Pronunciation

[Knave]

Please help me understand the pronunciation of the following:

Is the pronunciation of these syllables like...
ん - French nasalized n

ふ - Spanish b, except unvoiced? Written with the Greek letter 'phi' in the IPA
ほ - English ha or like Russian kha
ひ - English hi or like Russian khi

Is any syllable ending with -ya or -i palatalized, like in Russian pronunciation exactly?

Thanks!!!

 

[ToMach]

Is the pronunciation of these syllables like...
ん - French nasalized n

Sometimes it is close to it but still quite different. In fact its pronunciation depends on the following sound :
Before g/k/w : velar nasal [ŋ], the sound written "-ng" in English
Before p/b/m : bilabial nasal [m]
Before t/d/n/ts/z : [n] alveolar nasal
Before h/s/vowel or a pause : uvular nasal [N] or a nasalized high or mid vowel

ふ - Spanish b, except unvoiced? Written with the Greek letter 'phi' in the IPA

Yes, exactly, the voiceless bilabial fricative [ф]

ほ - English ha or like Russian kha

This consonnant is closer to the English /h/ than the Russian "kha", which is pronounced with a velar friction. In Japanese, this sound is made in the back of the throat

ひ - English hi or like Russian khi

It's more like the final sound of German "ich", a palatal fricative [ç]

Is any syllable ending with -ya or -i palatalized, like in Russian pronunciation exactly?

They are indeed palatalized, but less than Russian I think

 

[epigene]

You can hear the pronounciation for ha, hi, fu, he, ho here:
Hiragana for h/b/p + vowels
For "ya" and "i" you can search the other pages on the website.

Hope it helps!