Help with Chinese to English Pronunciation?

7 Comments

1. majulahsingapura says:

   September 17, 2009 at 9:14 am

   gern (like germ but shorter and ending with ‘n’)

   zi is hard..open your mouth in a kinda smile and touch your tongue to the room of your mouth, and fold it down at the same time as breathing out hard… email me if you just want a recording of me saying it. I speak both Chinese and English fluently.
2. Metropolitan says:

   September 17, 2009 at 9:14 am

   It is very hard to get an answer for that over the internet.

   When I was in Chinese School, we had to sit for hours and be tutored on the correct pronunciations. You have to watch your teacher’s mouth, how she forms her mouth, to know how to pronounce this right.

   It has to do with the amount of force (air) that comes out of your mouth with every pronunciation, the way you form your lips, the intonation, everything. It’s impossible to get the right pronunciation over the internet on yahoo.
3. pizazz123 says:

   September 17, 2009 at 9:14 am

   I’m not 100% on this, but I think it’s like how you’d say Fabrege egg, that zhhh sound
4. Elena S says:

   September 17, 2009 at 9:14 am

   Zhen as Jen in Jennifer

   Zi as Zee but instead of ee you must make a hard sound, in doesn’t exist in English so it’s impossible to give the analogy for this vowel…

   roughly i can explain "hard" and "soft" using such example…
   two English words..
   "meet" and "met"…
   so this Zi is something like "met", kinda Ze…
   but still it’s not the sound itself…
   however the closest possible in English…
5. jeenyus1986 says:

   September 17, 2009 at 9:14 am

   Zhen would be said sort of like "cheeong"

   zi "tdzi"

   Hope that makes sense
6. sHiSuZu says:

   September 17, 2009 at 9:14 am

   zhen:>:+
   zh like the "j" in "joke or jam".Roll your tongue back in the roof of your mouth. The tip of your tongue should stay pressing up towards your hard palate. Squeeze the air out over your tongue. For en, Make a sound as if you have seen something really disgusting: “ergh” and keep saying the "ergh" sound, then touch front of your hard palate with the tip of your tongue. English equivalent pronunciation is "jehn".

   zi:>:+
   Say z like ds and then keep the mouth shape unchanged when saying i.
   When you say z you should feel a buzz behind your upper front teeth.

   ^_^
7. sara says:

   September 17, 2009 at 9:14 am

   i think zhen means needle….also osilate….zi can be use 4 self …it can also means truth ….like zhen de….thanks …sara