Need Help Pronouncing Ngoo Nguu

[stevehaigh]

my single biggest thai pronounciation problem is ง especially at the beginning of words like งู ง่าย เงิน and even พงัน where i live.

does anyone have a trick to gettng the ng sound right?

thx steve

[AlexLah]

Practice the ng with English words that end with ng, for example : waiting

then after the ng you say your Thai word. Does that help?

Verry funny I am from Hollanad and have no problem at all with ng.

Also the midback of your tongue should be pressed up against your ? (sorry dont know the english word for it)

Edited August 4, 2007 by AlexLah

[mangkorn]

Practice the ng with English words that end with ng, for example : waiting

then after the ng you say your Thai word. Does that help?

Verry funny I am from Hollanad and have no problem at all with ng.

Also the midback of your tongue should be pressed up against your ? (sorry dont know the english word for it)

Good advice, AlexLah. (And I think the word you're looking for is "palate.")

Perhaps because I'm a Spanish-speaker, I never had a problem with the /ng/

But I do recall that, having just arrived here, I wondered about the proper pronunciation of the basic Thai word for "stupid" - "ngoh," with a falling tone. And then my neighbour told me to just think of the sound a water buffalo makes.

"ngo-ohhh..."

I loved that. Made perfect sense to me, and buffaloes are pretty stupid (as charming as they may be). That may be whence the word originated, but I can't vouch for any etymological veracity of that personal theory. I just want to believe that it's true...

And, at the risk of upsetting moderators, the Thai word for buffalo, "kwai," is pronounced as "kuai" in Isaan - which is the same as the colloquial word for the human male sexual organ.

Well, there is surely nothing more stupid than that - not even a buffalo...

And so, I do wonder if there isn't an etymological relationship there, also?

Cheers.

[meadish_sweetball]

Practice the ng with English words that end with ng, for example : waiting

then after the ng you say your Thai word. Does that help?

Verry funny I am from Hollanad and have no problem at all with ng.

Also the midback of your tongue should be pressed up against your ? (sorry dont know the english word for it)

Alex is right. Just take the final 'ng' sound from any word in English and then tag on the rest of the Thai word.

'waiting - ooh' 'wait-i-ngoo' 'ih-ngoo' '...ngoo'.

Also, experiment with trying to separate the sounds in 'waiting':

'wait' - 'ing' and then

'w' 'eey' 't' 'ih' 'ng'

See if you can find what you do with your mouth in English when producing the 'ng' sound. Then just combine it with the Thai sounds you need to get the right word.

[withnail]

Most people can already make this sound, the problem is probably that you're trying too hard.

The one I learnt was to say 'singing' then take off the 'si' which is the natural first syllable.

A funny story: When I was first learning to make this sound I was sitting in the kitchen with my ex girlfriend and out of the blue I said งู she jumped about a mile up in the air.

Edited August 4, 2007 by withnail

[wasabi]

I could not make the ง sound for the first year of my Thai studies. Then I read a post by Rikker on this site about where to place your tongue and how to aspirate this sound. Ever since I've been able to do it. It's like learning to juggle, at first it's hard but after it you learn it, it's hard to see why you ever had problems.

[sutnyod]

I could not make the ง sound for the first year of my Thai studies. Then I read a post by Rikker on this site about where to place your tongue and how to aspirate this sound. Ever since I've been able to do it. It's like learning to juggle, at first it's hard but after it you learn it, it's hard to see why you ever had problems.

That maybe good news. I have a friend who speaks Thai well, but could not pronounce the Ngo. I tried all tricks with her, like the ng sounds in our language, in English... nothing worked. She just could not. After 3 years I gave up. She is now in Africa and loves those 'click' sounds....

[bangsue]

I used the word 'singer'.

i'd say the 'si' and then freeze everything for a few seconds. then continuing with the 'nger' by itself helped me to get it. u can then use different endings, eg. si-ngoo etc.

