How to pronounce Initial Ng in Asian Languages - Stuart Jay Raj

[PAPAYAPHUNG]

Thank you guy so much, my student still have that problem then I'm gonna teach in this way....Thanks a million !!!

[anonamese]

This dude sounded like he's barking.

[pYthQn]

i c u strugglin to pronounce it lol how can i do it then :p

[3822218]

You're very Ngam, can you earn Ngoh some Ngahn ?

Great, now i speak three languages

[sunnydodobird]

00:24 funny

[sunnydodobird]

00:25 hilarious



[sunnydodobird]

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[sunnydodobird]

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[sunnydodobird]

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[sunnydodobird]

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[gtatters]

Great help, been struggling with this for a while in Thailand.

[stujaystujay]

@gtatters Glad this could help! ... This is one of the number one problems Farang tell me that they need to fix when speaking Thai.

[mamafuscorp]

Fantastic! Excellent illustration of the question thousands of people think every day, but don't know who to ask) :)

[ashconnor]

As always Stu, thank you!

[dkatbena]

why don't you try the ethnic language in the Philippines. It is rare but it has power as you speak its words! e.g. where do you live? = dyenu ka naka taan? * In my knowledge, all languages in the Philippines came from or evolved from Dumagat language.= De katenggesan ko, e pesan a pagsorot de Pelipenas ey inomapo de Sorot ni Dumaget.

[stujaystujay]

@dkatbena I would love to - can you point me in the direction of any resources to help me?

[dkatbena]

@stujaystujay no resources available for this language.It is hidden! The language has 3 levels and only old folks from that tribe can speak that form of language.The younger generation speak only one from which is influenced by tagalog.

[dkatbena]

@stujaystujay you studied many languages and you know the patterns of sentences. If you wish to learn short/simple phrases, just send me the english texts and i will try to translate them to Tagalog and Dumaget.

[applezafrina]

@dkatbena Where do you live in Filipino is not like that ...

[dkatbena]

Oo nga! ang dami palang tunog na" nga" sa mga salitang iyan!

[MoilAndToil]

You must be rich, you're very good !

Cheers.

from,

del-boy.

[tvu732]

omg, I've never seen anyone but you to say "Nguyễn" correctly. Actually I think it's the hardest word for non Vietnamese people. The strange consonant "ng", the vowel "uyen" and tone "~" make it a tongue twister for any Vietnamese learners.

[himsayhimdo]

Hi Stu. Background is way too busy and distracting. Could you perhaps tone it down a bit next time? :)

[EvanC0912]

did you know?

in formal Indonesian, initial ng sound is rare.

initial ng sound usually occurs in informal or colloquial indonesian and most of them are formed by contraction of words.

the example provided (ngantuk and ngerti) are the contraction of mengantuk (to be sleepy) and mengerti (to understand) (note the dropped me- prefix).

please note that 'nggak' is inappropriate example because in indonesian the pronunciation of ngg and ng is different

[stujaystujay]

@EvanC0912 Exactly. You get so many bule that learn formal Indonesian, but fail to communicate properly in the language that people really speak with each other. I'm doing a lot of work with the people smuggling cases with Indonesian crew members. There have been nightmare stories of bule Interpreters used by authorities that only speak formal Indonesian. The Indonesians don't understand them and respond in a way that makes their plight worse.

[EvanC0912]

@stujaystujay

yes. the difference between the formal and informal variant are great.

but i think most indonesians will understand formal language because it is the language used (both written and spoken) in the media and books. informal language, on the other hand, can vary throughout the nation, depending on regional influence of the speaker.

however, foreigners should be taught colloquial indonesian too, i think. in order to communicate effectively in daily basis.

[stujaystujay]

@Uranggokil ;) makasih orang gila

[Uranggokil]

ng..... nganu... cumang mao ngabarin kalo sang bule dah ngasih ingpoh banyak neh.....

[danielairy]

Great teacher! I approved the Cantonese part and its so true for the "ngoh" words especially for teens >_> Parents: say "ngoh" teens "oh" ( I'm lazy you can't make me ~~)

[stujaystujay]

@danielairy Thanks :) I wonder if in time to come there will be a resurgence of 'Ngoh', or it will go the other way 'Oh' .. might even turn into 'Ah' .. which is usually the next logical step from this sound.

[stujaystujay]

@lilvivie hahaha... thank you .. I'm glad I got it right... though I know there's room for improvement:)

[lilvivie]

you are the first non-vietnamese person i have ever seen pronounce the vietnamese last name Nguyen correctly......thank god....all hope is not lost.

[votilz]

im indonesian and i gotta admit that your pronunciation of indonesian words is just too damn perfect! even the intonation! great job man! btw, how many languages can you speak?

[MrHalohalo85]

Philippine languages:

Tagalog, official - ngayon (today), ngiti (smile), nga (emphatic particle), nguya (chew).

Bisaya, central - ngitngit (dark), ngiaw (deserted), ngyawa! (damn!), nga (of)

Ilokano, northern - nganngani (all), ngato (above)

Sama, southern- nganjanji' (promise), ngoso' (weave), nguwalna' (decide)

[july071992]

@MrHalohalo85 correcton:

nganngani = almost, not all

[Chezrocksall]

Oh also this video is great too, really helped me. Thanks.

[Chezrocksall]

@stujaystujay Oh and also I can speak Thai but I only have one video of me speaking Thai and it's only a little bit. Also my definition if fluency may be different from yours so if you don't like my Thai, that's alright. :)

[Chezrocksall]

Hey stujayray, I really love your videos. I am sorry for spamming your channel. I just would really live for you to check out my videos. I do understand that you are very busy, so please reply when you can. Thanks.

