This Is Hard To Prounounce

[actiondell4]

I am learning thai and learnt the Thai words for "to work" ,which is "tam ngaan ".

I cannot get the "ngaan " word,its very difficult,i keep on saying naan which my thai tutor says means "long time",instead of "NGAAN,prounounced with a "G" sound.

I just cannot prounounce the "ngaan" word correctly,does anyone else have this problem.

[eric67]

English has the same sound, only not at the beginning of a word.

Say "singing" a couple of times and then leave out the first 2 letters and try to say just "nging"

[Colabamumbai]

Yes many of us have the same problem with this and other words where one letter is silent.

[Johpa]

Yes many of us have the same problem with this and other words where one letter is silent.

All native English speakers struggle with the syllable initial /ng/ consonant. There is no silent letter here, this is a recognized consonant which shows up in English as a final consonant but is written with two letters in the Roman alphabet as are other consonants such as /th/ or/sh/. (English uses some 28 consonants using a alphabet with only 20 some consonant characters) But with practice, slowly removing the first half of a short English syllable with the /ng/ ending (sing, bang, bong, etc) you will get the hang of it. It took me almost a year to get it to come out without feeling that I was choking.

[Peppy]

I don't know if this works for everybody, but I've always said the word 'lasagne' as "leh-sawn-nguh", and it's the only word I can think of in English where I use the "ng" sound to begin a syllable--try saying the final syllable, "nguh" by itself. That's the sound you're looking for in "งาน/ngaan".

Another method that might work is to say a word like "sing" or "song" as recommended above, but "freeze" your mouth on the last part of the word--stop at the "ng", and don't let your tongue go anywhere. Now try and say a vowel sound, like "aa", starting with your tongue where it was at the end of "sing" or "song". The sound that comes out should sound like "ngaa"--now just add an "n" and you've got "ngaan". Practice until you can get your tongue in the right position without saying a word ending in "ng" first.

[LazyYogi]

Yes many of us have the same problem with this and other words where one letter is silent.

All native English speakers struggle with the syllable initial /ng/ consonant. There is no silent letter here, this is a recognized consonant which shows up in English as a final consonant but is written with two letters in the Roman alphabet as are other consonants such as /th/ or/sh/. (English uses some 28 consonants using a alphabet with only 20 some consonant characters) But with practice, slowly removing the first half of a short English syllable with the /ng/ ending (sing, bang, bong, etc) you will get the hang of it. It took me almost a year to get it to come out without feeling that I was choking.

I wouldn't say all native English speakers struggle with it. It's actually quite easy for some.

But you are correct that there is no silent letter.

As for pronunciation tips: don't think of it as "n" + "g". It is just one sound "ng". You close the back of your throat, the same as when you make a "k" or "g" sound, but it's a nasalized vibration.

Edited June 11, 2010 by LazyYogi

[PhilHarries]

The way I learnt to say it, via AUA, was saying the phrase "coming on" over and over gradually separating it to "comi....ng....on" thence to "comi ngon".

It worked pretty well for me but everyone is different.

[katana]

Thai 101: Improve Your Accent: How to pronounce ง.งู