which for Japanese speakers — pronunciation and common errors

Pronunciation

Japanese lacks the labio-velar glide /w/, substituting it with the compressed /ɰ/. In loanword adaptation, 'wh' is typically rendered as /hɯ/ or /ɸɯ/, potentially leading to the vowel /i/ being rounded toward /ɯ/ in the cluster /hw/

Grammar

Japanese does not distinguish between 'what' and 'which' in basic interrogation, using only 'dore' (どれ) or 'dono' (どの). Learners often default to 'what' in all contexts because Japanese lacks a distinct interrogative pronoun that structurally signals a limited set of choices.

Collocations

In Japanese, selecting from a group is expressed with the particle 'no naka de' (の中で). This causes learners to produce 'From these, what do you like?' instead of using 'Which' as the subject or object of the clause.

Examples

• Which color do you prefer, blue or red?
• The manager asked which of the candidates had the most experience with digital marketing tools.