[stevehaigh]

I used the word 'singer'.

i'd say the 'si' and then freeze everything for a few seconds. then continuing with the 'nger' by itself helped me to get it. u can then use different endings, eg. si-ngoo etc.

that's good, seems to be working. i agree with the other poster that said i'm probably trying too hard, need to let if flow naturally. i think this helps.

thx steve

[Acquiesce]

my single biggest thai pronounciation problem is ง especially at the beginning of words like งู ง่าย เงิน and even พงัน where i live.

does anyone have a trick to gettng the ng sound right?

thx steve

The following was written by Rikker in another thread, i found it to be a great help.

In pronouncing this (or any) sound, consider two important pieces of information:

Place of articulation

Manner of articulation

The sound of ง is pronounced with the tongue touching the soft palate (that is the place of articulation), and it is pronounced by expelling air through the nasal cavity (that's the manner of articulation).

I would guess that tongue position is your problem. To help you pronounce ง correctly, compare it with other sounds that have the exact same place of articulation. In English, these are /g/ and /k/. In Thai, it's ก, ค, etc. Move your tongue back as if you were going to so say a word like "go". When you prepare to say "go," you should notice that your tongue forms a seal so that no air comes out until you expel it in a sudden burst. So /g/ has the identical *place* of articulation as ง, but has a different manner of articulation of articulation. So prepare to say /g/ again, but this time, instead of letting air come out through your mouth, relax your throat so that the air comes out through your nose instead. It's critical here that your tongue *does not move* from where you first positioned it. You'll know your doing it right if while you are saying the sound ง, and you plug your nose, no air comes out of your mouth. That is, the air is blocked.

ง shares the same manner of articulation with น and ม, but they each have different places of articulation. That is, for each different nasal sound ง น ม, you form a seal, blocking air from flowing out of your mouth, and let it flow through your nose instead. So the trick is to form the seal in the right place. If you form it with your lips, the sound is ม. If you form it with your tongue right behind your top teeth, the sound will be น. And if you form the seal against the soft palate at the back of your mouth, the sound will be ง. If you're not moving your tongue far enough back, and forming the seal at the hard palate, the sound will be like "ny", like the Spanish ñ in word like "año".

[kokesaat]

It took me a while to get the hang of ง but that's behind me. I have not, however, been able to get the hang of ต versus ด at the beginning of words. My Thai teacher (non-professional) has basically given up on me with those two sounds....she says I sometimes get it right. Any chance Rikker or anyone else can provide exacting instructions as were provided for ง?

[DurianChips]

It took me a while to get the hang of ง but that's behind me. I have not, however, been able to get the hang of ต versus ด at the beginning of words. My Thai teacher (non-professional) has basically given up on me with those two sounds....she says I sometimes get it right. Any chance Rikker or anyone else can provide exacting instructions as were provided for ง?

It seems to me that the primary difference when I say these characters is that my tongue doesn't touch my teeth with ดา, but it does when I say ตา. Specifically, the tip of my tongue touches the back of my front two teeth.

[jay33]

OP - try rolling your tongue into a U shape, with your tongue touching the back of your lower front teeth and this will force the Ngoo Nguu to come from the back of your throat.

Ok it only really works for the phrase Ngoo Nguu but once you can make the correct sound you can repeat it without rolling your tongue.

[genggwaa]

ด, ต and ท are very similar in that all involve the tongue pressing against the back of the teeth.

Here are the differences:

ด is the sound of D as in dog. The D is 'voiced' - i.e. you vibrate the vocal chords (eughhh) as you release the tongue.

ต is like the T in stomach. No air passes as you release the tongue away from the teeth when forming the T sound. This is hard for English people to say, so either think of 'stomach', or consider saying an unvoiced D when making this sound.

And ท is a fully 'aspirated' T as in tear. You force out air from your mouth as you release the T.

Edited September 6, 2007 by genggwaa

[realmadrid25]

im finding it impossibleto pronounce ng without a vowel before it.

[meadish_sweetball]

Did you try all the advice suggested in this thread? All the info you need is here.

The post by Rikker that Acquiesce posted is especially helpful. Just follow the instructions closely and be mindful of what you do.

[jayler]

Learn to pronounced the japanese "ん (n)" sound.

Or pronounced the japanese vocab "onegai" by a quick speech, and listen the "g" sound.

 

(Greeting from Thailand.)

Edited April 15, 2020 by jayler