Week 4

We learned about Initials this week !

Initials

There are 21 initials in Chinese and 12 of them have almost the same pronunciation as English.

m, f, n, l, h, and sh are pronounced as in English

d like “t” in “straight”(unaspirated)

j like “g” in “genius” (unaspirated)

z like “ds” in “beds”

zh like “j” in job

b like “p” in “spin” (unaspirated)

g a soft unaspirated “k” sound

x like “sh” in “sleep” but with the corners of the lips drawn back

r somewhat like “ge” in lodge

There is some special attention to be paid on the so called “aspirated” consonants. It is necessary to breath heavily after the original consonant is sounded:

p = p'(like in “pop”)

q = ch harder than “ch” in cheap

t = t’ (like in “tap”)

c = ts’ (like in “cats”), with aspiration

k = k’ (like in “kangaroo”)

ch = ch’ (tongue curled back, aspiration)

Tones


Tone Tone Mark Description Example

First Tone First Tone high, level pitch 妈 mā = mother

Second Tone Second Tone starting high and rising 蔴 má = hemp

Third Tone Third Tone falling first, then rising 马 mǎ = horse

Fourth Tone Fourth Tone starting high and falling 骂 mà = scold


Got this info online and its pretty impressive.