• Shin-kunrei-shiki
• Nippon-Shiki
• Hepburn
• and other variations

The first difference you will notice in the charts is, "shi." This is an example of where Hepburn romaji differs from some of the other styles of romaji. The Hepburn "shi" is written as "si" in other romaji styles.

Keep this in mind when you see Romanized Japanese. You may have to equate the pronunciation to that of what you have learned here. You may also see some romaji characters with a macron accent bar ( ¯ ) over it. This is a symbol that means to elongate the pronunciation. Basically, to hold the pronunciation twice as long. This site will not use this bar but will instead duplicate the "vowel."

For Example:
Obaasan = Grandmother
and
Obasan = Aunt

In this example you can see how important it is to "hold" the pronunciation twice as long otherwise, you may say the wrong thing and be misunderstood.

An exception to the double vowel will be in the case of an elongated 'O' which will not be represented using, "oo" but will instead be represented as "ou." This may sound complicated at first but, it will allow you to move toward reading and writing more easily since it will be the same as in written Japanese.

For Example:
Otouto = Younger brother

Another important item to note is the use of double consonants. When encountering a double consonant, you should pause for a split second before continuing.