Calling all you high-level heroes,
出口… The pronunciation of this word is the throwing me for a loop… I can’t figure out what i’m hearing as people on tv and wanikani use it… is it pronounced “DE-GUCHI” or “DEn-GUCHI?”
Basically, every so often, I feel like i’m hearing でんぐち instead of でぐち…
Anyone know if i’m just going crazy or if this is a real thing?
It would be nice if more resources taught that there isn’t just one g sound in Japanese. You can read a nice summary here.
You’re a good man.
Yeah seriously. It seems to be one of the most confusing aspects of pronunciation encountered by new learners around here.
Is it me or has this come up more than usual lately?
It’s true that I’ve posted that link about 5 times in the last week.
And in a couple threads we both end up doing it seconds apart. 
Maybe they need a sticky with that post?
Maybe it has something to do with the updates to the sound clips?
Should I have noticed this was a thing? I don’t know that I have consciously noticed a different g sound…
(please don’t take away my level 60 badge)
Can confirm the difference between the male and female voices helped drive me to post.
The old audio had nasal Gs. I remember first encountering it with probably the 下げる/下がる pair. Maybe people are just recognizing it more prominently with the new speakers who seem to enunciate things a bit more?
Edit to add:
If nothing else maybe the increased amount of posts are a sign that the new speakers are doing a better job of highlighting these pronunciation intricacies?
Depends on who you’ve been hanging out with!
The rules that Leebo posted are a good guide but I feel like region/dialect and age of the speaker can really affect the use of nasal Gs.
In my experience the nasal G is more pronounced with older people. I’ve even heard old men say を with a weirdly English-sounding strong ‘w’ at the start. And even し as ‘see’ and not ‘she’. (And no, it wasn’t just a speech impediment, though I have met a surprising number of young people who have trouble with さしすせそ and make it sound more like たちつてと… but maybe they are just trying to be cute?)
I’ll take your badge though!
Not gonna lie, I never noticed before either. I had to check specific examples on YouTube…
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.