For example, it's very difficult for my ears, which have been accustomed to Mandarin that does not differentiate voiced sounds and unaspirated voiceless sounds, to tell the difference between 「た」 and 「だ」 in those 「頂きます」 in a new CM released by Suntory.

Just feel curious about how different they, as in the CM above (not standing-alone), sound to native speakers of languages (Japanese, English, etc.) that do differentiate the two in principle.

  • 1
    ちょっと「いたらきます」みたいに聞こえるよね・・・特に子供が言うと。実際、早口のときは私も「いたらきます！」「いたーきます！」みたいになってます – Chocolate Oct 8 '15 at 8:12

The people in the video are clearly saying いただきます, not いだだきます or いたたきます. Voiced and unvoiced consonants sound totally differently at least to the ears of native Japanese speakers, and I have never seen a native speaker who has difficulty distinguishing them.

You may find this answer interesting:


As a native speaker of English, I'd like to chime in and state that I too hear a clear distinction between the voiced and unvoiced consonants in the advertisement (and in spoken Japanese in general).

Your Answer

