Special podcast for Chinese speakers of English

Support Pronuncian!

Join Today

Buy books, MP3 audio, and more!

Your donations help with our hosting and bandwidth costs!

Special podcast for Chinese speakers of English

This podcast outlines issues that native Chinese speakers often have with pronunciation of English.

Listen now!

Note: The most current podcast will begin playing, scroll down to the episode you wish to listen to.

Sound lists mentioned during this podcast for Chinese speakers

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome to this special Chinese speakers edition of Seattle Learning Academy's American English Pronunciation podcast. In the coming months I'll be publishing these special podcasts to help direct certain language groups to the resources that group of speakers will find the most helpful.

This podcast is an overview of issues that Chinese speakers are likely to face when they are learning to speak English. The transcripts for this show are online at www.pronuncian.com, and all the episodes mentioned during this podcast will have direct links from this show's transcripts. Also, I'll put links at the top of the page to all the free sound lists mentioned during this show.

I have taught Chinese speakers from a number of regions of China, and I know that Chinese speakers from different regions have different specific issues when speaking English. Many of you learned English with a British accent, which will mean you learned the r sound and r-controlled vowels, in particular, differently than I teach them. If you did learn English from an American speaker, you will have different issues. I am going to make generalizations about native Chinese speakers in this podcast, and not differentiate between all the differences groups of Chinese speakers have. That would simply be too confusing and take too much time. I hope you all understand.

Chinese speakers have a number of difficult challenges when speaking English. Many of these issues I've already created podcasts about, so you can pick and choose which areas you would like to work on first. Although there are lots of sounds to work on, I have taught many Chinese speaking students who have made wonderful progress in their pronunciation skills through practice, practice, and more practice. Remember, you need to train your ear just as much as the muscles in your mouth. Spend plenty of time listening to audio files, especially at the beginning of your practice.

Many of the consonant fricatives give the Chinese speaker problems. Fricatives are sounds created when air is forced out of the mouth through a small opening. These sounds include the voiced and unvoiced th sounds, the zh and sh sound, the s and z sound, the f and v sound, and the h sound.

Episode number 1 covered the very important th sounds. It's a good idea to practice the word lists for both the voiced th sound as well as the unvoiced th sound. Also, learn which sound you might be substituting for these sounds and practice those minimal pairs lists. Many Chinese speakers say the s sound in place of the unvoiced th sound, and the d sound, or sometimes a z sound, in place of the voiced th sound.

The z sound is a voiced fricative that Chinese speakers often replace with its unvoiced counterpart, the s sound. A confusing aspect of these two sounds is that spelling does not always tell you which sound to say. Many words are spelled with an s, but pronounced with the z sound. Unfortunately, you just need to memorize which pronunciation to use. Episode 3 can help you learn more about this issue.

The voiced fricative v sound is troublesome for many Chinese speakers. Some speakers replace it with the f sound, which it its unvoiced counterpart. Listen to the difference (v sound, f sound) and some replace it with the w sound. The v sound is created by forcing air out between the bottom lip and the top teeth while voicing the sound. The w sound is created when the vibration happens between our lips, and not against our teeth. Can you hear the difference? (v sound, w sound) Episode 18 is about the f sound and v sound, and might be helpful for this problem. Episode 7 includes information about the w sound.

Many Chinese speakers do not properly say the sh sound and zh sound. These sounds are also fricatives, and we make them by pushing air out between the area of the tongue right behind the tip, and the back of the tooth ridge. A zh sound is a voiced sh sound. Listen to these sounds (sh sound, zh sound). I often hear Chinese speakers move their tongue too far back in their mouth during these sounds. I'm going to create the sounds both ways, first correctly, then incorrectly. Try to tell the difference between them. Sh sound correct, sh sound incorrect (sh sound correct, sh sound incorrect). Zh sound correct, zh sound incorrect (zh sound correct, zh sound incorrect). Listen to episode 17 for more information on the sh sound and zh sound.

Consonant stops, especially the unvoiced stops, the p sound, t sound, and k sound, have a puff of air after they are released. If you don't let out enough of a puff, your stops may be heard as their voiced counterparts, the b sound, d sound and g sound. Also, make sure you are fully voicing the voiced stops, especially at the ends of words. Learn the correct -ed endings and make sure that you are saying the d sound when it is appropriate for the -ed spelling. I hear a lot of Chinese speakers who always say the final sound of the -ed ending as a t sound. It only should sound like a t sound some of the time, not all of the time. Episode 19 will explain how to know which sound the -ed ending should be, and episode 2 explains how to properly say the t sound and d sound.

