What is the pronunciation of "が,ぎ,ぐ,げ,ご" when they're not coming first of a word?
My text book says there is a rule of the pronunciation of が,ぎ,ぐ,げ,ご which is that when they come first of a word, they're pronouced as "ga, gi, gu, ge, go" but when not, the "g" part pronunciation change into "n" in "going"(the / η /), they would be pronounced as "ηa, ηi, ηu, ηe, ηo".

Like 学生 is pronounced "gakusei" because が comes first of the word, whereas はがき is pronounced as "haηaki" not "hagaki" , かぎ is as "kaηi" not "kagi", 仕事 is as "shiηoto" not "shigoto" because in these case the が,ぎ,ご are not coming first of these words.

However, that's written in my text book. The thing is, I still hear many Japanese people just pronounce はがき as "hagaki", かぎ as "kagi", 仕事 as "shigoto",not as "haηki", "kaηi", "shiηoto", etc.

So I'm confused which one is the standard pronunciation of が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご when they're not coming first of a word?

Thanks in advance!

Question

What is the pronunciation of "が,ぎ,ぐ,げ,ご" when they're not coming first of a word?
My text book says there is a rule of the pronunciation of が,ぎ,ぐ,げ,ご which is that when they come first of a word, they're pronouced as "ga, gi, gu, ge, go" but when not, the "g" part pronunciation change into "n" in "going"(the / η /), they would be pronounced as "ηa, ηi, ηu, ηe, ηo".

Like 学生 is pronounced "gakusei" because が comes first of the word, whereas  はがき is pronounced as "haηaki" not "hagaki" , かぎ is as "kaηi" not "kagi", 仕事 is as "shiηoto" not "shigoto" because in these case the が,ぎ,ご are not coming first of these words.

However, that's written in my text book. The thing is, I still hear many Japanese people just pronounce はがき as "hagaki", かぎ as "kagi", 仕事 as "shigoto",not as "haηki", "kaηi", "shiηoto", etc.

So I'm confused which one is the standard pronunciation of が、ぎ、ぐ、げ、ご when they're not coming first of a word?

Thanks in advance!

Answer

just how old is the textbook?

traditionally it used to be what you found in it, but the distinction has almost gone.
in terms of sounds like ‘hagaki’, we may pronounce ‘g’, or may "n" in "going"(the / η /), 
it depends on the generation, region and individual…
most of us do not even know they are different sounds. 
some people are trying hard to preserve it like museum exhibits. 

there is an entry about it on wiki and it seems to come in Chinese, too.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BC%BB%E6%BF%81%E9%9F%B3

Answer

hi, both ways of pronunciation make sense.  we don't pay too much attention to the difference between them.

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