Learn perfect pronunciation of Chinese vowels
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Chinese Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn all Chinese vowels and their variant vowel sounds. |
| a, e, i, o, u |
| With these sounds, you can pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in Chinese! |
| Some vowels may be hard for you to distinguish, especially for English speakers, so make sure you listen carefully! |
| Remember that memorizing and reproducing the sound is the goal. Don't get too frustrated if you forget when to use the variant sounds, that'll come naturally later. |
| Are you ready? |
| Then let's get started! |
| The first vowel is... |
| a |
| 他 tā "he/him" |
| 大 dà "big" |
| 茶 chá "tea" |
| This is almost identical to the A sound in the word 'father', except the tongue is in more of a neutral position. |
| When you say the word 'father', do you feel a small pressure at the back of your mouth? The idea is to relieve that pressure, keeping everything in the same position, just move your tongue forward a bit. |
| You can kind of get a feel for this if you overexaggerate the 'ah' in father by opening your mouth as wide as possible. When you move your tongue forward, you will relieve that pressure and it should sound a little whinier as a result. |
| Study how Yinru pronounces this sound. |
| ä, ä (slowly) |
| ä, ä (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the A changes... |
| 少 shǎo "little" |
| 糖 táng "candy" |
| It becomes identical to the A sound in the word 'father'. |
| ɑ, ɑ (slowly) |
| ɑ, ɑ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the A changes... |
| 咸 xián "salty" |
| 短 duǎn "short" |
| It becomes identical to the E sound in the word 'red'. |
| ɛ, ɛ (slowly) |
| ɛ, ɛ (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| e |
| 人 rén |
| 热 rè "hot" |
| 渴 kě "thirsty" |
| It's identical to the E sound at the end of the word 'problem'. |
| ǝ, ǝ (slowly) |
| ǝ, ǝ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the E changes... |
| 累 lèi "tired" |
| It becomes similar to the A sound in the word 'play', however, try not to carry over the Y sound too much. Try to relax your jaw, and say it as if your allowing the vowel to spill out from your mouth. Listen to how Yinru pronounces this vowel. |
| e, e (slowly) |
| e, e (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the E changes... |
| 切 qiē "to cut" |
| When paired like this, it becomes the E sound in 'red' from before. |
| 月 yuè "moon" |
| This is identical to the previous sound but with rounded lips. |
| Try saying the E in 'red' while rounding your lips. |
| (pause) |
| Now listen to how Yinru says it. |
| œ, œ (slowly) |
| œ, œ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the E changes... |
| 扔 rēng "to throw" |
| It's similiar to the O sound in the word 'boring' but with unrounded lips. |
| You'll find that when you start unrounding your lips, it'll start to change to more of a U sound. Try it! |
| (pause) |
| Now listen to how Yinru pronounces it. |
| ɤ, ɤ (slowly) |
| ɤ, ɤ (slowly) |
| The next vowel is... |
| i |
| 北京 běijīng |
| When paired with the following, the I changes... |
| 衣服 yīfu "clothes" |
| 秘密 mìmi "secret" |
| It's identical to the double E sound in the word 'see'. |
| i, i (slowly) |
| i, i (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the I changes... |
| 日 rì (day) |
| 知识 zhīshi "knowledge" |
| 紫色 zǐsè "purple" |
| This is similar to the previous sound. It's kind of like the double E sound in the word 'see', except your tongue is a little bit further back in the mouth, in a more centralized position. |
| One trick to pronouncing this vowel, is to say the word 'ye', as in 'O ye of little faith'. The Y sound should raise your tongue to the correct position in the mouth. Try it! |
| (pause) |
| Now listen to how Yinru pronounces this vowel. |
| ɨ, ɨ (slowly) |
| ɨ, ɨ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the I changes... |
| 爱 ài "love" |
| 飞 fēi "to fly" |
| It's identical to the short I sound in the word 'bit'. |
| The next vowel is... |
| o |
| 我 wǒ |
| 菠菜 bōcài "spinach" |
| 魔术 móshù "magic" |
| It's identical to the OU sound in the word 'ought'. |
| ɔ, ɔ (slowly) |
| ɔ, ɔ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the O changes... |
| 红 Hóng |
| 空 kōng "empty" |
| 中国 Zhōngguó "China" |
| It's identical to the double O sound in the word 'hook'. |
| ʊ, ʊ (slowly) |
| ʊ, ʊ (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the O changes... |
| 手 shǒu "hand" |
| 欧洲 Oūzhōu "Europe" |
| 肉 ròu "meat" |
| The O becomes a little bit like the O sound in the word 'owe'. However, try not to carry over the W sound *too* much. |
| o, o (slowly) |
| o, o (slowly) |
| And the last vowel is... |
| u |
| 哭 kū |
| 书 shū "book" |
| 父亲 fùqin "father" |
| It's similar to the double O sound in the word 'boot'. However, you want to slightly pout your lips more and exaggerate the rounding. |
| Listen to how Yinru pronounces this vowel. |
| u, u (slowly) |
| u, u (slowly) |
| When paired with the following, the U changes... |
| 绿 lǜ (green) |
| 玉 yù "jade" |
| 去 qù "to go to" |
| This is like the double E sound in 'see' but with rounded lips. |
| Try saying the double E in 'see' while rounding your lips. |
| (pause) |
| Now listen to how Yinru pronounces this vowel. |
| y, y (slowly) |
| y, y (slowly) |
| Well done! You've just learned all vowels and their variant sounds in Chinese. |
| With these sounds, you can properly pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in the Chinese language! Isn't that great? |
| Well that's all for vowels. |
| In the next lesson, you'll start learning consonant sounds. |
| Which vowel sound was the most difficult for you to learn? Please comment and share your thoughts. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Chinese Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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