Are there any good pronunciation guides for ん? Or even for all of Japanese? I know Tofugu has one, but it doesn’t seem helpful upon skimming for tips on ん. I notice there are so many words with ん in them I just cannot pronounce. Such as 千円. AKA, せんえん. Something on YouTube said not to touch your tongue to the top of your mouth for the ん parts, but I need more information on that.
Thanks.
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If you pronounce ん as n 100% of the time, native speakers will understand you.
It changes to M before B or P (“sempai”), and NG before G or K (“manga”). This is pretty easy to do and very intuitive, to the point where you may do it without even realizing it, and even if you don’t do this it’s pretty hard to hear the difference.
The tricky case is where it nasalizes the vowel before it (“ren’ai”), but, again, just say “ren-ai” and you’ll be understood.
If the 文字 after ん is あいうえお i think its close to y pronunciation, kind of like in (american) english if we say “matter” it sounds like “madder”
Like its not pronounced y, but the transition from n to aiueo it so fast that it SOUNDS like y (n pronunciation tongue is close to i.. you use the back of your tongue rather than the front)
So 千円 would kinda sound like せいえん with the い tongue+roof of mouth opening a bit closer to an ん sound
The ん sound doesnt use the front of the tongue like なにぬねの if that makes sense
I realize after reading your post that this isn’t what you’re talking about but I came into this thread because I thought it was so I’m going to share it anyway.
The most interesting thing about ん to me is that it is treated as an entire syllable in Japanese while in English it isn’t.
For example, remember when learning syllables in elementary school the teacher might have had you clap af 👏 ter 👏 each syll 👏 a 👏 ble👏? They do it in Japan too and e.g. the word breakfast comes out as あ👏さ👏ご👏は👏ん👏. (5 claps, probably unnatural if you’re a native English speaker)
I never noticed it being pronounced as a full syllable when talking to Japanese people until learning this but now you can’t unhear it, and it will improve your pronunciation of words as well.
Here’s another bonus you didn’t ask for: The word 店員 (てんいん) is pronounced ていん
You know that nasally thing you do when you pronounce “uh-huh” as another way to say “yes” or “uh-uh” as a way to say “no”? That’s how ん is pronounced.
These two videos might help. Basically, the Japanese pronounce ん be expelling air through the nose (a nasal sound) with the tongue and lips shaped to say the following sound.
For example, when you make the “m”, “b”, or “p” sound, you do so with your lips together. So if you make a nasal sound with the lips together, it sounds like an “m”. Hence, せんぱい sounds like /sempai/.
When you make a “t” of a “d” sound, your lips are open and your tongue presses against the ridge on top of your teeth. When you place your tongue in preparation to make a “t” or “d” sound and expel air through your nose, it sounds like an “n”.
Perhaps a little more complicated, when you make a vowel sound, your mouth is wide open and your tongue doesn’t touch anything. If you blow air through your nose in this position, you get the sound that you are having trouble making (because it isn’t really used in English).
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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M-2LjAWb3M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M-2LjAWb3M)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOexRt8BDDk