Studeerkamer

Getting the sounds right

Some people are better in mimicking sounds than others, students who are musically inclined faces less problems. To reproduce sounds that you are not used to takes quite a bit of physical training. Practice makes perfect. Inmitate a sound like you would a song, you need to sing along. Pay attention not just to the correct sound and the right tone(pitch), but also the volume (stress) and the length of each sound that makes up a syllable. Over-stressing a sound in a syllable that requires no emphasis will result in bad pronunciation, though you do not actually have problem producing the sound. This may explain why sometimes the harder you try, the stranger you sound.

Initial differentiations

To the untrained ears, many initials sound exactly the same. You cannot reproduce with accuracy and consistency what you don't hear. Sometimes you pronounce it right, sometimes you pronounce it wrong, but you have no clue why. The first step to good pronunciation is to try to differentiate these very similar sounds through comparison.

Listen carefully to each pair of sound for the difference. Each pair is pronounced twice. Since initials cannot be pronounced alone, they are combined with randomly selected finals here.

1. Puffing of air - Aspirated Initials P, T, K

The following 3 pairs are pronounced similarly, the first is non-aspirated and the second aspirated. Aspiration means there is a puff of air bursting out as it is pronounced. If you were to put a sheet of paper in front of your mouth as you speak, the sudden burst of air will blow it away.

Here is how aspirated initials P, T and K sound like on their own without combining with a final. Try repeating.

Now listen to some actual syllables. (All other combinations can be found in the pinyin table)

b - p	d - t	g - k
bi - pi bu - pu	di - ti du - tu	ge - ke gu - ku

This sound graph further demonstrate the puff of air when ti is pronounced.

Listen and compare with the graph di - ti

2. Amount of friction - c, ch, q

The following 3 pairs are pronounced similarly, the second in each pair is pronounced with a lot more friction when compared with the first.

z - c	zh - ch	j - q
zi - ci zu - cu	zhi - chi zhu - chu	ji - qi ju -qu

This sound graph shows the friction created when pronouncing qi.

Listen and compare with the graph ji - qi

3. The i finals in zi, ci, si and zhi, chi, zhi, ri

There are 3 i finals which are pronounced differently but all spelled simply as i.

First listen to the pronunciation of the 3 i 's. i, 2nd i, 3rd i

The i in ji, qi, xi, and all other combinations.
The i in zi, ci, si.
The i in zhi, chi, shi, ri.

The i finals in zi, ci, si and zhi, chi, zhi, ri only occur in these combinations, it is often not taught separately. Learning the 3 i finals separately could often improve the pronunciation of these syllables.

4. x and s

Learn the pinyin and the pronunciation of the following syllables well.

xia