Learning Chinese #3

Chinese has pinyin as its pronunciation system that represents hanzi (Chinese characters). Most of the pinyin contains an initial (the consonant that begins the syllable) and a final (the rest of the syllable). For instead, word hǎo (好) is composed of ‘h’ as the initial and ‘ǎo’ as the final. A syllable that has an initial automatically also has a final. On the other side, some words do not have an initial, such as ài (爱, love) and è (饿, hungry).

In learning pinyin, we do not only pay attention in the tone, but also the pronunciation.

b: The initial ‘b’ is pronounced with unaspirated ‘p’, as in ‘lap’. Example: bāo (包, package), it is pronounced /pao/ with a flat tone.

p: The initial ‘p’ has the same way as when we pronounce ‘p’ in word “sport’. There is an aspirated ‘p’. Example: pàng (胖, fat/chubby), it is pronounced /phang/ with a falling tone.

m: The initial ‘m’ is similar to ‘m’ in the English “mango”. There is no change to pronounce this initial. Example: mǎi (买, buy).

f: The initial ‘f’ sounds like ‘f’ in the English ‘famous’. Example: fēn (分, minute).

d: The initial ‘d’ should be pronounced with unaspirated ‘t’. It is similar to the English ‘root’. Example: duō (多, many), it is pronounced /tuo/ with a flat tone.

t: The initial ‘t’ has the same way as when we pronounce ‘t’ in the English ‘top’. There is an aspirated ‘t’. Example: tīng (听, listen), it is pronounced /thing/ with a flat tone.

n: The initial ‘n’ sounds like ‘n’ in the English ‘name’. Example: niú (牛, cow).

l: The initial ‘l’ is pretty similar to ‘n’ in the English ‘name’. Example: lái (来, come).

g: The initial ‘g’ is pronounced with unaspirated ‘k’, as in ‘leak’. Example: gāo (高, tall), it is pronounced /kao/ with a flat tone.

k: The initial ‘k’ has the same way as when we pronounce ‘k’ in word “school’. There is an aspirated ‘k’. Example: kuài (快, fast), it is pronounced /khuai/ with a falling tone.

h: The initial ‘h’ is pronounced like ‘h’ in the English ‘hello’. Example: huì (会, can).

j: The initial ‘j’ is similar to ‘j’ in the English “jump”. Place the tongue below lower teeth to pronounce this initial and widen your lips. Example: jī (鸡, chicken).

q: The initial ‘q’ has a similar way as when we pronounce ‘ch’ in word “lunch’. To pronounce this initial, you have to aspirate and place your tongue below lower teeth. Example: qián(前, ago), it is pronounced /chian/ with a raising tone.

x: The initial ‘x’ should be pronounced like ‘sh’ as in the English ‘sheep’. It is pronounced with tongue below lower teeth and the lips spread wide. Example: xià (下, under), it is pronounced /shia/ with a falling tone.

z: The initial ‘z’ is pronounced like ‘dz’. It is like ‘dz’ in the English ‘kids’. Example: zuò (做, do), it is pronounced /dzuo/ with a falling tone.

c: The initial ‘c’ is similar to ‘ts’ in the English ‘cats’, but strongly aspirated. Example: cài (菜, dish), it is pronounced /tshai/.

s: The initial ‘s’ has the same pronunciation ‘s’ in the English ‘sing’. Example: sì (四, four).

zh: The initial ‘zh’ sounds like ‘j’ as in the English ‘junk’. Example: zhè (这, this), it is pronounced /je/ with a falling tone.

ch: The initial ‘ch’ is similar to ‘ch’ in the English ‘church’. It is pronounced with the tongue curled upwards. Example: chī (吃, eat).

sh: The initial ‘sh’ is pronounced like ‘sh’ in the English ‘shirt’. You have to curl your tongue upwards to pronounce this initial. Example: Shì (是, to be).

r: The initial ‘r’ has the same way as when we pronounce ‘r’ in the English ‘pleasure’. Example: r ì(日, day)

More listening and more practicing will make you perfect in pronouncing Chinese words.

P.S. If you have any feedback, please comment here, and let’s learn together.

Source:

汉语口语速成 (Hànyǔ Kǒuyǔ Sùchéng) - 马箭飞 (Mǎ Jiàn Fēi)

Chinese Pronunciation Guide for Beginners - Meet Mandarin

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