Why do "-n" endings sound like "ng" sometimes in Mandarin?

Question

I have been listening to many native speakers and it seems that in certain contexts, the "n" and "ng" final consonant sound are pronounced very similarish that I can't distinguish them clearly.

For example, when native speakers say 南 nan versus 囊 nang, I can clearly hear they are saying "-n" in nan rather than nang.

But when they say 林 lin, it sounds very similar to 零ling to the extent that I can't differentiate it. The 林 sounds a lot more like ling. I even tried it on google translate pronunciations and it also sounds like ling.

Am I mishearing it or is it meant to actually be pronounced the same?

Answer 1

I think a person of English background should have no problem telling "n" and "ng" in both English and Chinese because they are very similar in both languages. For example, in English, you say "I am in the room doing my homework". A native Chinese student may denote it as "爱 诶母 因 责 入母 杜英 迈 侯母卧课". You can see "因(in)为" is different from "英(ing)雄". Pinyin overlooked the core vowel, otherwise, 因 is (ien) and 英 is (ieng). They have the same rimes as 分 (fen) and 风 (feng).

Chinese do not treat (an) and (ang) as the same rhyme (rime), neither (en) and (eng).

Answer 2

身为中文母语人士，要是单独的将“林”和“零”进行区分，那么在发音上则更难一点，但是我们通常可以借助语境来理解。比如我们听到“树林”时就会知道这并非“树零”。同样的，在区分“南”与“囊”时也可以借助语境。我再来举一个例子：请问你是如何区分"no" & "know"的呢？我们很难单独区分这两个词语，但是可以借助语境。 As native Chinese speakers, it is a little more difficult to distinguish between "林" and "零" in pronunciation, but we can usually understand it with the help of context. For example, when we hear "树林," we know it's not "树零". Similarly, context can be used to distinguish between "南" and "囊". Let me give you another example: How do you distinguish between "no" and "know"? It's hard to distinguish between these two words alone, but context helps.

Answer 3

Because many Chinese can't really differentiate it. In Chinese primary school, differentiating "in" and "ing", "en" and "eng" are always a difficulty in exam, regardless of region.