The word 一本気 sounds wrong in the audio

[jprspereira]

The audio for the vocab 一本気 (One Track Mind) sounds like “ipponni” and not “ippongi”. Even if I try to hear the ぎ, it ends up just sounding like に。Not sure if anyone can relate, but I thought it would be better to report anyway (not even sure if I’m right but oh well) ^^

[jasonlint]

That’s true. Maybe it sounds a bit nasal. Since there’s a ん sound before it probably a common and recognisable by Japanese people. When I encountered this word I had the same perception as you so I checked the pronunciation here (well, I checked how other Japanese people pronounce the same word): 一本気 pronunciation: How to pronounce 一本気 in Japanese

[jprspereira]

Wow, this seems to be a pretty good website Thanks for sharing!

Yep, I agree. However, I can easily understand the ぎ part in both the examples in your link (the one from usako_usagiclub sounds perfect). Not sure if the WK team feels like adding a better sound for it or not.

[jmconeby]

Some native speakers will say “-nga”, “-ngi”, and so forth instead of “-ga”, “-gi”, etc. (but only within a word, never at the beginning of a word). Sometimes those kana are written with a maru to indicate that they’re different. It’s more common in Tohoku and Kanto (including Tokyo) dialects, and it’s considered sort of old-fashioned but also high-class. Of course, if you have spoken that way since birth, you aren’t making any conscious effort to sound high-class. NHK teaches its reporters to speak with this affectation.

Here are a few good explanations: particles - Pronouncing が as 'nga' - Japanese Language Stack Exchange

tl;dr: It’s not an error, some people from Tohoku and Kanto, as well as NHK reporters, say their G’s as “ng” (but never at the beginning of a word).

[jprspereira]

Oh, I see! So basically it’s not a literal reading but like an accent thing Sounds cool but also complicated xD

Thanks for your cool comment ^^

[jneapan]

Here’s an article written by a native about this quirk of pronunciation:

Bidakuon / 鼻濁音

[jasonlint]

Ey! I recently got the lesson for 次 and the pronunciation for つぎ shows the very same phenomena!

[polv]

I commonly pronounce /g/ as /ŋ/, not sure if overdid it, though. Partly because I don’t make a big distinction between /k/ and /g/, but big between /k/ and /ŋ/.

I am not sure about /ɲ/ or /ɳ/, though.

[Expat]

I hear Roppongi pronounced like this by natives too.

[jprspereira]

Wow, that seems extremely useful! I’ll check it out when I have time ^^ Thanks for sharing!

[lfeuln]

I had 次 in iKnow (should get it in Wanikani very soon) and I seriously thought there was a major error! Tough when they test audio-only, but gotta know how it might sound in real life I guess. Good to know it actually isn’t a mistake on their part.

[jasonlint]

Now I can’t stop hearing the /ng/. The word 大学生 popped up and the male voice actor (again) who looks like he has a chronic catarrh did it again. Ups, he did it again! I’m OK with the male voice but I prefer マミ’s voice since I’m a super fan of her.