Start Learning Japanese in the next 30 Seconds with
a Free Lifetime Account

Or sign up using Facebook

ありがと - why I hear "do" instead of "to"

Moderators: Moderator Team, Admin Team

waternoharm
New in Town
Posts: 1
Joined: March 29th, 2016 1:44 pm

ありがと - why I hear "do" instead of "to"

Postby waternoharm » April 30th, 2016 10:57 am

In my understanding, と is pronounced as "to"

But I hear people(native) say ありがと as ariga"do"

Is this my hearing problem?

I am a beginner, please excuse me if I just asked a silly question.

community.japanese
Expert on Something
Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: ありがと - why I hear "do" instead of "to"

Postby community.japanese » May 5th, 2016 1:28 pm

Waternoharm san,
Konnichiwa. :)
That is not sully at all.
That is とう、‘tou’ actually.
I think you have your first language influence.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

Get 40% OFF Forever
thegooseking
Expert on Something
Posts: 216
Joined: October 17th, 2008 8:24 pm

Re: ありがと - why I hear "do" instead of "to"

Postby thegooseking » May 13th, 2016 1:49 pm

Waternoharm-san,

In strict phonetics, the 't' you normally hear in English is a voiceless denti-alveolar stop, while the 't' you hear in Japanese is a voiceless alveolar stop. There is a very slight difference between these sounds, but it's so slight that, if you noticed it, I'd say that's not a problem with hearing, but rather very good hearing! (The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) doesn't even consider them different enough to have separate symbols.)

The difference between 't' and 'd' is voicing (that is, vibration of the vocal cords), but the Japanese and English 't' are both voiceless, so it's not that. But because the English 't' involves the teeth more than the Japanese 't' does, the Japanese 't' does sound slightly softer.

However, some accents of English - particularly New York - do pronounce the 't' the same way Japanese does.

小狼

community.japanese
Expert on Something
Posts: 2704
Joined: November 16th, 2012 8:54 am

Re: ありがと - why I hear "do" instead of "to"

Postby community.japanese » May 24th, 2016 10:27 pm

小狼さん、
こんにちは。
Thank you for helping Waternoharm san. :D
Yuki  由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

Return to “Learn All About Japanese”