Master Chinese “j q x” and “zh ch sh” | Pronunciation Training

[@Adzzzzzzzzzzz]

AS native Spanish speaker, this video help a LOT with the position on how to do it. All the Chinese learners must to see, even if your native language is other than English.

[@qaaqqutsiaqtaatsiaq8796]

I am a native Greenlandic speaker, all the content I consume is in English haha :)

[@ahhhhhh387]

Same

[@ahhhhhh387]

@l e x :o my mom is from Peru 😊

[@Adzzzzzzzzzzz]

@l e x Practica y mas practica, lee los dialogos y trata de hacerlo lo mas fluido posible. Lastimosamente en el chino lo mas dificil y primordial es la pronunciacion. Luego de que practiques mucho, te saldra automatico. Pero no puedo decirte que es algo tan facil como hablar el español donde la CH la pronuncian como sea y todos sabemos que hablan del "Chocolate" por ejemplo

[@Adzzzzzzzzzzz]

@@ahhhhhh387 Practica, no hay de otra. Leer los dialogos y practicar hasta que puedas hacer las posiciones de manera fluida. Imagina que estas practicando un jutsu de naruto pero en vez de las manos, es con la lengua, dientes, etc. JAJA

[@nickfleming3719]

Some advice from a native english speaker for the x sound. Make a hissing 's' sound, then slightly move the tip of your tongue down until it just barely makes a 'sh' sound

[@pinkforguys]

thanks! this helped me understand it better

[@audreyodonnell166]

Oh thanks I thought my tongue was too big

[@funenglish248]

But, the Chinese "X" sound is the same as the "Sh" English sound.. right?

[@elijahsmall5873]

@@funenglish248 no

[@nickfleming3719]

@@funenglish248 The chinese "sh" sound is closer to the english "sh" sound's tongue position. The chinese "x" has a tongue position that doesn't exist in english, at least in the english I speak.

[@DavidGomez-hi4tm]

I’ve been struggling for a long time trynna master the pronunciation of these initials, and let me tell you Grace that I’m deeply grateful with you, cause this video has been so helpful. I was able to hear the difference between these initials despite my mother tongue is Spanish. Thanks a lot ❤️

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

David Gomez I’m glad it helps!! You’re welcome! :D

[@beirne]

I wish I had seen this years ago. My x's and q's have always been weak, and now I know why. The mouth diagrams along with the explanation made all the difference.

[@Driftking859]

I've asked many chinese friends and teachers while also watching many videos trying to improve my pronunciation and after 2 years studying, I have watched Grace's videos and finally I have found a helpful video helping me master X, Q, J, and ZH 感谢你Grace老师

[@learnChinese.]

谢谢❤❤❤

[@ICosmoI]

So helpful!! Thank you for using IPA and those mouth diagrams.　謝謝！

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

ICosmoI 不客氣！Glad you like it! :D

[@setssky375]

I am starting to learn Chinese (Traditional) And I gotta say, I hate how underrated this video is, Not only you showed both Pinyin and Zhuyin (Which I need to learn Zhuyin lol), This is the only vid I found to show how to exactly pronounce these sounds. Thanks.

[@douglasmarinho3653]

Are learning traditional Chinese??!! How can you do it? It's so many strokes to remember! I just can't even recognize them!

[@semmyuel]

​@@douglasmarinho3653 I think it looks more complicated than it is. Its more strokes which makes it slower to write but they arent really that much harder to remember, especially because often its just radicals that get simplified and you just have to remember them once to use them for multiple characters

[@無影片新增500個訂閱者]

lean to Pronunc 00:35 (1) the IPA and the Tongue position of "x" 01:50 (2) the IPA and the Tongue position of "j" 03:00 (3) the IPA and the Tongue position of "q" 03:48 (4) the comparison between "j q x" and "zh ch sh"

[@ChandanKumar-vp1rc]

😘😘😘

[@JonasTjader]

Great video :) thanks for helping with pronounciation!

[@cadaverdog1424]

This is definitely the best video/explanation/demonstration ever available! I won’t even watch any others after this!👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏

[@elmirasmiscellaneous1129]

The first time after months I got the pronunciation of x, j, q right! That was extremely helpful! Thank you Grace.

