Japanese → Hindi
Hindi uses 41 sounds. You already own 15 of them from Japanese. The other 26 are the work — and 25 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
Hindi: tea · written "c", "ch", "च"
The word the whole world borrowed — chai, çay, chá.
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in ちいさい chīsai (small).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
Hindi: to go · written "j", "ज"
Your /d͡ʑ/ is the one in じかん jikan (time).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
Hindi: evening · written "sh", "श"
Your /s/ is the one in さかな sakana (fish).
the move: close → near-close
Hindi: day · written "i", "इ"
Your /i/ is the one in いま ima (now).
the move: aspirated
Hindi: food · written "kh", "ख"
A puff of air. kaam 'work' vs khaam 'raw'.
Your /k/ is the one in かさ kasa (umbrella).
the move: close, but not identical
Hindi: house · written "gh", "घ"
Breathy, not aspirated — voicing carries on through the breath.
Your /ɡ/ is the one in ごはん gohan (rice, meal).
the move: aspirated
Hindi: a little · written "th", "थ"
Never the English th sound. Dental t plus a puff.
Your /t/ is the one in たべる taberu (to eat).
the move: aspirated
Hindi: fruit · written "ph", "फ"
Often said as /f/ nowadays, especially in loanwords.
Your /p/ is the one in きっぷ kippu (ticket).
the move: close, but not identical
Hindi: brother · written "bh", "भ"
Your /b/ is the one in ばん ban (evening).
the move: rounded
Hindi: milk · written "uu", "ऊ"
Your /ɯː/ is the one in すうじ sūji (number).
the move: close-mid → near-close
Hindi: something · written "u", "उ"
Your /o/ is the one in おと oto (sound).
the move: velar → retroflex
Hindi: tomato · written "ṭ", "ट"
RETROFLEX: tongue curled back. This is the one English speakers substitute for both — English t sits between the two and sounds foreign either way.
Your /k/ is the one in かさ kasa (umbrella).
the move: velar → retroflex
Hindi: fear · written "ḍ", "ड"
Your /ɡ/ is the one in ごはん gohan (rice, meal).
the move: close, but not identical
Hindi: he, she, that · written "v", "w", "व"
Between English v and w and genuinely neither — which is why Hindi speakers of English swap the two.
Your /w/ is the one in わたし watashi (I).
the move: alveolar → dental
Hindi: sunshine · written "dh", "ध"
Your /d/ is the one in だれ dare (who).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar, aspirated
Hindi: small · written "chh", "छ"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in ちいさい chīsai (small).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
Hindi: a lie · written "jh", "झ"
Your /d͡ʑ/ is the one in じかん jikan (time).
the move: open → open-mid
Hindi: is · written "ai", "ऐ"
Not a diphthong in standard Hindi — one open vowel.
Your /aː/ is the one in おばあさん obāsan (grandmother).
the move: close-mid → open-mid
Hindi: and · written "au", "औ"
Your /oː/ is the one in とうきょう Tōkyō (Tokyo).
the move: alveolar → retroflex
Hindi: Ganesh · written "ṇ", "ण"
Retroflex n.
Your /n/ is the one in なつ natsu (summer).
the move: fricative → lateral
Hindi: red · written "l", "ल"
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
the move: close-mid → mid, front → central
Hindi: yesterday/tomorrow · written "a", "अ"
The default vowel, built into every consonant letter unless something removes it.
Your /e/ is the one in えき eki (station).
the move: velar → retroflex, aspirated
Hindi: cold · written "ṭh", "ठ"
Your /k/ is the one in かさ kasa (umbrella).
the move: velar → retroflex
Hindi: drum · written "ḍh", "ढ"
Your /ɡ/ is the one in ごはん gohan (rice, meal).
Words you may say identically
Two or more Hindi sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
- k = kʰ = ʈ = ʈʰ → your k vs vs vs train this pair →
- ɡ = ɡʱ = ɖ = ɖʱ → your ɡ vs vs vs
- t = tʰ → your t vs
- d = dʱ → your d vs
- p = pʰ → your p vs
- b = bʱ → your b vs
- t͡ʃ = t͡ʃʰ → your t͡ɕ vs
- d͡ʒ = d͡ʒʱ → your d͡ʑ vs
- n = ɳ → your n vs
- s = ʃ → your s vs train this pair →
- aː = ɛː → your aː vs
- oː = ɔː → your oː vs
Genuinely new
Nothing in Japanese sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
tree
The tongue flicks forward off the roof of the mouth. A single quick beat.
Closest thing you own: — but affricate → flap, alveolo-palatal → retroflex.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Japanese | Hindi | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Mora-timed | Syllable-timed, with deletion |
| Stress | No stress in the English sense — syllables are not louder or longer, so a Japanese speaker reading English tends to flatten it, and an English speaker reading Japanese tends to hammer syllables that should be even. | Not contrastive and not written. Stress falls on the heaviest syllable — a long vowel or a closed syllable outweighs a short open one — and where several are equal it goes to the last of them. No two Hindi words are told apart by stress alone, which makes it the least stressful stress system here. |
What you have that Hindi doesn't
16 sounds with no job in Hindi. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your Japanese has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned Hindi from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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