Learn more about the perfect pronunciation of Chinese consonants
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Chinese Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn 5 Chinese consonants. |
| z, c, zh, ch, yu- |
| These consonant sounds do not appear in English, so they'll likely be new to you. |
| Be sure to practice them because these are the unique sounds that learners often get wrong! |
| Are you ready? Then let's get started! |
| The first consonant is... |
| z |
| 早餐 zǎocān |
| 自己 zìjǐ "oneself" |
| 走吧 zǒu ba "Let's go." |
| This consonant sound is like a combination of a T and an S sound. |
| It starts off as a t sound, but ends with an s sound. |
| Here's a great tip. You can produce this sound by saying the word 'pizza'. |
| So one useful trick is to bounce off of the ending when trying to pronounce this consonant sound. |
| Additionally, this is an unaspirated sound, so don't blow out a puff of air. Otherwise, you'd be making another sound! |
| t͡s, t͡s (slowly) |
| t͡s, t͡s (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| c |
| 菜 cài "dish/vegetable" |
| 餐馆 cānguǎn "restaurant" |
| 厕所 cèsuǒ "bathroom" |
| This sound is identical to the previous one, however the difference is that it's the aspirated counterpart. Meaning, you want to release a burst of air. |
| Here's a great tip. You can produce this sound by saying the word 'cats'. |
| Listen to how Yinru says it to hear the difference. |
| t͡sʰ, t͡sʰ (slowly) |
| t͡sʰ, t͡sʰ (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| zh |
| 中文 Zhōngwén |
| 重要 zhòngyào "important" |
| 作者 zuózhě "author" |
| (Voiceless retroflex affricate) Do you remember the overexaggerated SH-sound from the last lesson? |
| Well this is a combination of a T-sound and an overexaggerated Sh-sound. Be careful though, because you still want to roll your tongue upwards into the R position. |
| Make sure your tongue is curled upwards so that it touches just behind the gumridge, and then release quickly. |
| This sound is unaspirated, so you don't want to blow out a puff of air. |
| ʈ͡ʂ, ʈ͡ʂ, (slowly) |
| ʈ͡ʂ, ʈ͡ʂ, (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| ch |
| 出发 chūfā "to depart" |
| 长城 Chángchéng "the Great Wall" |
| 好吃 hǎochī "yum" |
| This sound is identical to the previous one, however the difference is that it's the aspirated counterpart. Meaning, you want to release a burst of air. |
| Listen to how Yinru pronounces it. |
| ʈ͡ʂʰ, ʈ͡ʂʰ (slowly) |
| ʈ͡ʂʰ, ʈ͡ʂʰ (slowly) |
| And lastly, the final sound occurs when Y and U are paired together. |
| yu- |
| 月 yuè |
| 远 yuǎn (far) |
| 云 yún (cloud) |
| This is like a y sound but with rounded lips. |
| Try saying the English word 'you' while rounding your lips. |
| If that doesn't work, try rounding your lips first, and then saying 'you'. |
| ɥ, ɥ (slowly) |
| ɥ, ɥ (slowly) |
| Well done! You just learned another 5 Chinese consonants. |
| z, c, zh, ch, yu- |
| You've now learnt all of the sounds that could possibly be pronounced in Chinese! |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn how to produce all the tones in Chinese! |
| Which sound was the most difficult to learn? Please comment and share your thoughts. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Chinese Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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