[@vividbiomass620]

This is really helpful for my pronunciation. It’s also made me realise how bad my ear is. I find it really hard to hear this difference between some of those sounds. If you ever need ideas for content, it would be helpful if you could do a video where you say different words with the sounds from this and the last video, then show the viewer what the sound was. It’d be a bit like aural flash cards. Thanks for your work!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

VividBiomass This is such a good idea!! Thanks a lot! Yes these sounds are pretty similar but you don’t have to worry too much, when you learn two vocabulary which have similar pronunciations that you find a bit difficult to tell, you can focus on learning where to use them (e.g. the combination with other words), try to use contexts easily distinguish them:) just a piece of advice, hope this will help you learn better!

[@RingsOfSolace]

It's so weird because I feel like I can hear the difference in all of them, but I can't pronounce them yet to save my life.

[@sierrrrrrrra]

After months of trying to learn these initials, your videos are the key for me understanding these sounds in my brain. Thank you so much!!!!!!! :)

[@sovideo_]

Really? :D :D To clarify the stupid video lesson: You start practicing from the basic easier X. It is sort of funny sounding S. You try to utter S, while your tongue is pressed against your lower teeth. The result seems to sound close to the English S or TH, but it's not identical and the Chinese speakers will sense the difference. IPA: [ɕ] After mastering the X, move to J. It is like the Chinese X sound but now try to add T in front of it. It sounds close to an English TS (caTS), but again it's not identical. It is very difficult for the English speakers because they can hardly say TS at the beginning of a syllable. IPA: [t͡ɕ] Finally, move to Q. It is like the Chinese J sound, but now you add an H after the J sound, without generating a new syllable. Linguistically this is called "aspiration". In several Asian languages there are aspirated consonants, meaning they are merged with the H sound. The Chinese Q sounds close to TS'H, but with a nuance. IPA: [t͡ɕʰ]

[@유튜브시청-o7n]

This is as helpful in Mandarin as Rachael's English in American English. Thank you very much.

[@JuanSaab]

Thank you so much for this video. This is exactly what I was looking for. Finding tongue positions is fundamental to pronounce better. I feel a bit closer to pronounce better :) 谢谢你!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Juan Saab 不客氣！很高興有幫到你;) (不客气！很高兴有帮到你) 😊😊

[@ConnorWidmaier]

Your videos are excellent!! Reducing my accent is one of the most satisfying processes in language learning and I’m really thankful to find your videos.

[@dianesu9532]

Your explanation is clear and great! For some viewers. From a phonological point of view: The English 's' is alveolar and the 'sh' is palatal. But, the Chinese Pinyin 'x' is alveolo-palatal. That is, it's in between the two English sounds.

[@hahaha6553]

x-hs

[@parisavp7161]

Thank you so much! This was the most helpful video I saw on KZbin about this subject. A big thank you from Spain :)

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Parisa VP Hi Parisa! You’re welcome! And glad you find this helpful;)

[@lucasdasaieve]

Finally a good & clear video about Chinese pronunciation...

[@Destiny51297]

so happy I found this channel today! I am the type that I can't learn words and go on if I know my pronunciation sucks and don't know how to at least say it in my head. Thank you!

[@phoebe5317]

妳的vedio 很棒👍 👍👍特別是ㄓㄔㄕㄖ的說明， 我的英語老師在學中文發現妳的發音教學影片跟我confirm ⋯ 我告訴他『This is a pretty good video ⋯』 繼續加油吧💪

[@magoldtube]

Best pronunciation lessons I had in any language. Thanks.

[@happystrawberry17]

Thank you so much Grace! I have been struggling to pronounce the nuances between all of these for ages!!! You explained it really well. I can't tell you how grateful I am for your video! ❤

[@tvclabotv75]

This video is so excellent! Thank you! I have watched many of your videos and they are all great. This particular video is so outstanding that I felt compelled to comment. Thank you for your clear explanations and your drawings that show the proper way to make the sounds.

[@Bob13Blues]

Thank you Grace. Your lessons are very useful. I appreciate all the hard work you put into teaching us.

[@pear11bear]

The first time in my life i know how to pronounce these correctly, thank you so much, this video is the best for beginner to learn chinese.

