Pronunciation Perplexion
guikeli
February 18, 2008, 08:34 PM posted in General DiscussionI have noticed that Hua2 ren2 don't always say the "g" of characters ending in "-ng." For example, when I lived in Taibei for a month I noticed that when they told me to "kai1 leng3qi4," it would come out like "kai1 len3qi4." Also, when people say "sheng1bing4" it sounds like they are saying "shen1bing4." Shen1 and sheng1 are two different words, so are they pronounced the same way? It makes for great confusion. In another instance, "deng3 yi1xia4" sounds like "den3 yi1xia4."So if there is a "ng" in PinYin, why do Chinese people leave it off and don't say it?
Is this the right way to pronounce characters ending with "-ng" and should I pronounce it this way all the time?
Thanks,
KeLi
guikeli
February 19, 2008, 09:53 PMThank you so much xiaohu! I was so confused on what to say, but now I know that no matter what letters the Chinese leave out, my Mandarin can be better than theirs! haha
xiaohu
February 18, 2008, 09:03 PMchrissg55: Yes, you're absolutely right! Often times Chinese People don't pronounce the final -ng sound. In fact if you explore older lessons from 2005-2006 you will notice Chinesepod's own Jenny not pronouncing the final -ng sound. For example she used to always say "Ke4 Chen2" instead of "Ke4 Cheng2", and she would also say, "Den3 Den3". Since then she's made great strides to perfect these issues, but when I go back and listen to the older lessons I find myself starting to fall into the same trap, starting to say "Den3 yi Xia4, Pong2 You3" and so forth...and I've been studying for 5 years! So in answer to your question, no don't say it this way, say it according to the guides and the system of Pinyin we've all been learning from. Remember to hold fast to your pronunciation guides, and know that you are actually MORE CORRECT than the Chinese people!