Here’s a little video for all you teachers out there and others who may not know how to say names in Mandarin. It comes from the East Asian Studies Center at Ohio University:
And here are a few sounds in Chinese pinyin that are different from English. The pinyin is on the left while the equivalent English pronunciation comes after the equal sign:
What is pinyin? Watch the video below from Yoyo Chinese to find out:
To pronounce past tense regular verbs – verbs that end in “ed” – correctly, we should know if the verb ends in a Voiced sound or a Voiceless (in another word, Unvoiced) sound as we learned and took the quiz many years ago. Then, what do Voiced and Voiceless (Unvoiced) mean? You can understand what they mean by putting your hand on the front of your neck as shown in the video below.
Time for more pronunciation practice. Below is a good video which shows you how to pronounce English words with the “th” sound – like “think” and “this” and “bathroom” and “twentieth.” The most important thing to remember when making these sounds is to stick out your tongue! Here’s a picture of what your mouth should look like:
Do you see his tongue sticking out? Here’s the video. Remember to listen and repeat as you watch:
Nobody wants to sound like a tourist (not even tourists!), so to help you out with that here’s a neat website from wnyc.org that teaches you how to say some New York-oriented words correctly. Click here or on the picture below to explore:
This post is brought to you by Ken, who teaches Classes 3A and 3B:
Pay attention to your tongue!
Students often, in pronouncing words which contain “l”, have difficulty in distinguishing between the two qualities of the “l” sound: the “light” and the “dark.”
Tongue formation for the “dark” L sound:
The dark l is commonly used at the end of a word or before a consonant sound. If the vowel sound right before the consonant is an “oo” sound or an “aw”, dark l is more likely. When you make the dark “l” sound, the tongue is more bunched up, and the back of the tongue is raised. This is the sound you hear in the words: bell, call and fall.
bell call fall
Tongue formation for the “light” L sound:
A light l is generally used at the beginning of a word, especially right before certain vowel sounds: If the vowel following the L sound is a long “e” or short “i”, a a light L is more likely to be used.
To create the “light L” sound, the tip of the tongue is placed against the middle of the tooth ridge. The sound is created when air travels alongside the tip of the tongue, between the front of the tongue and the side teeth.
For example, practice pronouncing the following words and pay close attention to where your tongue touches the ridge behind the upper teeth:
light listen only
To practice the different pronunciations of the light and dark “L”, go to this website http://www.howjsay.com/ and type in the following words:
With a little luck and a lot of labor you will love the light and dark “l”!
Remember: Pay attention to your tongue!
