's Enjoy English."

Now let's get down to brass tacks. Japanese is a difficult language for English speakers - according to the US State Department's Foreign Service Institute, Japanese ranks a 3* on a scale of 1-3, with 3 being the most difficult (the asterisk denotes extra difficulty, perhaps akin to a half step up). Pronunciation, however, is not an element of that difficulty. Quite the reverse - for native English speakers, Japanese is very straightforward. It is the Japanese who have trouble with English pronunciation, as there are many sounds present in our language that do not exist in Japanese. Plus, there are many rules and exceptions in English. "Read" and "red" can share the same pronunciation. Sometimes.

Here is how we pronounce vowels in Japanese:

あ - A - sounds like the "a" in "father"

い - I - sounds like the "i" in "marine" (English's "ee" sound)

う - U - sounds like "oo" in English, such as in "cool"

え - E - sounds like the "e" in "end"

お - O - sounds like the "o" in "old"

The great thing is, no matter in what order the characters appear or with what consonant partners, their sounds always remain the same. Hence さ (sa) + け (ke) = さけ (sake; meaning liquor) is pronounced "sah-keh."

Please, for the love of God, remember that - "sah-keh," not "sah-key."

Update: It's noteworthy, as pointed out in the comments, that in some words vowels sounds may be slurred or dropped. This is not a rule, however - just an alternate pronunciation.