Why does 一つ sound like ちとつ or しとつ? Is that a Tokyo accent thing?
It’s probably an effect of the i in ひ being devoiced??? (not sure if that is the correct expression here) before the t of the と that makes you hear it more like a し (which is also often devoiced)
I know what you mean, but it actually really does sound like a ひ in the recordings.
Listening to lots and lots of Japanese, you will, over time, get more and more used to it.
So no, it’s not an accent thing and actually how this word is supposed to be pronounced.
Here you can listen to other speakers saying it 一つ pronunciation: How to pronounce 一つ in Japanese
EDIT: it has another pitch pattern but try to compare to 刺突 pronunciation: How to pronounce 刺突 in Japanese
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It’s an H sound, but the back of the tongue is really close to the top of the mouth, almost like pronouncing the letter K.
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It’s also partly a microphone artefact.
Definitely a ひ sound, with the teeth not touching, but the exhalation is forced with the tongue close to the roof of the mouth, so it makes a hiss that could be mistaken for し at first.
Practice making a ひ sound, with the teeth slightly apart, and then with them together, Do that several times and you’ll hear the difference.
Are you in Tokyo? The Tokyo shitmachi dialect tends to make the H sound like SH. So it’s possible but unless you’re living in shitamachi chances are the other explanations are more applicable.
I figured they were referring to the WaniKani audio.
But in any case, ひ does not sound the same as the English word “he” and I think that’s the difference they’re noticing.
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