Pronouncing the ひ sound correctly


I've been learning Japanese for the past month and I have a few problems
pronouncing the ひ sound (being a native Hebrew speaker and fluent in English I
don't believe that sound exists in those languages).

I've found that sometimes I would hear (or miss hear) the sound as a shi sound
like in the sentence `いいひですね` - I would hear `iishidesune`

Could anyone give me a few pointers on how to correctly pronounce this sound?

Also does this happen only on the shi sound or does it also happen with the
ha, ho, he sounds ?




In standard Japanese, 'h' before 'i' or 'y' is pronounced a bit differently
([source](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E9%9F%B3%E9%9F%BB#.E5.AD.90.E9.9F.B3)).
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, this sound is written as
[[ç]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_palatal_fricative#Palatal). This
is the sound you're hearing as kinda like a し. However, it's still distinct
from し (which is pronounced as
[[ɕ]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_sibilant)).

The ひ consonant, [ç], _does_ occur in some varieties of English – e.g. British
English _hue_ ; but, from looking at the Wikipedia article on Hebrew
phonology, it looks like you guys don't have it. To understand Japanese, it's
important that you get used to _hearing_ the difference between these two
sounds. The Google text-to-speech system you posted will do nicely; [listen
carefully](https://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E3%81%84%E3%81%84%E6%97%A5%EF%BC%9B%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BC%E6%B0%8F%E3%80%82).
Notice how ひ sounds softer and closer to English 'h', whereas し sounds noisier
and closer to English 'sh'.

_Pronouncing_ this sound in a Japanese way is not vitally important. You can
just use English 'he' and 'she' in your accent, and the Japanese will hear it
as ひ and し. If you want to perfect your Japanese accent, try to do this:
_whisper_ the vowel /i/ forcefully, then change the whisper to the voiced
vowel. (While whispering, be sure to have your tongue already in the /i/
position).

By the way, if you want to pronounce the し in a more Japanese manner, try
sticking the tip of your tongue behind your _lower_ front teeth.




In standard Japanese, 'h' before 'i' or 'y' is pronounced a bit differently
([source](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E9%9F%B3%E9%9F%BB#.E5.AD.90.E9.9F.B3)).
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, this sound is written as
[[ç]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_palatal_fricative#Palatal). This
is the sound you're hearing as kinda like a し. However, it's still distinct
from し (which is pronounced as
[[ɕ]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_sibilant)).

The ひ consonant, [ç], _does_ occur in some varieties of English – e.g. British
English _hue_ ; but, from looking at the Wikipedia article on Hebrew
phonology, it looks like you guys don't have it. To understand Japanese, it's
important that you get used to _hearing_ the difference between these two
sounds. The Google text-to-speech system you posted will do nicely; [listen
carefully](https://translate.google.com/#ja/en/%E3%81%84%E3%81%84%E6%97%A5%EF%BC%9B%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BC%E6%B0%8F%E3%80%82).
Notice how ひ sounds softer and closer to English 'h', whereas し sounds noisier
and closer to English 'sh'.

_Pronouncing_ this sound in a Japanese way is not vitally important. You can
just use English 'he' and 'she' in your accent, and the Japanese will hear it
as ひ and し. If you want to perfect your Japanese accent, try to do this:
_whisper_ the vowel /i/ forcefully, then change the whisper to the voiced
vowel. (While whispering, be sure to have your tongue already in the /i/
position).

By the way, if you want to pronounce the し in a more Japanese manner, try
sticking the tip of your tongue behind your _lower_ front teeth.

