"ん"? I am so confused by this character. Help?

[Stramonium]

I'm still learning my Kana, and I'm downright confused and am looking for a bit of help.
The character んin Hiragana or ン in Katakana(I guess).

What the hell are it's rules and sounds please?

Wikipedia tells me this;
* [ŋ] (before /k/, /ɡ/ or /m/)
* [m] (before /b/ or /p/)
* [n] (before /d/, /n/, or /t/)
* [ũ] (between /a/ and /o/ or before /s/)
* [ĩ] (between /i/ and /o/)
* [ɴ] (at the end of an utterance)


While my text book says something completely different.

* [ng] (before k, ɡ, or ng, or at the end of a word)
* [m] (before m, n, b, or p)
* [n] (before d, s, z, or t)



Help me please? =/


By the way, I'm self-teaching, so I'm REALLY confused. confused

 

[Daereth]

ん is basically pronounced "n" as when you say the name "Ben." The reason there's so many ways to pronounce it is because when another sound follows it, as part of that word, the "n" sound changes slightly to match the movement of the mouth with the next sound to be made. When you try and say "nankai" the second n should be pronounced with your mouth in the same position it makes to pronounce the k in kai. For "senpai" the word is pronounced "sempai" because to imitate the mouth movement for p, your mouth has to be shut, which changes n to m.  

[Tanu-chan]

Just say ん　Like　"n" or "nn" which also sounds like "m"...
Sorry I'm not so detailed, I just learned it as a simple letter in kindergarden :-p  

[S-Ranker]

Try pronouncing 'Jump' with an 'n' instead of an 'm' ...

Yes, in this state they're identical and can be clumped together as one letter as such...

or should I say 'clunped'.

*rimshot*  

[S-Ranker]

Wow... just wow, live proof that it's a universal problem and not just with you.