Do you have trouble pronouncing small tsu in Japanese?

If so, this three-minute video will solve your problem!

Yes, just a quickie from the KawaJapa Cure Dolly TV channel this week, but one that answers a question I am often asked.

The 促音 sokuon or small tsu is a sound that worries people because there seems to be no equivalent in English

The Japanese word literally means “stimulated sound”, presumably because the consonant following the small tsu is intensified or semi-doubled.

Semi-doubled sounds weird, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t that logically mean “singled” or left as it is?

Ahem. What I mean is that while it is said to be doubled that isn’t quite what is happening when we pronounce it. Luckily, what is happening is very simple and is in fact a sound that we all make in English from time to time.

Once we understand that, small tsu becomes very easy.