LingoDrop
Japanese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "兄" in Japanese?
a-ni, two short beats — the n is palatalised, made with the tongue blade flat against the palate.
ani
Matched durations, high then low. It pairs directly with 姉 (ane), which differs only in its final vowel — so vowel quality is doing real semantic work here, distinguishing "older brother" from "older sister" with a single sound.
Listen: 兄
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
兄は東京に住んでいます。
Ani wa Toukyou ni sunde imasu.
My older brother lives in Tokyo.
Listen: 兄は東京に住んでいます。
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兄は東京に住んでいます has 東京 (to-o-kyo-o), four morae with two long vowels, and 住んで with its moraic nasal. So a two-beat word opens a sentence containing three beats' worth of pure duration in the next word alone.
Where English speakers slip
"AH-nee" stretches both vowels and stresses the first — essentially the Italian word "anni." Both beats are short, and the n should be palatal rather than alveolar. Because 兄 and 姉 differ by one vowel, over-lengthening either one makes them harder for a listener to separate.