Better Mandarin Pronunciation

calkins
October 13, 2008, 11:58 AM posted in General Discussion

Following is a really good website for better Mandarin pronunciation:

www.speakchineseonline.com

I've been looking for a site like this for a while.  What's so great about it is that it describes each pinyin initial and final, using animation with sound, step-by-step description (with visual of what the lips, mouth, tongue, etc. do), and video/audio of an actual native speaker.

It's similar to CPod's Pinyin Chart, but with video and better description of what the mouth does.  There's other good info. on this site as well.

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hitokiri6993
October 13, 2008, 12:46 PM

Wow! Cool site! Thanks for the site, Calkins!

Can anybody recommend a site like that for Taiwanese?

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calkins
October 13, 2008, 12:49 PM

不客气!  hitokiri, are you learning Taiwanese now?  You're amazing...Tagalog, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and now Taiwanese.  Did I miss any?!

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hitokiri6993
October 13, 2008, 05:05 PM

啊啊, You left out Bikolano and Korean, actually my Korean's better than my Cantonese. I learned Bikolano through immersion by talking with my grandfather (mom's side| the "not-chinese" side:D) 馬馬虎虎...they're just 6 languages. Changye's better than me :P.

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aeriph
April 03, 2009, 03:57 AM

I can't get through to that site.. Sounds amazing though. I also like www.pinyinpractice.com. I find a lot of sites are inaccessible from China, not sure if it's the Great Firewall or just network problems.

How many languages does Changye speak?

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calkins
April 03, 2009, 05:16 AM

Yeah, unfortunately that site no longer exists.  It's a shame because it was really useful. 

Maybe it's been bought out or is planning a pay site.  Maybe Cpod bought them out and will put those resources here!  Just kidding, the pinyin guide is already a great resource.

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watsonqu
June 02, 2009, 01:21 PM

Calkins,

您好!

我是SpeakChineseOnline.com的站长,我已经关闭它了, 但您现在可以浏览LearnChineseABC.com

经济危机使我失去了工作,SpeakChineseOnline.com已经无力维持下去。

现在我重新制作了新的网站LearnChineseABC.com ;我还需要找工作,否则我也不知道能维持多久。

我也希望能够通过这个网站盈利,一则可以维持生活,二则能够让更多喜欢汉语的外国朋友学会拼音及汉语。

我很感谢您,您的赞誉和鼓励,使我有了新的动力。

我不知道您的汉语水平如何,能否理解以下文字:(我请我的太太翻译成英文了,附在后面)

我创办这个网站的初衷是想让外国朋友真正了解普通中国人的世界观。
我不知道那些赞美和批评中国的人是否知道普通中国人的真正想法。
我想如果外国人会说汉语,他(她)也就能更易于理解普通中国人的观点,他(她)也就不会被那些政客或记者(不管是来自中国还是外国)的说法牵着鼻子走了,在评论中国的时候就不会轻易下结论或者表达极端的观点----无论是赞美之词还是批评之语。


Making you know the average Chinese's view about the world is my original intention of building the website.

I don't know whether the people who are eulogizing or criticizing China really know the average Chinese's view or not.

I think if a foreigner can speak Chinese, he or she can understand easily about the average Chinese's view. He or she will not let the politicians and journalists (whom from China and foreign) to lead him or her by the nose any more. When making a

comment or discussing about China, he or she will not has some extreme views and subjective judgments, whether it's praise or criticism.

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calkins
June 02, 2009, 01:43 PM

Watsonqu, 您好。Many thanks for posting the new website location.  I have missed your website and look forward to using it again.  I'm happy you found this thread!

And I think I can speak for the majority of people on this site and say that we all very much appreciate the Chinese language and Chinese people.  Thanks again.