Tips for Better Pronunciation and Reading

Need some tips for better pronunciation.  Here is some of what I've learned about tongue placement in Chinese sounds.

• b, p, m, and f- are all produced at the front of the mouth
• b, p, and m- are similiar to English and made with the upper and lower lip coming together.
• f- is a fricative and is made with the upper front teeth gently touching the lower lip.
• d, t, n, and l- are all produced by placing the tip of the tongue behind the upper front teeth.
• d and t- are plosives, meaning that the air is initially prevented from coming out of the mouth because the tongue is firmly against the top of the mouth.  Then the tongue tip relaxes and the sound is released.  This is very similar to the sounds "d" and "t" in English.
• n- much like the English "n," the sound comes out the nose.
• l- much like the English "l," the tongue tip is against the top of the mouth and the sound comes out around the sides of the tongue tip.
• g, k, and h- are all produced in the back of the mouth.
• g and t- are plosives, meaning that the air is initially prevented from coming out of the mouth because the back of the tongue is firmly against the top of the mouth.  Then the tongue relaxes and the sound is released.  This is very similar to the sounds "g" and "k" in English.
• h- much like the English "h."
•  j, q, and x- are all produced by touching the tip of the tongue to the back of the lower, front teeth.
• j and q- are affricatives meaning that the sound produced is caused by stopping the airflow at the place of articulation- in this case between the tongue and the roof of the mouth- and then continuing to let the air flow out for an extended time through a narrow opening between the articulators.
• x- is a fricative, which allows the air to slid gently between the tongue and the palate.
• zh, ch, sh, r- are all produced by rolling the tongue back in the mouth.  In English an r-sound can be produced in two ways (one of which is by rolling the tongue); however, in Chinese the r-sound must be made by a retro-flexed (rolled) tongue.
• z, c, and s- are all produced by placing the tip of the tongue behind the upper front teeth.  They are all affricatives meaning that the sound produced is caused by stopping the airflow at the place of articulation- in this case between the tip of th tongue and the mouth just behind the upper front teeth- and then continuing to let the air flow out for an extended time through a narrow opening between the articulators.

 *Please, remember I'm not a native speaker; however, I do hold a MA in Speech Pathology.  The tips above primarily concentrate on tongue position.  There are other differences in pronunciation, but they are much more difficult to master.  Concentrating on the tips above in combination with the Learning Mandarin for Beginners app will help you achieve intelligibility, but you'll still have an accent.




A few notes about reading and writing:

• y- 
• When a word begins with "i," change the "i" to a "y."
• ia--> ya
• ie --> ye
• iao --> yao
• iou --> you
• ian --> yan
• iang --> yang
• iong --> yong
• BUT . . .
• in --> yin
• ing --> ying
• w- 
• When a word begins with "u," add "w" before the "u." 
• u --> wu
• When a word starts with "u" and is followed by a additional letters, change the "u" to a "w."
• ua --> wa
• uo --> wo
• uai --> wai
• uei --> wei
• uan --> wan
• uen --> wen
• uang --> wang
• ueng --> weng
•   ü-
• To pronounce this, start by saying the English sound "eeeee" (like in "eel").  While keeping your tongue in the same place, move your lips to form the English sound "oooo" (like in "moon").
•  Always place a "y" in front of words starting with the "ü" sound and remove the umlaut (the two dots).
• ü --> yu
• üe --> yue
• üan --> yuan
• ün --> yun