Pelafalan Chouon (Bunyi Panjang) Bahasa Jepang oleh Mahasiswa Institut Kesehatan Deli Husada Deli Tua

Abstract

The objective of the research is to analyze the intensity, frequency, and duration of the Japanese 'chouon' (long sound) used by the students of Institut Kesehatan Deli Husada, Deli Tua, to identify the vowels that are difficult to utter, and to analyze their motivation and attitude toward learning Japanese. This research uses sound analysis using 'praat' in order to assess pronunciation, while interviews and observations provide information about the students’ attitudes and motivation levels. The result of the research suggests that the students’ intensity, frequency, and duration of pronunciation tend to be different from native speakers. There is the variation of errors in pronouncing certain vowels such as the vowel /u/ in 'yumei', the vowel /e/ in 'meishi' and 'heiya', and the vowel /o/ in 'ooku' in the students of Institut Kesehatan Deli Husada, Deli Tua. The words with long sounds are rarely spoken correctly because of lack of background exercises. Moreover, the students have good attitudes but low motivation to learn Japanese. The result of interviews shows that only a small number of them learn Japanese outside the class. They follow the lessons and the program well, but the time allocated to learn is very little which indicates the importance of integrative motivation in increasing their learning dedication. The students who allocate more of their time to learn indicate the higher level of pronunciation resemblance with the native speakers. Overall, the factor of frequency in using and learning conversation significantly impacts the pronouncing capacity.