Questions tagged [pronunciation]
Questions regarding the correct consonants, vowels, tone, stress, rhythm and intonation of a word in spoken Chinese
364
questions
2
votes
1answer
37 views
Pronunciation of 什么
什么 (shénme) sounds to my ears more like (shéme).
Assuming I'm hearing correctly, is this just a common contraction of this word, or is the sequence "-n" + "m-" generally contracted ...
0
votes
2answers
44 views
Pronunciation of 对 and 水
对 (duì) sounds to my ears more like /duei/. Similarly with 水 (shuǐ) /ʂuei/. Am I mishearing, or am I misunderstanding how Pinyin is supposed to be pronounced? Or is this a dialectal variant?
0
votes
1answer
71 views
Is it true that the tones of some of the most common words are glossed over in regular speech/turn into neutral tone?
Examples include:
是、去、在、要、就、但、没有、如果
Not sure how to back up this question, except to mention that I've received feedback from natives that I tend to overdo these words' pronunciations (especially 是）. ...
1
vote
1answer
68 views
Is 栖 pronounced xi or qi as in 两栖？
I checked several dictionaries it's [liǎng qī].
But it's pronounced xi in this video.
3
votes
2answers
168 views
What is the proper pronunciation of 等等？
Is 等等 pronounced:
deng2deng0 (2nd tone and neutral) like 老子、孔子
OR
deng3 deng0 (3rd tone and neutral) like 椅子、法子
0
votes
0answers
113 views
吸 read ji or jie?
I know in some dialects of Southwestern Mandarin 吸 is read ji or jie. This is most likely due to the fact that 吸 is made up of 口 + 及 and 及 is read ji or jie in these same topolects.
Does this ...
1
vote
1answer
86 views
Do you pronounce 敢吗？and 干嘛? the same?
敢吗？= Dare you?
干嘛? = What's up? What are you doing?
Do you pronounce them both the same and depending on the context, people can understand what you mean?
or
Do you pronounce them both a little bit ...
2
votes
1answer
111 views
Why is there a 零 after 块 when you pronounce 1000.20元? It's 一千块零二毛， but why?
Recently I came across a lesson in a textbook that was about money, numerals, and quantities in general. There was a puzzling entry claiming that 1000.20元 should be pronounced as 一千块零二毛。 Honestly, I ...
3
votes
1answer
126 views
Other than 秘密，are there two-syllable words in Chinese where each syllable is a different character with the same pronunciation?
秘密 is a curious word because both characters are pronounced mì yet they are different from each other. Given that there are so many homophonous characters in Chinese, I'm curious if there's any other ...
1
vote
1answer
76 views
Why is 灸 pronounced jiu1?
The pinyin of 灸 as in 针灸 (acupuncture) or 艾灸 (moxibustion) is clearly given as jiu3, as shown in, among others, MDGB and Zdic.
The single character doesn't even have alternate pronunciations, only ...
5
votes
7answers
208 views
Pronunciation of word-initial glides (pinyin 'y' and 'w')
As a non-native speaker, I read pinyin and want to pronounce 'yi' as /ji:/
and 'wu' as /wu:/.
But sometimes I think I hear just /i:/ and /u:/.
Is that really the case or am I just (not) hearing ...
0
votes
2answers
120 views
Can someone explain 搜噶斯耐 in internet speak?
I was chatting with a Chinese friend of mine whose english is a bit broken (not as nearly as much as my Mandarin is) & she wrote
搜噶斯耐
Which apparently means something like 'so that's it' in ...
1
vote
2answers
103 views
What is the 'correct' way to pronunce 人?
I've heard some people pronunce it zhen and some pronunced it ren (spoken like "you had a hot potato in your mouth") and because of this I am very confused what is the correct pronunciation.
1
vote
1answer
267 views
How to pronunce “ji” (chicken)?
How to pronunce "ji" (chicken) ?
is is like english sound "ti" or like "dj"i ?
2
votes
1answer
111 views
How to pronunce “eng”
How to pronunce chinese "eng" ?
Is the "en" part of chinese "eng" like the english word "end" or is it like the english part "un" in "trunk" ...
3
votes
1answer
93 views
What tone for retroflex r?
The retroflex r is not the consonant r in a word (pinyin) like in 人 rén.
The retroflex is added as a suffix in the Beijing area, or as a diminutive suffix.
Would it be pronounced with the second tone,...
2
votes
1answer
32 views
Dictating Chinese text on Windows
Is there any program for Microsoft Windows for dictating Chinese text, that is more accurate than the built-in Microsoft Speech Recognition?
I am aware that there exist some online solution, such as ...
1
vote
1answer
137 views
The Taiwanese accent: are pairs “种，总”, “四，是”, “忘，万” pronounced EXACTLY the same?
