Comments on: Mandarin Chinese pronunciation (pinyin)? http://www.chineselanguagenow.com/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-pinyin.php Learn to speak Chinese today Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:48:11 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: wyoscot http://www.chineselanguagenow.com/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-pinyin.php/comment-page-1#comment-1075 wyoscot Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:13:01 +0000 http://www.chineselanguagenow.com/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-pinyin.php#comment-1075 1. "i" is usually "ee". Chi, zhi and shi are the exceptions. 2. "yeh" 3. Not a huge difference. 4. Beijing's is most likely to be understood by the most people. Many of the national radio and TV shows use that pronunciation. 5. "ung" Now for the bad news, you'll hear all the differences you mentioned...and many more, when you listen to speakers from different parts of the country. The same is true if you listen to speakers from different parts of the US (not to mention the UK) speaking English. Listen enough and you'll be able to understand speakers from many (most???) of the regions but some will be more difficult than others. Some you'll be able to understand by the context of what is being said. Not an easy task, but one I'm sure you can handle. 1. "i" is usually "ee". Chi, zhi and shi are the exceptions.
2. "yeh"
3. Not a huge difference.
4. Beijing’s is most likely to be understood by the most people. Many of the national radio and TV shows use that pronunciation.
5. "ung"

Now for the bad news, you’ll hear all the differences you mentioned…and many more, when you listen to speakers from different parts of the country. The same is true if you listen to speakers from different parts of the US (not to mention the UK) speaking English. Listen enough and you’ll be able to understand speakers from many (most???) of the regions but some will be more difficult than others. Some you’ll be able to understand by the context of what is being said. Not an easy task, but one I’m sure you can handle.

]]> By: bryan_q http://www.chineselanguagenow.com/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-pinyin.php/comment-page-1#comment-1076 bryan_q Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:13:01 +0000 http://www.chineselanguagenow.com/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-pinyin.php#comment-1076 1. No Chinese person will use that guide: It's too ambiguous. All I do is ask the person if they know how to write the character, and tell them from there. 2. It's "eh", except after c, ch, d, g, h, ji, k, l, m, r, sh, t, z, & zh sounds, where it's the "uh" sound. The "be" & "pe", & "we" sounds don't exist in Chinese. In "Beijing", the first syllable is "bei", not "be". 3. It does make a major difference, especially in Mandarin. 4. That's hard to say. It depends on the accent you're accustomed to or you'd have to listen carefully to the speaker. 5. Well, "eng" mostly sounds like "ung" of the word "hung" in English, except when it's f, or w sounds as in "feng" or "weng", where it's "ong", the sound is a little bit longer than saying "long", the Chinese word for "dragon". 1. No Chinese person will use that guide: It’s too ambiguous. All I do is ask the person if they know how to write the character, and tell them from there.

2. It’s "eh", except after c, ch, d, g, h, ji, k, l, m, r, sh, t, z, & zh sounds, where it’s the "uh" sound. The "be" & "pe", & "we" sounds don’t exist in Chinese. In "Beijing", the first syllable is "bei", not "be".

3. It does make a major difference, especially in Mandarin.

4. That’s hard to say. It depends on the accent you’re accustomed to or you’d have to listen carefully to the speaker.

5. Well, "eng" mostly sounds like "ung" of the word "hung" in English, except when it’s f, or w sounds as in "feng" or "weng", where it’s "ong", the sound is a little bit longer than saying "long", the Chinese word for "dragon".

]]> By: hongjing_liu http://www.chineselanguagenow.com/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-pinyin.php/comment-page-1#comment-1077 hongjing_liu Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:13:01 +0000 http://www.chineselanguagenow.com/mandarin-chinese-pronunciation-pinyin.php#comment-1077 When "i" is pronounce after these letter-b, p, zh, m, ch, sh, d, q, r, t, x, y, n, z, l, it should be pronounced "uh" or "ee" or "er." (this doesn’t really answer the question…is there a way of knowing how to differentiate the different pronounciations?) Answer from Jennifer Zhu, Professional Chinese Teacher from eChineseLearning Live Teachers from China! http://www.echineselearning.com/free-trial/index.html?ecl=ptEEEEEEya103012 When "i" is pronounce after these letter-b, p, zh, m, ch, sh, d, q, r, t, x, y, n, z, l, it should be pronounced "uh" or "ee" or "er." (this doesn’t really answer the question…is there a way of knowing how to differentiate the different pronounciations?)

Answer from Jennifer Zhu, Professional Chinese Teacher from eChineseLearning
Live Teachers from China!
http://www.echineselearning.com/free-trial/index.html?ecl=ptEEEEEEya103012

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