The simple consonants

Shikomori has 19 simple consonants in the official alphabet. Twelve are pronounced almost exactly as in French/English — b, d, f, j, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, z.

Five others resemble French but with key nuances: g, h, r, s, c. Train your ear on these.

And two are unique to the language: ɓ and ɗ — they get all of lesson 1.5.

g — always hard, as in « gear », even before e or i. So gari (car) is /gari/, never /jari/.

h — always aspirated, like English « h ». Unlike French where h is usually silent, in shikomori it's always heard. Huhima (« to stand up ») is /hoo-hi-ma/.

r — always rolled (apical), as in Spanish or Italian. Different from the French uvular « r ».

s — always voiceless, as in « pasta », even between two vowels. So basi (« well then ») is /ba-si/, not /ba-zi/. The opposite of the French rule.

c — rare on its own, mostly in the pre-nasal « nc ». When you see it, pronounce it as a hard « k ».

An important quirk: the letter m can be syllabic when followed by another consonant. It then makes a syllable on its own.

The word mlozi (« a fisher ») is /m-lo-zi/ in three syllables, with a clearly resonant m. It's also the prefix of noun class 1 — you'll meet it again in Module 3.

Same for mtsanga (sand), mtrango (pumpkin), mwiri (tree).

The next lesson is arguably the most important of the module: the two implosives ɓ and ɗ, shikomori's phonetic signature. They are what distinguish a native speaker from someone who has just memorized vocabulary.