Page 47 - Basic Japanese

there is a compromise. The general rule is: initial in a word,

pronounce as in go; within a word, pronounce as in singer.
There are a few exceptions to this rule. The particle ga is

always pronounced with the ng sound, and the element go
meaning ‘five’ is usually pronounced like English go even

within a word, but these are of minor importance.
You may have trouble with this ng sound. It is made with

the tongue in the same position as for g, but with the nasal

passage open, the way it is for m or n. Notice that this is
NOT the same sound as that used by most English speakers

in the word finger—that is, by those speakers who do not
rhyme this word exactly with singer. It is as if we should

spell the former word fingger to show that we make first the
back nasal sound (ng) and then the back non-nasal sound

(g). Since you are not used to using this ng sound at the
beginning of a stressed syllable in English, you may want to

practice it in the following way. Hold the tip of your tongue
down with your finger or one of those flat tongue-depressors
doctors use. Then try to say the sound n as in nine. You will

feel the tip of your tongue try to come up, but keep it down

and make the back part of the tongue do the work. You have
then made the ng sound. All you have to do after that is to

train the tip of your tongue so you will not have to hold it
down with a tongue depressor while making this sound. The

Japanese g in the middle of a word, then, is an n made with
the back of the tongue. If you find this sound too difficult,

just use your English g in all positions. You will not quite be
talking Standard Japanese, but then neither do lots of

Japanese! Here are some examples of the two kinds of g: