I've just started using Mango's On-the-Go (meaning "audio-only version")
Japanese course. (It's free from my library. They also have Pimsleur, though
their only copy is in use right now.)

I think I've heard the speakers sometimes pronounce ほ as /xo/ rather than
/ho/. Is that a thing? Is it a regional thing? Or am I maybe just mishearing?

(I also hear ん pronounced as /n/ or /m/ sometimes at the ends of utterances
when it should be /ɴ/, which confuses me as well… though maybe I should write
this as a separate question.)
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2018-04-15T06:31:24.030
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2021-11-28T17:01:20.090
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pronunciation
ほ /ho/ pronunciation
there are many regional differences in pronunciation, but without actually
hearing what you're hearing, I'm not sure anyone can answer the first part of
your question well.

The second part of your question is easy though. ん IS pronounced differently
at the end of different words... unfortunately I'm not familiar with phonetic
notation, so your descriptions of the sounds doesn't help me hear what you're
hearing, but ん can sound like an "n", an "m" or a slightly devoiced "ng" sound
depending on the word, or even its position inside the word, and sometimes
also depending on the word's placement in the sentence.

in short, as far as ん goes, your ears are not deceiving you.

as for ほ, are you sure it's ほ and not を or some other "o" sound ending
syllable? I wish I understood what /xo/ sounded like, so I could be more
helpful there.
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2018-04-15T13:17:13.933
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2018-04-15T13:17:13.933
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I somehow think you're complicating sounds fruitlessly. It is much simpler to
understand what consonants commonly sound like, when learning your kana. Once
you've mastered your Kana, you'll know what sounds are possible in Japanese,
when spoken normally. Other alternative approximate pronunciations happen more
or less on a per-speaker basis, though a few are regional variants, but should
be understood to be equivalent to the "basic" sounds you would have learned.
The only part where I could understand confusion is in sounds where two kana
sound similar to each other, such as だ and ら.

/xo/ and /ho/ for ほ are definitely an allophone. This "difference" in
pronunciation is sometimes present due to particular speech and stress
patterns that are unique to a speaker, but both are understood more or less
the same. /ho/ is probably the more common sound to hear.

As for ん, this sound is neither an /n/ or /m/ consonant sound -- it is a nasal
sound made with a closed mouth or upper tongue position. For that reason,
depending on which way the mouth is closing after the previous sound, it can
come to sound closer to /n/ or closer to /m/. This also varies by speaker.

Bouncing off what I've been reading in some of the comments, as far as the ら
line consonant sounds and flapping/tapping your tongue against the roof of the
mouth, it's not impossible to do when it's word-initial. I also speak Spanish
and while it's true that Spanish doesn't have that sound at the beginning of a
word, opting instead for the rolled "rr" sound, it is entirely possible to
tap/flap your tongue at the start of the word. You just need to preempt it by
opening your jaw a little more, and avoid making a vowel sound before. If you
really have a really rough time with getting it right, consider using a very
short clipped "u" sound until you become comfortable with the motion. The
words ロシア or らいねん are good practice ones for this.
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2018-09-17T22:52:55.023
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answer