kana - How to hear the difference between て and で, た and だ, か and が, etc.?

How can I learn to hear the difference between て and で, た and だ, か and が, etc.?

For example, when I people say "わたし", it sounds to me like "wa da shi" instead of "wa ta shi". The same things happens in case of か行 and た行. Sometimes it's really hard to distinguish them.

Answer

Because Chinese doesn't have voiced consonants. In Chinese, voiced /b/d/g/ are just variants of their voiceless counterparts. So you can't hear the difference between voiced sounds and voiceless sounds.

It's hard to explain and learn by text. Instead, I recommend you practice it by listening and imitating.

The site 首都大学東京 mic-J 日本語教育 AV リソース may be helpful. (AV stands for Audio Visual I think.)

This tutorial is specially designed for Chinese speaker who can't hear voiced and voiceless sounds. This is the old version. (5 years old, I think.)

This tutorial contains video explanations and 100+ exercises. Try and see how many you can hear correctly.

For Korean speakers who have the same problems, there is a Korean version, too.

If you don't speak Chinese or Korean, you probably need to learn Chinese or Korean first to be able to use it. )-: Anyway, try out Google Translator.

TIPS: The voiced consonant at the beginning of a sentence is not always fully voiced. There is a big chance it's devoiced. Instead, the voiceless sound at the same position becomes aspirated. In this case, Chinese speakers often have no problems hearing it.