I hear differing amounts of personal difficulty with the r sounds and l sound. This includes all the r-controlled vowels. If you were taught British English pronunciation and now are trying to learn an American accent, you will need to relearn the r-controlled vowels, as we say them very differently. Be sure to listen to episodes 4, 5, and 6 for specific instruction for those sounds. Remember, your tongue touches the inside of your mouth, directly behind the front upper teeth during the l sound, and it does not touch anything during the r sounds.

Another issue some Chinese speakers have is using the l sound and n sound interchangeably. We can't do this in English. The l sound allows air to leave the mouth along the sides of the tongue, and the n sound uses the tongue to block all the air from leaving the mouth and pushed it out the nose. Episode 5 talks about the l sound, and episode 26 includes the n sound.

The ng sound is a single sound that has no g sound at the end of it. Many Chinese speakers will add this g sound when they see the ng spelling. Some words do include the sound, but most do not. It is important to know when to say which word. Episode 25 talks more about this issue.

Vowels also cause considerable difficulty for the Chinese speaker. Pay special attention to the short i, which many speakers replace with the long e. Spend plenty of time with those minimal pairs at the bottom of these sounds' lists. All of the short vowel sounds are talked about in episode 9.

Chinese speakers also need to practice the u as in put sound. Make sure you aren't saying it as the oo sound. Listen to the difference between these two words: look, soon. Both words are spelled with an oo, but the word look has the same vowel sound as the word put. Episode 10 talks about these sounds.

Also pay attention to the aw sound, the sound in the word dog. Don't substitute a long o or short o for this sound. Listen to the difference between words with a long o and the aw sound. The first word has an aw sound, the second word has a long o sound: bought, boat (aw sound) (long o). The aw sound is a part of episode 11. Also, remember that the long a, long i, long o, and long u are two-sound vowels. Listen to episode 8 for a reminder of what that means, as well as how to fully produce those sounds.

I know this was a lot of information. I have linked to the other episodes in the transcripts for this show, which can be found at www.pronuncian.com. I have also included a link to the sound lists along with these transcripts.

In addition to all the free online practice, I have created another way for you to take your practice with you wherever you go by buying the sound practice audio in convenient MP3 practice for just $10US. You will get a PDF file of the sound list, so you can easily print it, and you will get 3 audio files for each sound, one file for each list of words for that sound in the beginning, middle, or end of the word. Of course, some sounds don't occur in all the part of a word in English, so those will just have audio files for where the sound does occur. If you've been wanting to put sound practice onto your iPod, this is the way to do it, and buying it supports this free podcast, which I really appreciate. You can buy the audio files from any country that PayPal accepts, and that is most currencies of the world. So you do not need to be here in the United States to buy this great practice.

You can also support this podcast with a purchase of a copy of my book, Pronunciation Pages: Sounds of American English. The ebook is only $25US, and you can immediately download it over the internet. The book can be yours in only minute. When you purchase a copy of the book, you receive 6 months full-access to Pronuncian.com and the online audio files for all the book's exercises. Just click the "Add to cart" button under the picture of the book on any of the transcript pages of Pronuncian.com.

You can buy both the book and the sound practice for just $30 US, which gets you all the lessons and audio exercises for the book, as well as the MP3 sound practice. All of your purchases go toward supporting this podcast, which I do intend to keep producing for free.

I hope all you Chinese speakers have found this special episode of the American English Pronunciation podcast helpful. You can email me comments or suggestions at podcast@pronuncian.com. I love hearing from listeners around the world! I also really appreciate iTunes reviews. So, if you have the time, writing a review is also a great way to offer me support.

This has been a Seattle Learning Academy Digital Publication. Seattle Learning Academy is where the world comes to learn.

Thanks for listening!

Bye-bye.

About the ESL/ELL Teacher

Mandy has been teaching ESL, pronunciation and accent reduction since 2005 at Seattle Learning Academy, an English language school in Seattle, Washington, USA. She uses her experience with intermediate to advanced students to create the topics that most effect students living and working in the United States and can help them communicate better and more clearly

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes