| Welcome to Fun &Easy Chinese by ChineseClass101.com! |
| 嗨大家好，我是李殷如. (Hài dà jiā hǎo, wǒ shì Lǐ Yīnrú.) |
| Hi everyone, Yinru Li here. |
| Do you find Chinese pronunciation difficult? |
| Chinese pronunciation is known to be challenging, especially with the sounds and intonation that don't exist in other languages. |
| In this lesson, we'll take a closer look at some of the hard-to-pronounce sounds in Chinese pronunciation. |
| The romanization of Chinese writing system is called 拼音 (pīnyīn) “Pinyin.” And most Pinyin syllables are made up of an initial, a final, and a tone. |
| And most of the sounds in the syllables are the same or close to the ones in English, but there are a few differences that are often mispronounced by non-native speakers. Don't worry, after this lesson, you should know all the correct and accurate pronunciation of these sounds. |
| First, let's take a look at some of the tricky initials, which are consonants that appear at the beginning of a syllable. |
| To make sure you can hear the sounds well, I will add a vowel sound to the initials and use the first tone in the examples. This is also how Chinese kids learn Pinyin at school, by adding a vowel sound to the initials. |
| First is the Pinyin pronunciation for the letter C. Letter C in Pinyin is pronounced as /ci/, close to the “ts" sound in English, /ci/, /ci/. |
| For example, the word for "grass" in Pinyin is spelled as 草(cǎo). |
| 草 (cǎo) (enunciated) |
| 草 (cǎo) “grass” |
| 草 (cǎo) |
| And both syllables in this word have the initial "c." |
| 从此 (cóngcǐ) (enunciated) |
| 从此 (cóngcǐ) means "from now on." |
| 从此 (enunciated). |
| The next initial letter is "q." "Q" in Pinyin is pronounced as /qi/, /qi/, close to the "ch" sound in English but flatter. |
| So when you make the /qi/ sound in Pinyin, smile big and lay your tongue flat. So, you can try to make the "ch" sound first, but then smile and lay your tongue flat. |
| /Qi/ |
| /Qi/ |
| For example, the word for "money," I’m not taking out money, but the word for “money” is spelled as (qián) with the initial “q.” |
| 钱 (qián) (enunciated) |
| 钱 (qián) |
| Also, this word for “balloon,” 气球 (qìqiú), both begin with the letter or with the initial "q." |
| 气球 (qìqiú) “balloon” |
| 气球 (qìqiú) (enunciated) |
| The next difficult initial is represented by the letter “x.” |
| Letter "x" in Pinyin is pronounced as /xi/, /xi/, close to the "sh" sound in English., but also flatter. |
| So, just as you make the "q" sound by smiling big and laying your tongue flat, do the same for "sh." So, first, make the "sh" sound, then smile and lay flat, lay your tongue flat. |
| /Xi/ |
| /Xi/ |
| For example, the word for "small" in Chinese is 小 (xiǎo). |
| 小 (xiǎo) |
| 小 (xiǎo) (enunciated) |
| 小 (xiǎo) |
| Another common word that start with the initial "x" is 谢谢 (xièxie) "thank you." |
| 谢谢 (xièxie) (enunciated) |
| So, remember to smile big when you say "thank you." You will sound perfect. |
| Next is an initial combined with two consonant letters, "z" and "h." |
| “Z” and “h” together in Pinyin is pronounced as /zhi/, close to the "j" sound in English, as in "jeep," but this time, you have to raise your tongue higher to reach the back your gum and in the meantime, your mouth has to be in a rounded shape. |
| So, “zh, zh.” |
| For example, the word for "middle" in Chinese is 中 (zhōng), with the initial “zh,” 中 (zhōng). |
| 中 (zhōng) (enunciated) |
| And both syllables in this word, which is for “spider” is 蜘蛛 (zhīzhū). They both start with "zh." |
| 蜘蛛 (zhīzhū) “spider” |
| 蜘蛛 (zhīzhū) (enunciated) |
| Moving on to the finals, which are vowels. Since they appear at the final part of a syllable, they're called "finals." |
| There are six single vowels or single finals in Pinyin: a o e i u ü. |
| You may be familiar with the first five, a, o, e, i, u, but not ü. |
| So, to make the /ü/ sound, your lips have to be rounded and tightened, as tight and rounded as you can, like a fish. |
| /ü/ |
| /ü/ |
| Actually, the word for fish has this initial, wait, upside down, 鱼 (yú). |
| 鱼 (yú) (enunciated) |
| 鱼 (yú) |
| But note, when ü follows the initial y, the two dots on ü have to be taken away. So the Pinyin for |
| ü is 鱼 (yú). |
| So this rule or this change applies not only to y, but three more initials. They are j, q, x and ü. So, these four initials, when they are followed by ü, in Pinyin, they would be spelled as 鱼 (yú), instead of (yü). |
| So, you can memorize it as the mischievous four; j, q, x, y, the mischievous four, covering the eyes of ü and telling him he’s the same as the four, so j, q, x, y + ü, it’s spelled as j, q, x, y + ü. |