[stujaystujay]

@Chezrocksall will check it out

[str8out]

A white guy sounds funny makes this sound. Nice vid.

[stujaystujay]

@str8out Half White ;)

[stujaystujay]

@De4sher I guess pronouncing 'ng' for some westerners is as hard as pronouncing 'th' or final sounds like 'ch' and 'j' for Thais. For people who CAN do it, it's seemingly impossible not to do it ... but for those that can't do it, the muscles probably need to be trained up along with their thinking about those sounds.

[De4sher]

who the hell can't say "ng"?

i don't find anything difficult about it, and i'm neo latin language speaker....

if you can't pronounce the initial ng, thumb me down, cuz damn, is that easy to do!

[getreallanguage]

In Spanish, this sound is only articulated in the middle of words and before other velar consonant sounds. It's usually a bit hard for my students (I teach English) to learn to pronounce it at the end of a word e.g. SING. What happens is they do pronounce it, but they always follow it with an audible 'g' sound.

I taught myself how to pronounce this sound word-initially when I was reading a book about Australian Aboriginal Languages. I have to say I quite like it.

[stujaystujay]

@getreallanguage I suspected that to be the case. I was trying to remember if I'd ever heard any other European languages with an initial 'Ng'.

[psviking1]

You are very annoyiNG.

[stujaystujay]

@psviking1 I hope I'm noy annoyiNGggggg you too much!;)

[112ddd211]

Great Video!

Excellent Blog!!

The only funny thing I noticed though, was that when you were demonstrating with your hands, the articulation of the velar nasal, your lower hand (tongue) never came up to make contact with your upper hand.

This contact is necessary in order to prevent air from flowing out of the oral cavity.

(see attached video)

[stujaystujay]

@112ddd211 Great observation! I guess have become complacent over the years doimg these signs :) ... Though I suspect if someone was trying to mimick my hands with their mouth precisely, they'd soon find out that there's not going to be any 'ng' sound unless they make contact ^_^

[stujaystujay]

@stujaystujay Going to have to read up more on it now. I'm curious... thanks!

[SpanishHunkyGuy]

We have that sound in my regional language in Galicia (Spain). Take "unha" (indefinite article feminine singular) :P

I think in English it just corresponds to -ing but in final position; not in initial position like in those Asian languages.

[stujaystujay]

@SpanishHunkyGuy is it pronounced with a straight 'ng' at the start or is there a vowel before it?

[outronome]

@stujaystujay I'll answer for him.

Actually, the NG sound you demonstrate is not the same of the "nh in galician/portuguese (galician is a spanish language that is much closer to portuguese). So, your observations are correct: there is a very short vowel in "unha", (more close to "unya", but not exactly that) and no articulated "g". Unfortunately, it would require a youtube video to demonstrate it accurately :) but the bottom line: the galician/portuguese sound is not the same "ng".

[poliglotta80]

Excellent video. I am really looking forward to learning Thai and the first resource I'll use to get acquainted with the sounds of the language is definitely Stu's videos, instructions expertise and above all good vibes. Thanks Stu! :-) Luca

[stujaystujay]

@poliglotta80 Thanks a lot Luca. Means a lot coming from you!

[JAYJAYLAZ]

Okay, first of all I can't believe that I actually spent 8 minutes watching a video about "ng". Great video though.. I studied mandarin for 12 years when I was a child (of course I don't speak it now as an adult), but I remember pronouncing "ngoh" as "woh" and the teachers would do the same.. ergo "woh ai nee" which everybody knows. Also, in Tagalog the word "ng" is pronounced as "nang" as opposed to "ng" which I find strange. Intersting video.

[stujaystujay]

@JAYJAYLAZ You're right - 我 in Mandarin is pronounced Wo3. In Cantonese it's 'Ngoh' (low rising tone), but in Hong Kong, the 'Ng' drops off and is usually left as 'Oh'.

So 我愛你in Mandarin is "Wo Ai Ni" and in Cantonese "Ngoh Oi Lei" ... or in Hong Kong "Ngoh Oi Lei".

Yup - Tagalog, 'Ng' is pronounced 'Nang' and 'Mga' as 'Manga' - these are abbreviations. There are however many words in Tagalog and other languages of the Philippines that start with this initial 'Ng___' sound.

[engrish2006]

@stujaystujay But the word "nga" is not pronounced "nanga." It's pronounced like you would see it.

[Zimy0]

Weird, I was unaware that english speakers would have I problem with this (I didn't when I first found out)...

[stujaystujay]

@Zimy0 I think anyone learning Thai should check this out before they go too far down the wrong path. I have spent many hours trying to correct people's bad pronunciation habits because they couldn't pronounce it from the start and then just got used to saying it wrong. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard given 'ng' is in the language already. A lot of it is psychological I suspect.

[boabysands123]

Thanks. Good to see your home studio is up and running.

SOME TECH FEEDBACK:

You may want to re-consider the use of a moving background in such videos. In terms of image quality the compression codecs look to be straining to deal with the variety of movement in the background. To do this is has to overly compress the area where your face/head/hair is. It might be worth your while to try a test with no movement in the background or reduce the area where the motion occurs.

[stujaystujay]

@boabysands123 Thanks! I'm just breaking the studio in. I'll try your suggeation in my next clip and see how it goes.