[@Henry-teach-Chinese-in-jokes]

Be someone else’s sunshine. Be the reason someone smiles today. Be the reason you smile today. I’ve made many videos teaching Chinese in a humorous way. About 3000 Chinese characters cover 99% characters in newspapers and books. From my previous videos you can learn more than 400 common characters. There are about 120 commonly used Chinese character radicals. From my previous videos, you can learn more than 80 basic radicals. I’ve spent about 100,000 hours studying English humor and Western culture, and many years studying Chinese culture and jokes. My native language is Chinese.

[@nooooooooooooor4974]

I was searching for the right prononciation for a while (since I am learning Chinese by myself). Your video was very helpful especially when you showed us the tongue position. Thank you

[@someone4585]

IVE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO SAY X FOR SO LONG AND DIDNT EVEN REALIZE THE TOUNGE POSITION FOR J AND Q THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@XgamersXdimensions]

This is a fantastic series! I love how you include different models of representing the sound: pin yin, bopomofo, and the IPA. Those, the tongue diagrams, and the example words are really helpful for learning to hear and produce the correct pronunciation.

[@tevamcdowell3637]

Im not a native Spanish speaker. However understanding Spanish and french with my metis background and heritage makes it so that even though i don't natively have that dialect, it's really easy to interact with spanish people. I am proud to be Metis. Thank you for you and your time and Care. Im looking 🧡

[@madeline569]

Thanks for including the IPA it helped a lot

[@miinh1067]

Awesome video! I speak Vietnamese so tones and sounds are all easy for me, but had a hard time differentiating zh with ch and j with q (Vietnamese only has the d/t pairing of aspirated consonants), this video really helped!

[@albertmabares3991]

what a beautiful Chinese girl. you are a good teacher

[@jumpyhead9706]

Fantastic video. This needs more views! :)

[@amazonpolyglot]

Im my learning i really found it essential to understand the differences between these sounds. Thanks for your help.

[@MsLaughingRabbit]

I never put much stock into how our lips move with the sounds, but just keeping in mind how j, q, x sort of make you smile made them much easier to distinguish! Thank you!

[@anasmirza346]

...你真是一位非常棒的老师，一定比其他的在线教中文课的老师讲得好得多，我只想给你鼓励一下，你作的视频很有帮助，你是最理想的老師。你是最恨可愛的老師。所以我最喜歡的老師。謝謝。哈哈哈 ...你真是一位非常棒的老师，一定比其他的在线教中文课的老师讲得好得多，我只想给你鼓励一下，你作的视频很有帮助，你是最理想的老師。你是最恨可愛的老師。所以我最喜歡的老師。謝謝。哈哈哈

[@fyfisher4922]

you are the best ! clearly explaining how the tongue position and airflow for each word. Thank you so much!!

[@kteforeal]

Oh my god this video series helped so much! I used the IPA for any new language I learn but the images made it 10x better. Thank you so much!

[@torimaru9518]

This method is the most easiest to understand! Thank you! 謝謝。

[@eastworld8720]

Thank you that was helpful, but how about making a short video about the tones that sound alike?

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

I'll upload a video about Chinese tones this Wednesday (19:00 Taiwan time)! Stay tuned! :)

[@johnathanwalker75]

WOHOHO, WHAT'S THIS? Perfection, this video is more helpful than the website I used.

[@bruh666]

I wish I watched this sooner! I got an explanation when I first started learning but it was oversimplified so I was doing something a little bit wrong even though it sounded the same to me, now with a proper explanation I can hear the difference and it's helping me pronounce more like a native speaker

[@JaderEBrasil]

Thank you very much, your videos are helping me A LOT to understand how to produce these sounds!

[@melissaaxtell7559]

Again, the format is awesome! I love the IPA and articulation diagrams! They're so great! I was kind of getting the same sounds... Sort of! 🤣 But not really. This makes it so much clearer and easier to practice!