| The next vowel, which a lot of non-native speakers have trouble pronouncing is the /e/ sound represented by the letter “e.” |
| To pronounce the /e/ sound properly, you have to lay your tongue completely flat and try to smile with your mouth slightly open, /e/, /e/. |
| And the word for "hungry" in Chinese is 饿 (è). |
| 饿 (è) |
| This is one of the very few syllables in Pinyin that don't come with an initial, but only a vowel. |
| 饿 (è) (enunciated). |
| The final sound /i/ in Pinyin, represented by the letter "i" seems easy to pronounce, but the pronunciation changes a little bit when it’s followed by different initials. |
| In most cases, “i" is pronounced as the "ee" sound in English, /ee/. |
| As in 笔 (bǐ) for "pen". |
| 笔 (bǐ) just like “bee.” |
| 笔 (bǐ) |
| But when "i" follows z, c, s, r, zh, ch, sh, these seven initials, the stretched-out and tense “i” becomes more relaxed "i," the /i/ sound. |
| So, these seven initials, one more time, z, c, s, r, zh, ch, sh, we can call them the relaxing seven. The relaxing seven: z, c, s, r, zh, ch, sh, making the tight muscles of “i” all loosened. |
| For example, the word for “to eat” in Chinese is 吃 (chī), instead of "chee" like “bee,” no. But it’s 吃 (chī), 吃 (chī) more relaxed. All right. |
| And the word for “word” in Chinese is 字 (zì), 字 (zì), instead of "zee," but 字 (zì). |
| Also, the word for “sun” or “day” is 日 (rì), not “ree,” 日 (rì). |
| 日 (rì) |
| Okay, so one more time. The seven initials are z, c, s, r, zh, ch, sh making the stretched-out "i" more relaxed. |
| Combination finals are combinations of two or three vowels, sometimes plus the nasal sound "n" or "ng". |
| Here are some of the most mispronounced final sounds, combination finals in Chinese Pinyin. |
| For example, "ang". |
| "Ang" in Pinyin is pronounced as /ung/ like the “ung” in English, /ung/. |
| So the city for Shanghai is actually, in Mandarin, pronounced as, 上海 (Shànghǎi). |
| 上海 (Shànghǎi) (enunciated) |
| Next one is "uang." To pronounce "uang," first, say the /u/ sound and then, the "ang" sound in PInyin, so /u-ang/. |
| /u-ang/ (enunciated) |
| /u-ang/ |
| As in another foreigner-friendly city, 广州 (Guǎngzhōu). |
| 广州 (Guǎngzhōu) (enunciated) |
| “Ou” together, this combination vowel is pronounced as /oh/. /Oh/ as in 肉 (ròu) "meat." |
| 肉 (ròu) |
| And “iu,” as in the Chinese family name "Liu," it’s pronounced as /l-ee-u/. |
| 刘 Liú (enunciated) |
| 刘 Liú |
| “L-ee-u” not "lu,” but “L-ee-u.” |
| And “un” in Pinyin together is not like the "un" in the English, as in "fun" and "sun," but in Pinyin, it’s more like "uen," “uen,” as in the word for “sleepy,” 困 (kùn). |
| 困 (kùn) “sleepy” |
| 困 (kùn) (enunciated) |
| And “uan” together is a combination of “ooh-ah-n,” so to piece these three sounds together, “uan,” “uan” as in the Chinese word for “sour,” it’s 酸 (suān). |
| 酸 (suān) (enunciated) |
| Now, let’s recap the tricky sounds in Pinyin with a little bit of practice. Try to read the following Pinyin by yourselves, then, I'll show you the correct pronunciation. |
| The first word is pronounced as 日子 (rìzi). |
| 日子 (rìzi) (enunciated) |
| First syllable, (rì) |
| Second syllable, (zi) |
| Because the "i" here is following the initial “r” and “z,” which are both one of the relaxing seven, remember? So the stretched-out “i” gets more relaxed, “i” so 日子 (rìzi). |
| 日子 (rìzi) means "days of one’s life." |
| All right. |
| The second, the second word is pronounced as 取钱 (qǔqián). |
| 取钱 (qǔqián) (enunciated) |
| First syllable, 取 (qǔ) with the final being “ü,” but because it’s following "q", which is one of the mischievous four covering the eyes of the “ü” and telling him he’s the same as before, remember? So the two dots on “ü” are taken away, but the pronunciation stays the same, 取 (qǔ). |
| And the second syllable is 钱 (qián). |
| 取钱 (qǔqián) means "to withdraw money," usually from the ATM. |
| 取钱 (qǔqián). |
| Now, the third word is pronounced as 香港 (Xiānggǎng) |
| 香港 (Xiānggǎng) |
| Remember the correct pronunciation for the letter "x,” /xi/, and the combination "ang" is /ung/, so together, it’s 香港 (Xiānggǎng). |
| 香港 (Xiānggǎng) is the Mandarin pronunciation for the city “Hong Kong.” |
| 香港 (Xiānggǎng) |
| In this lesson, we covered some difficult sounds in Pinyin. In the next lesson, we'll look at tones in Chinese pronunciation. Stay tuned. I’ll see you then! 再见！ (Zàijiàn!) |
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