the “hi” might have more “breath” on the “h” than you might be used to hearing, but it’s a kind of “hee” sound that you need to get used to
It’s a very common thing for speakers of many languages, in particular English to find it hard to hear the difference between “ひ“ and “し” in Japanese.
In Japanese, the pronunciation is definitely /anohito/, but Japanese has a different set of sounds from English. The Japanese /h/ is articulated differently from the English, especially before /i/ where the tongue is raised more to the palate, creating more turbulent airflow which creates a sound closer to a sibilant sound.
It’s important to realize that different languages all have different sounds and articulate them differently which can cause confusion for speakers of other languages. Another famous case is that the way “進路” for instance is pronounced in Japanese can cause English speakers to hear a /d/ instead of the /r/ because the way the Japanese /r/ is articulated, especially after /N/, is very close to how a /d/ in many dialects of North American English is articulated and unlike how the /r/ there is.
ひ and し are not distinguished in some Japanese dialects
Any time some dialects ignore the difference, it should act as a clue that the distinction in your native language is different than the distinction in Japanese.
If you are American you will get closer saying ah-noshi-to than any other attempt.
Ano hito, otoko ni hito, onna no hito all end up with the same feel. These should be treated as decided phrases that have become single words with special pronunciation, rather than guides to how to say ひ and し in general.
It really does not help to look for native to say these specific phrases as they often hypercorrect to a cleaner sound when speaking into a mic. And this sound varies across the broad kansai/kanto divide.
That said, there are regions where the HI in these phrases remains HI unambiguously. And, as noted, there are regions where ひ and し are always pronounced the same as each other in any word to the point that those speakers spell certain words differently than other Japanese speakers. The famous example is しつこい which can be written ひつこい for the dialects that do not make a ひ対し distinction.
Think of it like a hissing noise. Like when you imitate a cat hissing. It’s formed by the air flowing between your tongue and the roof of your mouth creating a fricative sound.
“sh” in English is made with the teeth. This is made with the hard palate.
5 comments
https://ja.forvo.com/word/あの人/
it’s a straightforward a-no-hi-to
the “hi” might have more “breath” on the “h” than you might be used to hearing, but it’s a kind of “hee” sound that you need to get used to
It’s a very common thing for speakers of many languages, in particular English to find it hard to hear the difference between “ひ“ and “し” in Japanese.
In Japanese, the pronunciation is definitely /anohito/, but Japanese has a different set of sounds from English. The Japanese /h/ is articulated differently from the English, especially before /i/ where the tongue is raised more to the palate, creating more turbulent airflow which creates a sound closer to a sibilant sound.
It’s important to realize that different languages all have different sounds and articulate them differently which can cause confusion for speakers of other languages. Another famous case is that the way “進路” for instance is pronounced in Japanese can cause English speakers to hear a /d/ instead of the /r/ because the way the Japanese /r/ is articulated, especially after /N/, is very close to how a /d/ in many dialects of North American English is articulated and unlike how the /r/ there is.
ひ and し are not distinguished in some Japanese dialects
Any time some dialects ignore the difference, it should act as a clue that the distinction in your native language is different than the distinction in Japanese.
If you are American you will get closer saying ah-noshi-to than any other attempt.
Ano hito, otoko ni hito, onna no hito all end up with the same feel. These should be treated as decided phrases that have become single words with special pronunciation, rather than guides to how to say ひ and し in general.
It really does not help to look for native to say these specific phrases as they often hypercorrect to a cleaner sound when speaking into a mic. And this sound varies across the broad kansai/kanto divide.
That said, there are regions where the HI in these phrases remains HI unambiguously. And, as noted, there are regions where ひ and し are always pronounced the same as each other in any word to the point that those speakers spell certain words differently than other Japanese speakers. The famous example is しつこい which can be written ひつこい for the dialects that do not make a ひ対し distinction.
ひ is pronounced with this consonant: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_palatal_fricative
Think of it like a hissing noise. Like when you imitate a cat hissing. It’s formed by the air flowing between your tongue and the roof of your mouth creating a fricative sound.
“sh” in English is made with the teeth. This is made with the hard palate.