Talk:Chinese (Mandarin)/Pinyin Pronunciation
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[edit] Incorrect pronunciation?
By following the rules for manipulating rhymes to pronounce them, don't we get for example that yin is pronounced without the initial y sound, which is not accurate? (yi doesn't have an initial y sound, but yin does.) similarly, we would not have an initial w sound for wu, which it does have.
It is also confusing/wrong to define the initial as the non-vowels at the beginning and then say some syllables have no initial, when all syllables have a non-vowel seciton at the beginning. Perhaps define the initial as what you get after manipulating the non-vowel section at the beginning.
[edit] Quick note to author(s):
Could use explanations of the use of accents in pinyin to illustrate tones.
- I have added a small section on tones and some text examples. Like the comment below suggests, it would be cool to have links to a Mandarin speaker demonstrating the tones.
Audio files would be cool (can we do that yet?)
Why isn't this lesson 1? Learning the structure etc counts as a lesson to me.
Also, I need a login.
[edit] Audio samples?
I've started following the course, but I've got some problems with the pronunciation part. I've got no chance of visiting China in the near future to meet a native speaker, English isn't my native language and the descriptions of mouth and tongue positions are also Chinese to me.
In short, it would be really helpful if you could provide some example sound files... Azertus 20:44, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- I'm sure everyone envisages some sort of audio integration in the future, especially for the pinyin lessons, but we're not there yet. Chinese: Fundamentals of the language really needs a ton of work and audio samples before anyone could learn good pronunciation from it, but there are already some sites further along.
- If you don't have any Chinese friends that could help you, Conversational Chinese Online has a good guide. You could also look for language tapes or CDs at your library to get the pronunciation. -Everlong 02:35, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Third tone duration
It's been my observation (for English speakers), that third tone also has the characteristic of lengthing the vowel sound, similar to Sanskrit / Hindi short and long matras (vowels). I'm just a beginner in learning Chinese and I don't claim this is academically "correct" or proven, however.
I've never seen this pointed out on any pronunciation site, but the "trick" always works when I show it to others. If I pronounce a vowel as 2-3 times a regular vowel sound, it gets heard as third tone, even when I keep the tone as flat as possible. 14:41, 3 October 2005 (UTC) Stephan Hodges
- I was also told to do this by my Chinese 101 instructor. And now that I look, there isn't much explanation of the tone pronunciation on the Tones page. I'll add the missing paragraph, including your useful hint. --Everlong 07:25, 12 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Help!
I've been studying Chinese for about a month and have looked at many descriptions of pronunciation, but this page is way more confusing than anything I've seen. I don't understand the value of (i.e., need for) the initials and finals, am overwhelmed by the sheer mass of material here, and on top of it all, what software do you need to play an OGG file? Thank you. Alan Nicoll 00:18, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
More whining: if this is meant to be part of a textbook for beginners, it will scare away more users than it will help. It's put together like the ultimate reference to Mandarin pronunciation, not the user-friendly introduction that beginners need. Also, some of my characters are showing up as boxes, which is warned about, but how does one go about fixing the problem? Alan Nicoll 00:29, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