[@mengyingsun5875]

你解释得太好了！我正需要这样的视频来推荐给我的学生！谢谢！

[@goldezidane]

What a usaeful video!!! I´m from Spain and it´s great to find material for learning pronunciation that dont depend on analogies with english pronunciation You won one subscriptor and one upvote, thank you very much

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Nacho SolMar Hello Nacho SolMar:) Actually what you said is one of my goal of teaching pronunciation! I know it’ll be confusing sometimes to analogy Chinese sounds to English sounds, and it’ll properly not sound so native if you learn it that way. So that’s why I’m trying to teach tongue positions directly! :)

[@xiaojunslefteyebrow]

Estamos en las mismas jaja

[@qaaqqutsiaqtaatsiaq8796]

For such a long time I got told that the j is the same as the English j, apparently it was wrong. Thank you ☺️ this video helped a LOT

[@yifan6466]

I like your lesson, it helped me a lot, thank you Grace.

[@morgianaalibabax2307]

I know that I MUST practice more and more. Thank you so much Grace for such a load of helpful videos. Always supporting you.✨✨✨🌹

[@ckelvin2079]

Your graphical explanation really helps

[@UpNfamish2]

“j” n “q” are affricates that start with “t” which has the tip of the tongue touching behind upper front teeth, not the front part of tongue to block air flowing through.

[@myavahaha]

your videos are so good, the best i’ve ever come across!! the way you explain things is so easy to understand and memorize, thank you for putting out such great educational content

[@Story.line19]

THANK YOUTH'S! This is gamechanger! 😍 But I feel like you just made my mandarin practice 10 times harder! I was doing so many things wrong! 😅

[@agnesbiro-petho1931]

You are a great teacher! Ági from Budapest

[@sealwang7464]

Very clear & a CD academic, hope you don't mind showing this to many students.

[@lucasthomson]

THIS WAS SO USEFUL. Many thanks x

[@RenoTrader]

hi grace a kind review. I think the reason I have hard time memorizing is because you started explaining x, j , q in thsi order. and then the examples were J Q X.. The order confused me. but thank you.

[@kanjanawanooey1735]

easy to understand. I love it. Thank you laoshi.

[@lucasmatias.coaching]

This serie of pronunciation was really helpful. Thank you, Grace. I am on your Instagram. You're amazing!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Lucas Matias.Coach_ Thank you!! Glad you like this series! Happy to have you on Instagram and here! :D

[@Alkis05]

I'm subbing. Many teachers try to explain this without talking about point of articulation and mode of articulation (which part of the tong to use). They can produce the sound correctly, but gives students no why to produce the sound. I wuld point out that some languages, like portuguese (I think romance languages in general), have no aspired consonants. So it is very difficult to notice the difference between 'j' and 'q', unless they are being voiced differently. Speacially because to 't' sound overwhelm the aspired 'h' sound.

[@amazonpolyglot]

Thanks Grace. I am really learning!

[@keidoizumi4048]

such amazing trainings!

[@laura2089]

This is literally the best video I found to explain this ❤️✨

[@goryaudio]

Thank you so much. This video is very helpful. Thank you again

[@AdrianA-tu5qm]

I couldn't understand the differences between these sounds but you have given a good explanation, for which I am grateful. As I understand it now, this is the rule. The consonant still sounds the same, whether followed by /i/ or not, and despite the differences in articulation, but I now know, when reading pinyin, that if /j/, /q/ or/x/ is followed by /i/ it is articulated with the tongue down in the forward position and the lips wide, and the /i/ is pronounced as /ee/. For /zh/, /ch/, /sh/, /r/, /z/, /c/ or /s/, the tongue is always up and back and, if followed by /i/, this is not pronounced as /ee/. Please correct me if I have got it wrong.

[@lovelyramasana6895]

OMG!! I'm struggling a lot to learn Chinese Mandarin I'm so grateful I found your videos despite how hard to learn your language. Just wanna share that because of Wang YiBO I'm eager to learn your language and I hope I'll be able to understand and learn it sooner. xie xie

[@lostwords5646]

WANG YIBO WAS MY REASON TOO

[@Quadraginta1337]

谢谢您，Gloria。 That X is what’s most challenging so far. This helped a lot. But I still have a hard time pronouncing 学 and 学习。 My phone thinks I’m saying 水when I just say 学。 When I say 学习it picks up on it a little more successfully but it’s still iffy at times. Also I have a background in cantonese, which messes with some pronunciation.

[@loanphuongg]

Thank you so much for this episode

[@nakedsnakeromero5111]

Muchas gracias Grace me ayudo bastante el video anterior y este.

