Learn to pronounce the nasal sound ん
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| In this lesson, we will focus on the Japanese nasal sound - ん. |
| You'll see how adding or leaving out ん can change the meaning of a word. |
| I'm Risa, and this is Japanese Pronunciation Through Minimal Pairs. |
| ん is the nasal sound in えん、にほん, and other words. |
| To make the ん sound, block the airflow at the back of the mouth so that it only flows through the nose. |
| ん |
| ん (enunciated) |
| ん |
| When ん is in the middle of a word, it can change its pronunciation depending on the sounds that come after it. |
| For example, when ん is followed by p, b, or m, the ん is pronounced as the nasal sound [m]. |
| かんぱい /kãmpaɪ/ |
| "cheers" |
| (1) |
| かんぱい /kãmpaɪ/ |
| "cheers" |
| (1) |
| しんぶん /ɕimbun/ |
| "newspaper" |
| (1) |
| しんぶん /ɕimbun/ |
| "newspaper" |
| (1) |
| さんま /samma/ |
| "a type of fish" |
| (1) |
| さんま /samma/ |
| "a type of fish" |
| Similarly, when the next sound is t, d, or n, ん is pronounced as the nasal sound [n]. |
| ちんたい /tɕintai/ |
| "rental" |
| (1) |
| ちんたい /tɕintai/ |
| "rental" |
| (1) |
| みんな /minna/ |
| "everyone" |
| (1) |
| みんな /minna/ |
| "everyone" |
| When the following consonant is k or g, ん shifts to the nasal sound that blocks the airflow at the back of the mouth. |
| さんか /saŋka/ |
| "participation" |
| (1) |
| さんか /saŋka/ |
| "participation" |
| (1) |
| しんごう /ɕiŋgoː/ |
| "traffic light" |
| (1) |
| しんごう /ɕiŋgoː/ |
| "traffic light" |
| Repeat after me. |
| かんぱい |
| (space for repetition) |
| しんぶん |
| (space for repetition) |
| さんま |
| (space for repetition) |
| ちんたい |
| (space for repetition) |
| みんな |
| (space for repetition) |
| さんか |
| (space for repetition) |
| しんごう |
| (space for repetition) |
| Can you tell the differences between their pronunciation? |
| Let's compare words with and without the nasal sound ん. |
| ぶか/ぶんか |
| (1) |
| ぶか/ぶんか |
| (1) |
| ぶか means "subordinate," and ぶんか means "culture." |
| かだん/かんだん |
| (1) |
| かだん/かんだん |
| (1) |
| かだん means "flower bed," and かんだん means "chat." |
| Let's try another. |
| (3 sec pause) |
| こい/コイン |
| (1) |
| こい/コイン |
| (1) |
| こい means "love," and コイン means "coin." |
| Now listen to the following sentence, focusing on different minimal pairs. |
| (1 sec pause) |
| 箱に判子を入れました。 |
| (Hako ni hanko o iremashita.) |
| (1) |
| はこ/はんこ |
| As we've seen in this lesson, the tiny differences in minimal pairs can lead to big changes in meaning. Keep listening and practicing these minimal pairs – they'll help you improve your pronunciation! |
| By the way, if you watched til the end |
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