Why is G pronounced as N in Japanese?

'g' is at the beginning of words pronounced just like it is normally pronounced in English words as “go” and “get”. When 'g' comes in the middle of a word it can be pronounced like 'g' or 'ŋ'. For ガ行 sounds in the middle of the word people in eastern Japan are more likely than people in the west to pronounce it as 'ŋ'.
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Why GA is sometimes pronounced as NGA in Japanese?

が゜ nga is nothing more than が ga in the Edo dialect. It was adopted as the correct pronunciation during the Meiji period and it still is the preferred form if you want to work for the NHK.
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Why do Japanese pronounce ŋ as M?

If it is followed by 't' or 'd', then it is pronounced like an 'n'. If it is followed by 'p' or 'b', it is pronounced like 'm'. If followed by 'k' or 'g', then like 'ng' from 'sing'. If ん is not followed by a consonant, then there isn't really a true English equivalent; it's more or less its own syllabic 'n'.
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Why do Japanese say B instead of V?

Originally, Japanese had no ヴ character so they used variations of ビ (bi). I think some Japanese might be able to do it, but they find it quite awkward. That's why television is called テレビ (terebi), it's hard for them to pronounce so they changed the sound.
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Why do Japanese mix up L and R?

The Japanese sound is more of a cross between the English R and L, so it's very difficult to distinguish the two, hence Engrish. A proper hard R is actually just as difficult to pronounce as an L for Japanese speakers, and the hardest words to pronounce are those with both sounds (for example, parallel).
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How to pronounce N - Japanese Pronunciation (Part 1)



How do Japanese people say F?

「ふ」 is the only sound that is pronounced with a “f” sound, for example 「ふとん」 (futon) or 「ふじ」 (Fuji). That's fine in Japanese because there are no words with other “f” sounds such as “fa”, “fi”, or “fo”.
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Is there P in Japanese?

The Japanese alphabet consists of 99 sounds formed with 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and 14 consonants (k, s, t, h, m, y, r, w, g, z, d, b, p, and n), as is shown in the hiragana chart. , for instance, the last letter is not pronounced "u" but as a long "o." has six syllables.
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Can Japanese people pronounce n?

Elsewhere (みんな、べんとう、もんだい、れんらく)

You pronounce ん as [n]. When you pronounce [n], your tongue is going to touch the roof of your mouth just a little farther back than your upper gums and you will make a sound by allowing air to pass out through your nose. [n] is a voiced sound.
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How do u say Nya in Japanese?

Syllable. The hiragana syllable にゃ (nya). Its equivalent in katakana is ニャ (nya).
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Does Japanese have a hard G?

So for example in the word "せんげす", I often hear the "g" sound sounding like the ending of words such as "sing" in English. While other times it's pronounced like a hard g.
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What is G in Korean?

Let's break it down with the word 가방[gabang], which means “bag.” Usually, the consonant ㄱ[giyeok] sounds like an English “g.” However, if it's at the beginning of the word, it takes on the English “k” sound; 가방[gabang].
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What letter can't Japanese pronounce?

There's a simple reason why Japanese people can't pronounce R and L correctly. They don't exist in Japanese. It is not, as was asked of me once, a genetic defect. Japanese people who spent their childhood years in an English speaking country can pronounce both sounds fine.
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Can hiragana replace katakana?

No, you can't. They have different purposes. Hiragana is used in combination with Kanji to write original Japanese words and Katakana, usually for words from foreign languages (including non-Japanese names of people / places) and sometimes for writing Japanese words for the purpose of emphasis (instead of italics).
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Is there AB in Japanese?

The Japanese alphabet actually contains fewer letters than the English alphabet! When Romanizing Japanese (that is, writing Japanese words with English letters, also called romaji), you will only use the vowels a, i, u, e, o. And you'll use these consonants: k, g, s, z, j, t, d, n, h, f, b, p, m, y, r, w.
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Why does hiragana have two JI?

If you're wondering we need 2 different hiragana for the same sound, the answer is mainly because of the spelling reforms that happened in 1946. These hiraganas were still technically utilized properly until the Edo period and was eventually merged into their modern counterpart sounds during the spelling reforms.
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What letters are missing in Japanese?

Notice that several English sounds are missing from the Japanese language entirely: "c," "f," "l," "q," "v," and "x." When Japanese want to represent these sounds, they have to use Japanese syllables that sound almost the same.
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Is Japanese hard to learn?

Japanese is ranked by the U.S. Foreign Services Institute as the most difficult language for native English speakers to learn. The institute uses the time it takes to learn a language to determine its difficulty 23-24 weeks for the easiest and 88 weeks for the hardest.
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Is Baka a swear word?

Baka (馬鹿 or ばか) is a Japanese swear or curse word meaning idiot, jackass, dumbass, or unthinking fool. (Excuse our language, please!) That said, baka's meaning is highly contextual, as our resident Japanese expert explains: “Baka (馬鹿) means a fool or an idiot, and used as an insult.
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Does Japan have swears?

Are there swear words in Japanese? Technically there aren't really swear words as such in Japanese. Instead you'll find that most swear words in Japanese, or ways to swear in Japanese, are done by using more common words or phrases and adding a couple of words or changing the way you say them.
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What sounds don't exist in Japanese?

“yi” and “ye” sounds don't exist in modern Japanese. There is also no “L” block of syllables in Japanese. Instead, you will find that in many words borrowed from English, in Japanese pronunciation and katakana writing, it has become replaced by a very light “r” sound.
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