Japanese Problems

[Azier the Swordsman]

I've been having a problem with my Japanese studies lately:

The spoken part. No matter how hard I try, some sounds just DO NOT want to come out of my mouth. Even speaking it requires difficulty on my part. I'm concerned because I have been studying for a while now, and I want to combat this problem before moving along. Does anybody have any suggestions on being able to speak better. (I want to be able to sound as close to the native tongue as possible).

One word I'm having trouble with in particular is 'tabemasu' (I'm going to eat) and it's variations; tabemasuka, tabemasen, ect. The main problem being that I just can't seem to get the 'b' sound out. This is one out of many though, but it's the most difficult one I've had to face yet. It would probably help if I had a sensei, but there isn't any school in my area that teaches Japanese, so I have to rely on Pimsleur.

[SwordSkill]

Um...well, what sound does come out when you try speaking out the "b"? In "taberu"'s case, it would sound like the "be" in the word "better," I would believe.

[Azier the Swordsman]

I can get the 'e' part of 'be' out but not the 'b'. It's kind of hard to explain using text only, but in general, I just worry a lot about not sounding fluent enough.

[Kawaiikneko]

http://www.yesjapan.com has pronounciation guides with sound. I don't know if that would help at all though, because the Japanese sounds and pronunciation comes sorta naturally for me. there's a subscriction fee btw... T_T

[Mithrandir]

Hmm... What syllabal are you emphasizing? It can make a difference. I try to em the third syllabal (tabeMAsu, or tabeRU). That tends to make the 2nd syllabal easier to get right for me. If that doesn't work, try coming at it slowly. ta (little pause) be (pronounced, "bay"). If THAT doesn't work, then depending on your physical location (and thus the potential for a drawl) you may have better luck by just running the words "top bed" together really fast. Practice that, then drop the 'd' at the end. You end up with Toppéd, after a while, and that's close for some people.

HIH