Voila! You’ve got the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for “z”.
Pronounce the /d/ and /s/ sound together in one motion, just as you would for “ds” in “reads”. Tongue placement: Your tongue should be exactly where you would place it to say /d/. In English, /z/ can be pronounced without touching your tongue to the roof of your mouth. This is a different sound than the /z/ sound in “zebra”. The Mandarin Chinese “z” is exactly like the /ds/ sound in “rea ds“. Pronounce /sh/ from this position, and you will achieve the Mandarin Chinese “x” pronunciation. Now place your tongue halfway between these two positions, in the middle of your mouth. Tongue placement: Feel how your tongue curls in the back of your mouth for /sh/ and in the front of your mouth for /s/. Its sound is halfway between English /sh/ and /s/. Mandarin Chinese “x” also has no English equivalent. This will give you the Chinese pronunciation for “r”. With your tongue in this position, try to pronounce the English /r/ sound. Now, keep your tongue curled against the top of your mouth where you placed it for /y/. Your tongue is still curled against the roof of your mouth, but in the very front of your mouth. Notice that your tongue is curled against the roof of your mouth in the very back of your mouth. Its sound sits between the English pronunciation of /r/ and /y/. The sound for “r” doesn’t have any English equivalent. This is the pronunciation of the Mandarin Chinese “q”. You will notice how the sound becomes a very light version of /ch/, almost like the sound of a bird. Now say “choo choo” with your tongue in that position. See how there’s a big space between where your teeth and where your tongue touches the roof of your mouth? Now move your tongue closer to your teeth, as close to your teeth as possible without touching them. Tongue placement: Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth and say “choo choo” like a train. It makes a very light version of the /ch/ sound.īut it isn’t exactly the /ch/ sound though, and there aren’t any parts of an English word that mimic its sound. Sorry! In Mandarin, “q” doesn’t make the /kw/ sound. To pronounce “c”, start by touching the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth to say /t/ and then slightly curling your tongue to pronounce /s/ in the same motion. Same position right? The difference is that the tip of your tongue is touching the roof of your mouth for /t/, but for /s/ your tongue is curled, allowing air to move through. Tongue placement: Touch your tongue to the top of your mouth just behind your top front teeth. In English, we know this letter to represent the /k/ or /s/ sound.īut in Mandarin Chinese, the pronunciation is / ts/, the same as the sound you hear on the end of the word “ha ts”. If you’re looking for a good video course to help you learn, check out Fragrant Mandarin’s pinyin for beginners article! c
Some consonants in Chinese Pinyin, such as C, Q, R, X, and Z, don’t represent the same sound as they do in English. However, there is still some phonology within Mandarin that isn’t represented by any letter of the Latin alphabet. Chinese pronunciation isn’t as difficult as you may think. Fortunately, the Chinese Pinyin (phonetic) system can tell you the pronunciation of a Chinese character using the Latin alphabet. If you’re an English speaker learning Chinese, we have good news for you.
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Chinese Pronunciation – How to Pronounce c, q, r, x, and z