I often hear that Japanese is exclusively pronounced syllable by syllable (あ, お, い) as opposed to diphthongs like in English (strain, plain, beat etc.).
Is this really true? I certainly hear it in certain words. For instance, I can hear all the letters being pronounced individually in the name なお, but with other words, such as おぼえてる, it just sounds like "oboiteru."
Do native speakers of Japanese really individually pronounce each character in every word, or do they simply mix them into one sound? Is it permissible to pronounce words like おぼえてる and かえる as "oboiteru" (oi as in boy) and "kairu" (ai as in die) respectively?
Is this really true? I certainly hear it in certain words. For instance, I can hear all the letters being pronounced individually in the name なお, but with other words, such as おぼえてる, it just sounds like "oboiteru."
Do native speakers of Japanese really individually pronounce each character in every word, or do they simply mix them into one sound? Is it permissible to pronounce words like おぼえてる and かえる as "oboiteru" (oi as in boy) and "kairu" (ai as in die) respectively?
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