[@NastashaK]

Thank you for the clear explanation! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@xiaomao2625]

شكرًا على الترجمة العربية 💘💘 ، 🥺💓💓thank you for arabic translation

[@monkaeyes3417]

Honestly great video, some idiot is trying to tell me Qi = chi and you’ve been monumental in me winning the argument to tell him he’s incorrect.

[@Galaunicorn]

The pictures of tongue position are really helpful!

[@sharkdzung]

Awesome. Thanks sweetie! I'm strugling with these sounds and this vid did help me out.

[@marialuisa4955]

Wooow amazing explanations, finally I can understand the difference and reproduce the sounds. Already subscribed, keep up with the good work!

[@luanar7807]

J: 1:50 Q: 3:01

[@iJustWantSkyrim]

Wow, the tongue drawings were really helpful! Thank you, Grace

[@in_vas_por8810]

Thank you so much!!! You explained these small details better than everyone I have seen. This helped me a lot ❤

[@timothyedwardthomas303]

Same

[@Xiaoyu-1295]

Thank you thank you very much. From Vietnam

[@mimqoq]

i can tell the difference when they're just the sounds alone, but to guess what sound was (x or sh/ ch or q/ j or zh) that from a word is just not something i can do 👁💧👄💧👁…especially when native speaker speak because they won't speak slowly and clearly😭😭😭

[@tymanung768]

Tješe are 3 of the 6 post 1500 new, consonants at start of syllables that Northern dialects Chinese invented or decided to use

[@renatasoto6416]

I loved you😍... best explanation ever 💚 你太牛了！！！！

[@kristinagogova3413]

love your videos, keep up the good work!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

kristina gogova Glad you like the way I explained it! 謝謝你

[@Coccinelf]

I think I got the tongue position right but I hear no difference. Is it possible? I mean it did help me anyway because it's impossible to get the i sound of xi qi ji when your tongue is in the ch sh zh position but I don't hear any difference on the consonant. For example, I totally know what word you say because I can hear to difference in the vowel. It would be great if your examples would use words with more similar vowels (iong and ong, or iang and ang).

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Coccinelle Thanks for the suggestion! ☺️ About your question, I’m not sure if I get you right, but these might be something you want to know: “j q x” and “zh ch sh” these two groups of sounds don’t combine with same finals. For example, “ong” this final can’t combine with “j” but can combine with “zh”. So that’s why you can easily know what words I was saying. You just need to know which group combines with which finals and then you can easily distinguish them!

[@timothyedwardthomas303]

Very useful,thank you so much!

[@udhayabala8621]

Great Teacher! Thank you😄

[@sunnivanguyen6723]

Thanks so much for making such great videos about how to pronounce Chinese, I love your technique and hope to learn more from you.

[@brightwin2734]

thanks for making this video. it helps me know how to pronounce correctly

[@n.w4179]

Your videos are great!!! Subscribed! 😄

[@FABULOUSdango-omochi]

難しいけど面白いです！ 素晴らしい動画をありがとうございます

[@willan.witan.]

What the heck This video is actually the best.

[@QuizmasterLaw]

i think mouth shape is more important than tongue position for X and SH. I am sure that X has a wide flat mouth whereas SH can have a rounder mouth - 对不对？

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Ann Onymous Yes you’re right about the mouth shapes, but I think to pronounce these two sounds, the tongue positions and the mouth shapes are both important:)

[@QuizmasterLaw]

@@GraceMandarinChinese Grace Mandarin Chinese yes of course tongue and mouth are both important. the pinyin is an attempted internationalization so it has influences from German (Z) Russian (X) French (J) etc. For Anglos X is hs or hsh and I wish i knew for sure which, that might be a regional accent distinction? sh is just like English. Q i think is TCH Q versus CH is very tough for anglos.

[@حسينش-ك7ج]

Thanks a lot, please continue

[@kwonhyunwon]

This video was great. Thanks

[@michaelstevens109]

Very very helpful

[@caizza3]

Thanks Grace! I always have trouble with 机车 and 汽车 XD

[@hsupyaethu6112]

thank you.this helps me alot

[@SK-zi3sr]

I used to think, I gues like most people did, that zh and j was pronounced the same but it’s not ofc