Lesson 1 · Sounds, hear & say
Start by ear. There are 16 sounds, each said exactly one way; learn them once and you can pronounce every Faleni word correctly, before you ever read it.
First, the three traps
If you read Faleni like English, these are the three things you'll get wrong. Hear each, then say it back, before you do anything else.
- j = “y” never the English “j”. The syllable ju sounds exactly like “you” , a perfect reminder. (That's only the sound; the word for “you” is we.) So jeta is “YEH-ta” not “JEH-ta”
- Pure vowels, no gliding. o is a clean “oh” e a clean “eh” (think Spanish, not English)
- Stress the first syllable, always. FA-le-ni · KE-ma
🔊 plays the word with your device's speech engine, a close approximation. The IPA + English keyword below are the exact target.
The 5 vowels
Pure vowels, like Spanish or Japanese. Hear each, then say it aloud. (The examples are the pronouns; they differ only by their vowel, so they double as a drill.)
| Letter | Sound | Like | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | as in father | wa · I / me |
| e | /e/ | as in bet (a bit tenser) | we · you |
| i | /i/ | as in machine | wi · he / she / they |
| o | /o/ | as in go | wo · this / here |
| u | /u/ | as in flute | wu · that / there |
The 11 consonants
| Letter | Sound | Like | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| p | /p/ | as in spin | pa · person |
| t | /t/ | as in stop | te · thing |
| k | /k/ | as in skip | ka · go |
| f | /f/ | as in fun | fa · speak |
| s | /s/ | as in sun | sa · water |
| h | /h/ | as in hat | ha · is / does |
| m | /m/ | as in man | ma · know |
| n | /n/ | as in no | no · time |
| l | /l/ | as in love | la · good |
| w | /w/ | as in water | wa · I |
| j | /j/ | as in yes (the y-sound!) | jeta · what |
Voicing doesn't change meaning, so a softer b / d / g / v / z for p / t / k / f / s is still understood: say what's comfortable.
Now say whole phrases
Hear each, then say it back; you already know enough to pronounce all of these.
- faleni , the name: FA-le-ni
- wa ha mu we , I love you
- la nami , good morning
- we ha me kema jeta , what do you want to eat?
You can now pronounce every word
Because the spelling is the pronunciation, once these 16 sounds are in your ear you can say any Faleni word on sight, including every one in the dictionary (each has its own 🔊).