12
votes
Accepted
What is the Chinese version of いろは?
I don't know of an example where every possible Chinese syllable is listed. I doubt such a text exists, because even without counting tones, there are over 400 hundred distinct syllables in Standard ...
- 673
11
votes
Pronunciation difference between 医生 and 一生
In this case, tone sandi plays a role. I would pronounce 医生 as yi1 sheng1 and 一生 as yi4 sheng1.
That way we can easily differentiate them.
- 23.3k
8
votes
Do we need to pronounce 那 in 那个 different than 那 in general?
I think you misheard nèige as nigè.
Colloquially 那 is usually pronounced as nèi. Of course nà can also be used colloquially.
nèi is the combined pronunciation of "那 nà" and "一 yī", ...
- 2,231
8
votes
Accepted
Is there research regarding the link between Chinese tones and musical intervals?
五度标记法 （five level tone mark, labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, roughly do re mi fa so）is similar to intervals. It was invented by Zhao Yuanren in the 1920s. It's considered inaccurate, but almost always, at ...
- 2,231
7
votes
Under the rules for tone sandhi and half 3-rd tones, is it correct to pronounce a (3-3) as (3h- 3h) or it must be pronounced (2-3)?
They are pronounced as 2-3 but only if they are within the same word boundary. If not, they are still pronounced as 3-3. I have given this example before:(一桶)(柳橙)。桶and柳are both third tone. Because ...
- 655
7
votes
Accepted
Why aren't pictophonetic characters more consistent?
Probably we can never know. The pronunciation of Chinese has changed drastically but the writing system has remained relatively constant. But it's fortunate that sound changes are systematic. What we ...
- 2,231
7
votes
Is the number 4 really considered unlucky because it sounds similar to the word for "death"?
"...if 四 is "unlucky" merely because it sounds "similar" to 死, what makes it especially different from those 53 characters?"
My speculation, and too long for the Comment ...
- 3,027
7
votes
Do 谢 and 写 sound different (ignoring the tones)?
They are the same to the native ears. But I do have a theory why you feel like that.
Tones affect the length of a syllable. Tone 3 is the longest one, while Tone 4 is very short.
The glide /j/ is ...
- 2,231
6
votes
Accepted
What are the real tones in 我给你买?
我给你买 can be break in three parts (called prosodic words), 我/给你/买.
Tone sandhi should first be considered with a prosodic word, so 给 should be gei2.
Then, at the boundary of different prosodic words, ...
- 8,655
6
votes
Accepted
How is 一举两得 pronounced?
In actual speech (after tone sandhi), two third tones never appear consecutively, whether they are in one word or not.
So it should be pronounced as yi4ju2liang3de2 (tone sandhi also happens for yi1).
- 8,655
6
votes
Accepted
Pronunciation difference between 医生 and 一生
医生 with the pronunciation of yi1 sheng1.
一生 with the pronunciation of yi4 sheng1.
My suggestion is when you pronounce 医生, you can have a pause before and after this word, and also pronounce "医&...
- 76
5
votes
What were the Olympic Chinese table tennis players yelling when they scored?
https://pingsunday.com/why-do-table-tennis-players-say-cho/
I used to play Table Tennis competitively as a kid. Essentially, it's a way to hype yourself, build confidence, while psyching your opponent ...
- 51
5
votes
Accepted
What were the Olympic Chinese table tennis players yelling when they scored?
http://www.xinhuanet.com/world/2016-08/12/c_129224485.htm
This article said that the shouts of players after scoring have no practical meaning, just to relieve pressure“这是一种情绪的释放”. The shouts of ...
- 344
5
votes
Accepted
How do Taiwanese pronounce English letters?
I think 'G' is pronounced as "jū" exclusively.
The biggest difference to the list given in this answer about China is the tone.
If the English syllable is open (not ending in a consonant) ...
- 216
5
votes
Accepted
''China'' name in different chinese dialects
Do most Chinese dialects agree on a similar pronunciation of 中国/Zhōngguó as in Mandarin?
Dialects do not agree as such. They pronounce 中国 the same way they pronounce the two characters 中 and 国 ...
- 5,313
4
votes
What is the Mandarin PinYin pronunciation for the Bushou that cannot be typed?