My European impression is that pairs zh-z, sh-s, ch-c etc., but also ng-n are pronounced in a VERY similar way in the Taiwanese accent. However, I'm not sure if they're EXACTLY the same. Is the ...
2
votes
1answer
47 views
佢 read “jì” from Hakka?
Looking through the book 四川德阳方言语音演化与接触研究, I came across the following chart excerpt:
表1-6 四川境内非西南官话方言岛与湖广方言特征词对比
In some locales 他 is documented as being read: 佢, tɕi⁵¹ -or- jì, if you prefer.
...
4
votes
2answers
230 views
Is pinyin an accurate pronunciation guide?
Pinyin seems to be an EXACT pronunciation guide to Chinese words, but is it exact? I am not a Chinese speaker so don't know for sure. I would like to take the Pinyin transcription of Chinese words and ...
1
vote
5answers
148 views
How do you read “11%” aloud when it refers to percentage points?
I sometimes read newspapers aloud to practice pronunciation, but encounter the issue of percentage points, e.g. 20% and 31% differ by "11 percentage points" (or just "11 points" ...
2
votes
1answer
62 views
Why is 系 pronounced xì (not jì) in the idiom 解铃还须系铃人?
With regards to the idiom:
解铃还须系铃人
jiě líng hái xū xì líng rén
CC-CEDICT: lit. whoever hung the bell on the tiger's neck must untie it (idiom) / fig. whoever started the trouble should end it
I'm ...
0
votes
1answer
36 views
Synonym of 这么 with pronunciation zen4me
In the dialogs of the FSI course, there are quite a few places where zen4me (with a falling tone) is used in the sense of zhe4me (这么).
For example: Nǐ zěnme zènme wǎn [lái le]?
I haven't been able to ...
3
votes
1answer
80 views
What's the exact realization of Chinese glides (in medial position)?
While in some transcriptions you might encounter the IPA [j], [ɥ], and [w] for the medial glides, there are also transcriptions with IPA [ʲ], [ʷ] and [ᶣ].
Glides can have many interpretations ...
1
vote
3answers
135 views
Why use “i” to represent 自然韵？
In teaching 汉语拼音，the biggest headache is how to explain the "i" after the 7 独立音节 should not be pronounced same way as in "bi" "pi" "mi" ... etc. A very serious ...
2
votes
2answers
113 views
What's wrong to write g for 漢語拼音 pronunciation of 歌? [closed]
This is a question asked on behalf of thousands of new beginner learning 漢語拼音. When giving a 漢語拼音 dictation test (like spelling test in English) to my students, one very smart student write "g&...
1
vote
2answers
115 views
How to pronounce '蒙古' correctly?
The word '蒙古' seems to be read as 'měng gu'. But when I listen to others, it seems to be pronounced 'méng gu'. Which is the correct one? And I found it hard to tell the difference between 'měng gu' ...
7
votes
3answers
191 views
Intonation and stress for Chinese pronunciation
The new book 汉语国际教育用词语声调组合及轻重音格式实用手册 ("A Practical Manual of Tone Patterns and Formats of Stressed and Unstressed Syllables in Mandarin Words for the Application of Teaching Chinese to the ...
0
votes
1answer
88 views
Does 意大利 ever get read as 意太利?
I have heard 意大利 read 意太利, as a sort of half-joke half-honest pronunciation. This is funny because some dialects do read 大 as /t‘ai/ (think: Gan, Hakka, Min Nan, etc.).
《现代汉语方言音库 • 成都话音档》also has an ...
2
votes
1answer
80 views
What does the inital /dⁿ/ stand for?
While answering @Qiangong2's question here: Are Characters customized in different provinces due to dialectal differences? I was looking through the table on 四川方言字.
On the table the following initial ...
2
votes
2answers
76 views
The Many Pronunciations of 法
Regarding the various pronunciations of 法字, how much of the below is accurate?
法 as in 法国:
Mainland: Fǎ
Taiwan: MoeDict has Fǎ, with Fà listed only as “旧音”, but my understanding is that most ...
9
votes
1answer
266 views
How did Middle Chinese “hæwk” evolve into Mandarin “xué”?
So I was wondering why the on'yomi reading of Japanese 学 was "gaku" and the Korean reading of 學 was "hak", since I knew that in Mandarin, 学 was "xué", which is radically ...
5
votes
2answers
165 views
Why are there different pronunciations of 复杂？
During a Chinese class, a student pronounced 复杂 as fu3za2, instead of the official pronunciation fu4za2. The Chinese teacher corrected the student but then mentioned many native speakers pronounce it ...
1
vote
1answer
243 views
Do any Chinese languages or dialects contain a rolled/trilled R?
From 20:00 to 22:00 of this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnMeISMY6eM), the speaker appears to pronounce the R sound with standard Mandarin pronunciation in 若 and 仍然. However, he rolls the R ...
