Take the tour ×  In my audio learning, I hear the beginning
consonant sound of the same word spoken by two different
speakers to be as a "w", as in "wari", or to be an "m", as in
"mari". While it seems clear that the Japanese have a different
sense of this sound, it proves a little difficult to distinguish
which pronunciation one is supposed to be hearing in the first
place. What simple rule can I apply to sort out this sound when
I hear it?  share|improve this question As a native speaker, it
is difficult for me to understand how a learner of Japanese
hears sounds in Japanese. But answering the question in the
title, I do not think that infliction ever changes a consonant
between /m/ and /w/ in Japanese. In addition, I do not think
that inflection changes the consonant at the beginning of a word
in Japanese. –  Tsuyoshi Ito Jul 21 '12 at 3:13 Hi Michael, this
question could benefit from a little more context. What are the
words in question? If possible, the full sentences, even... – 
Dave Jul 21 '12 at 3:15