The sound “ga” is used a lot in the Japanese language, and it is sometimes nazalized. You may have noticed it when you were listening to the lesson audio.

Basically, if you nazalize “ga”, you sound softer and more elegant. Japanese news anchors use nazalized “ga”.

You can nazalize “ga” wherever it appears, except when “ga” comes at the beginning of a word.

So, you can nazalize the “ga” in:

が ga - the particle
が ga - the connector, “but”
一月 ichigatsu - “January”
絵画 kaiga - “painting”
考える kangaeru - “to think”

But, you cannot nazalize the “ga” in:

外国 gaikoku - “foreign country”
元日 ganjitsu - “New Year’s Day”
楽器 gakki - “musical instrument”


Well, in fact, every sound in the が行 “ga line” can be nazalized. Nazalized “ga” might be the most notable one, but ぎ gi, ぐ gu , げ ge, and ご go can also be nazalized for the same effects as I mentioned above, and the same rule as mentioned above applies .

So when you call me すぎた先生 Sugita sensee, you can nazalize the “gi” if you like. You may want to try that next time!