help~~
rongchen
April 23, 2010, 01:21 AM posted in General DiscussionI've learnt Chinese for quite a long time. Now my Chinese friends say that they feel my Chinese is pretty good. But they tell me I still can't read "sh" and "x" correctly. That made me upset! I wonder if anyone could help me~~Use a Chinese phrase to express my thanks "多谢！"
rongchen
"sh" and "x" are really difficult to read! Only when I'm talking with Chinese guys and read arfter them can I read "sh" and "x" correctly! But I can't carry a Chinese with me all the time! How do you practise these two syllables?
rongchen
April 26, 2010, 01:14 AMYour explanation is very helpful for me! Thank you so much! I'll try my best to practise the two syllables and I hope I'll read them perfectly soon~~
44sunset
April 23, 2010, 06:49 AMhttp://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/7206
i find this
suansuanru
April 23, 2010, 08:39 AMTry to pronounce "xi1 shi1".One of the most beautiful women in the ancient chinese history.hehe
alison1990
April 23, 2010, 08:42 AMMy Chinese tutor tell me that "sh" is just like the "sh" in the word "English". But I don't think they are the same.
rongchen
April 23, 2010, 05:53 AM"sh" and "x" are really difficult to read! Only when I'm talking with Chinese guys and read arfter them can I read "sh" and "x" correctly! But I can't carry a Chinese with me all the time! How do you practise these two syllables?
xiao_liang
April 23, 2010, 09:30 AMWhen I say "xi" my tongue is close to the top of my mouth just at the ridge behind my teeth, slightly flatter. When I say "shi", it is curled towards the roof of my mouth.
John has some really good diagrams for this on sinosplice, but I can't find them now, can anyone help?
xiao_liang
Aha, found it:
http://www.sinosplice.com/learn-chinese/pronunciation-of-mandarin-chinese/5
xiao_liang
April 23, 2010, 09:33 AMAha, found it:
http://www.sinosplice.com/learn-chinese/pronunciation-of-mandarin-chinese/5
go_manly
April 23, 2010, 10:07 AMsh:
Say the English 't', but don't voice it (ie. don't use your voicebox). However, give it a really good explosive puff of air. Be lazy, and don't open your teeth or lips very much - only open them just enough to be able to make that sound clearly. When you make the English t, you should feel your tongue-tip make contact with your palate just behind your upper teeth, before losing contact as you make that explosive puff.
Now experiment by making the point of contact between your tongue-tip and palate gradually further back on the palate. That is, start to curl your tongue-tip further back, but don't move the blade of your tongue, and don't change the opening of your mouth. Provided you don't forget that explosive puff, you will reach a point where the t begins to sound kind of like a ch (but not quite like English ch). At this point it will probably feel that the underside of the tongue is beginning to make contact with the palate more so that the upper side. When you reach this point, you should be pronouncing the Mandarin ch sound. (Retain that explosive puff to say Mandarin ch correctly.)
Mandarin sh and zh are said with the tongue in exactly this position. If you try to say 'sh' for 'shoe' and 'j' for 'jog' with your tongue in this position, you should get these sounds.
x:
Tongue-tip is down, possibly touching the back of the lower teeth, but only to keep it out of the way - it doesn't play a part in making the sound.
Blade of the tongue arched up, almost touching the palate. Its not as difficult as it sounds, because the mouth is almost closed, and the blade doesn't have to arch up all that far.
Upper and lower teeth touching, or almost touching.
The x sound is more like a snakes hiss, so just hiss through the small gap between the tongue-blade and the upper palate. You will again need to experiment with the position of the tongue-blade relative to the upper palate until you think you are reproducing the sound correctly, but there is much less room for manoeuvring your tongue when it is in this position.
rongchen
Your explanation is very helpful for me! Thank you so much! I'll try my best to practise the two syllables and I hope I'll read them perfectly soon~~
suansuanru
April 24, 2010, 03:45 PMhehe. don't worry.
I know a Vietnamese who have been studied chinese for almost 3 years and his chinese is really good. BUT,he cannot pronounce zi. And he pronounce "zi" just like "ji". "No difference",he said.
sh is not like "sh" in "English",sh is totally pinyin,and no tone is the same in English. So it may seem really hard to pronounce. Hope you can find a way to solve it--the best way is to find a good chinese teacher,and let him tell you the skills.
btw,I cannot pronounce "r"in spanish. :S
suansuanru
hehe. don't worry.
I know a Vietnamese who have been studied chinese for almost 3 years and his chinese is really good. BUT,he cannot pronounce zi. And he pronounce "zi" just like "ji". "No difference",he said.
sh is not like "sh" in "English",sh is totally pinyin,and no tone is the same in English. So it may seem really hard to pronounce. Hope you can find a way to solve it--the best way is to find a good chinese teacher,and let him tell you the skills.
btw,I cannot pronounce "r"in spanish. :S
44sunset
April 23, 2010, 05:37 AMi have the same question...
could someone do me a favor?
many thx!