6
votes
2answers
409 views
Is the ''a'' in ''ta'' pronounced as the ''a'' in ''tan'' or the ''a'' in ''tang''?
It just occurred to me that I've been pronouncing the ''a'' in ba, da, fa, ga, ha, ka, la, ma, na, pa, sa, the same. But I've been pronouncing the ''a'' in ta differently. Like the ''a'' in ''ang''.
...
1
vote
1answer
142 views
Different accents/dialects applicable to the pinyin “r” sound
When I first began learning Mandarin and was struggling with some of the different pronunciations I heard 2 different representations of the "r" sound in pinyin. The first representation suggested to ...
2
votes
1answer
119 views
How do I pronounce 用勿着 in Shanghainese?
There isn't a pronunciation for it on Wiktionary, and I don't know whether it is a fossilised or an analysable phrase, so therefore I don't know whether or not right-prominent tone sandhi applies. My ...
0
votes
5answers
288 views
How to pronounce 學 “shwehh”, “shoo-ehh”, or “xüüehh”?
According to pinyin pronunciation guides, 學 should be pronounced x + ü + e with a rising tone. This should verbally sound something like
1) a shh- with tip of tongue close to your bottom teeth ...
2
votes
1answer
77 views
Pronunciation of unstressed vowels
In San Duanmu's Standard Chinese phonology it goes over unstressed vowels and mentions that they change in unstressed syllables. e.g.
a, e, (a, ɤ) > ə [报上 pau ʂaŋ > pau ʐəŋ]
ou > o [木头 muthou > muto]...
1
vote
2answers
192 views
Is there a usage for 𦍌 as “rèn”?
Is there a usage for 𦍌 as "rèn" ? I cannot find examples with this pronunciation.
I understand the usages as yáng, jiāng, & qiāng, as explained by dROOOze and others in what-is-the-top-part-of-...
2
votes
1answer
179 views
How to pronounce English words in Chinese
Say you have a word in English like "stone" or "parabola". How do you write that in Chinese literally so that it is pronounced in Chinese like it is in English? That is, you can write the pinyin ...
0
votes
2answers
56 views
What is the correct pronunciation of 辫发？
Google Translate and 查查在线词典 both say 辫发 ought to be biànfǎ, but Baidu says biànfā. What is correct?
3
votes
2answers
161 views
How should I understand the pronunciation of 驾驶证 (jiàshǐ zhèng) as 酱汁儿 (jiàng zhī er)?
I was reading this website ( https://pinyin.sogou.com/zimeiti/article/1255 ) to understand colloquial Beijing Mandarin and came across this pronunciation for 驾驶证
驾驶证 > "酱汁儿", i.e Jiàshǐ zhèng > jiàng ...
3
votes
1answer
63 views
N+ T Assimilation in natural Mandarin
I've been noticing that sometimes when a t or d follows a final -n it becomes n. For instance, one friend (from Nanjing) pronounced 今天 Jīntiān as Jīntnian, and another (from Beijing) pronounced 运动 ...
1
vote
1answer
143 views
History of the pronunciation of 辰
Today, it is pronounced chén in Mandarin.
However, in Chữ Nôm, this character is used for the sound thì. This is surprising, since most Chữ Nôm characters either borrow the meaning of existing ...
0
votes
0answers
105 views
“Why” in Beijing Dialect [duplicate]
I've been wondering how to correctly say "why" in Beijing dialect.
I know that in colloquial beijing mandarin 什么 is pronounced as shém with a final m. I thus thought the same was for 为什么 as weishem. ...
2
votes
3answers
142 views
Is the similar pronunciation of 上班, 办公 and 工作 just a coincidence?
Three important words when talking about work are
上班 (shàng bān, to go to work)
办公 (bàn gōng, to work [esp. in an office])
工作 (gōng zuò, job / work)
This can be confusing for beginners - I often get ...
2
votes
1answer
123 views
When is f not pronounced?
I've seen that in Beijing Mandarin f can be pronounced as something of a final consonant when in an unstressed syllable, e.g. 豆腐 dòu fǔ = dòuff.
However, in other cases it disappears in unstressed ...
3
votes
0answers
121 views
When is d elided? [closed]
I know that plosive consonants can change in natural Mandarin speech, like intervocalic g is almost always elided, and sometimes k, but b and p are almost never elided, but when should d be elided?
...
4
votes
1answer
231 views
What is the meaning of the tone numbers shown in Wiktionary's Mandarin pronunciation?
According to Wiktionary, the word 游泳 is pronounced as /joʊ̯³⁵ jʊŋ²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/. What exactly is the meaning of the numbers 214-21(4)? The first three numbers indicate the standard falling then rising ...
