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Chinese pronunciation: the pinyin sounds English speakers find hardest

Pinyin isn't read like English

Pinyin, approved in China in 1958, chose its letters for the sounds of Chinese, not English. Letters you think you know get new sounds: x isn't the x of “taxi”, q needs no u and isn't the “kw” of “queen”, and c is never a k or an s. Read each letter as a new symbol and always check with the audio.

b, p, d, t, g, k: it's all about the air

You already make this difference in English without noticing. At the start of a word, p, t and k come with a puff of air (pin, top, kill); after an s, they don't (spin, stop, skill). Mandarin uses exactly that puff to tell words apart: p, t and k have a strong puff, called aspiration; b, d and g have none, like the p, t and k that come after an s. In Chinese, the difference isn't the voice but the air.

Try it with your hand in front of your mouth: with p, t and k you should feel the air; with b, d and g, almost nothing. And don't be surprised if you hear a softer b in the second 爸 of 爸爸 bàba: in neutral-tone syllables, b, d and g are sometimes voiced.

z, c, s: c sounds like “ts”

z is the “ts” sound of the zz in “pizza”, without a puff of air: 在 zài (to be at). c is the same “ts” with a strong puff, like the ts in “cats”: 菜 cài (dish). Careful: c is never a k or an s, and z isn't the buzzing z of “zoo”. s is the s in “say”: 三 sān (three).

zh, ch, sh, r: the tip of the tongue goes back

For these four, the tip of the tongue rises toward the area just behind your upper gums, a little further back than for s. You don't need to curl it.

Some speakers make the Chinese r softer, close to an English r, but with the tongue tip back and no lip rounding. And if you hear z, c, s instead of zh, ch, sh, that's normal: many speakers from outside Beijing do it.

j, q, x… and h

j, q and x are made by raising the front of the tongue toward the roof of your mouth. They only ever come before i or ü, even when the ü is written u: ju, qu, xu.

The Chinese h ranges from an English h to the ch of “loch”: if yours sounds like a soft sigh, give it a little more friction at the back of the mouth.

The tricky vowels

Chinese has a few vowels most English speakers don't use, and an i that isn't always “ee”:

After j, q, x and y, ü is written without the dots, but it's still ü: 去 qù (to go), 学 xué (to study), 鱼 yú (fish). The dots are only written after n and l, because nu and lu also exist: 女 nǚ (woman) and 努 nǔ (to strive).

Finals that trick you

-n and -ng

-n is the n in “ban”, with the tip of the tongue up. -ng is the ng in “sing”: the back of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth and there's no separate g sound. They change the word: 饭 fàn (meal) and 放 fàng (to put); 新 xīn (new) and 星 xīng (star). And the a in an and ang is an open “ah”, close to the a in “father”.

ou rhymes with “so”; ao, with “cow”

ou sounds like the o in “so” (as said in North America), not like the ou in “out”: 都 dōu (all), 口 kǒu (mouth). The one that sounds like “cow” is ao: 好 hǎo (good).

ian sounds like “yen”

In ian, the a closes and sounds almost like an e, close to the English word “yen”: 天 tiān (sky, day), 钱 qián (money), 见 jiàn (to see). The same happens in yuan, juan, quan and xuan: 远 yuǎn (far). In uan (guān, huān), though, the a stays an a.

iu, ui, un hide a vowel

They're short for iou, uei and uen: 六 liù (six), 对 duì (correct), 困 kùn (sleepy). That's why duì rhymes with “way”, and kùn is closer to “kwun” (as in “won”) than to “koon”. The hidden vowel is clearest with the 3rd and 4th tones; with the 1st and 2nd, some speakers barely say it, as in 牛 niú (cow) or 春 chūn (spring).

How to practice

• Work with pairs that differ in only one sound: bà and pà, gǒu and kǒu, zài and cài, sì and shì, lù and lǜ, fàn and fàng.
• Record yourself and compare with the audio of a native speaker.
• Go through the pinyin chart row by row and compare the rows that look alike, like z, zh and j.
• Add the tones afterward, with the 4 tones and tone pairs.

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Frequently asked questions

How do you pronounce x in pinyin?

Close to the English sh, with the front of the tongue raised toward the roof of the mouth. Never like the x in “taxi” or “xylophone”: 谢谢 xièxie (thank you) starts with this sound.

What's the difference between b and p in Chinese?

The air, not the voice. Chinese b is like the p in “spin”, with no puff of air; Chinese p is like the p in “pin”, with a strong puff. The same goes for d and t, g and k, z and c, zh and ch, j and q.

How do you pronounce the Chinese r?

It isn't quite the English r. The tip of the tongue goes back, as for sh, and you add voice: 人 rén (person). It falls between the r in “reduce” and the s in “measure”, and your lips don't round as they do for an English r.

How do you pronounce ü?

Say “ee” and, without moving your tongue, round your lips as if to say “oo”. It's the German ü or the French u. After j, q, x and y it's written without the dots (去 qù, 鱼 yú), but it sounds the same.

Why doesn't the i in 是 shì sound like “ee”?

Because after z, c, s, zh, ch, sh and r, the i isn't a vowel: the consonant keeps sounding, with voice. So shì isn't “she”, and 四 sì (four) and 西 xī (west) sound very different.

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