FYI, you're overemphasising the importance of this.
Firstly, the de facto international Chinese character radical indexing standard is the Kangxi system for orthodox characters, which is what Unicode ...
- 21.2k
4
votes
Accepted
In the context of deep-sea exploration, what is the pronunciation of 蛤 (gé vs. há)?
蛤(gé) is correct.
蛤蟆(há ma) 蛤only pronounced há when it means toad.
蛤is pronounced (gé) when it refers to shell creature in deep ocean.
There should be no toads in the deep sea.蛤，蚌，蟹，贝壳，红冠蠕虫 are all ...
- 344
4
votes
Accepted
Pinyin / pronunciation for 朋友
There are two ways of writing 朋友 for the simple reason that there are more than one way to pronounce the word. In mainland China, the standard is with a neutral tone, so péngyou (现代汉语词典，第7版).
However, ...
- 2,960
4
votes
Accepted
When was the pronunciation of 帧 changed?
There's a short Sina blog post that contains some explanations.
There was a《普通话异读词审音表》that was released in 1985. One of the words on the list was 帧:
帧。“装帧”指书画等物的装潢设计。《集韵·映韵》：“帧，张画绘也。”猪孟切，字书据此注为zhèn。...
Mou某♦
- 34.3k
4
votes
Accepted
梨 (lí) vs 离 (lí)
The general case is discussed here: How to distinguish two words the same pronunciation but different meaning (gāo jià)
For 梨 (lí) and 离 (lí) in particular, they're readily differentiated by ...
- 12.6k
4
votes
''China'' name in different chinese dialects
China, (meaning the "People's Republic of China", or "Mainland China") is, in its written form at the present moment, "中國", regardless of your Dialect, Ethnic origin, or ...
- 3,027
3
votes
Accepted
Is there phonetic stress in questions？
Normally there’s no stress at all.
However you could apply stress when you want to bring attention to certain aspect of the question.
那张三呢，他 最喜欢谁？Perhaps multiple people show up in the conversation, ...
- 359
3
votes
Accepted
How do I stop repeatedly mispronouncing the 3-2 tone combination?
This is a very common issue, you are not alone.
I'd like to share a tip that has helped many students of mine. It involves an interjection you likely are familiar with. It's useless to just write here ...
3
votes
How pronunce " 小打小闹 " in 我的一点成就 不过是小打小闹?
As r13 duly mentioned, the expression 小打小鬧 is not an idiom with four consecutive third tones as you asserted. Only the first three (小打小) possess the third tone, while 鬧 is definitely in the fourth ...
- 5,455
3
votes
Why many professional Xiangqi players cannot pronounce 車 correctly?
Because in 廣韻 (a Chinese rime dictionary from 1000 years ago), 車 has two different pronunciations, 1: kio and 2: chja. As time goes by, 1 becomes ju and 2 becomes che. In ancient Chinese, 1(ju) refers ...
- 140
3
votes
Accepted
How to pronounce derived scientific units
I believe, what you do with the product of units is you directly link them together, so like gram meters is just 克米， kilogram meters is like 千克米 or 公斤米。
And similarly kilogram-meters per Joule Second ...
- 424
3
votes
Accepted
The readings of 栅
For 栅极 (as well as related terms like 光栅 grating), the change of tone from an expected shàn to shān in Mainland Standard Mandarin is easily explained by 看边读边. As a literary, and indeed a technical ...
- 5,638
3
votes
Is the number 4 really considered unlucky because it sounds similar to the word for "death"?
No necessary. It's common during engagement ceremony for the groom-to-be family to give four gifts, typically tea, cans, etc., to the bride-to-be family. Surely four cannot be considered unlucky in ...
- 655
2
votes
2
votes
What is the Mandarin PinYin pronunciation for the Bushou that cannot be typed?
There is a table of Kangxi radicals on Wikipedia:
No.
Radical (variants)
Stroke Count
Meaning
Pīnyīn
45
屮
3
sprout
chè
58
彐(彑)
3
snout
jì
129
聿(⺺、⺻)
6
brush
yù
159
車
7
cart
chē
Those should be ...
Mou某♦
- 34.3k
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