Master Chinese "zh ch sh r" | Pronunciation Training

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

🌟 Join me on Patreon for exclusive Chinese learning content: patreon.com/GraceMandarinChinese *Note* : For iOS users, please join via the Patreon website to avoid additional App Store fees. For more information, you can read this article: news.patreon.com/articles/understanding-apple-requirements-for-patreon - The handout for today's lesson: gracemandarinchinese.com/pronunciation-training-handout-1/ If you have any suggestion or any idea that you want me to talk about, please leave a comment below :) Also, if you'd like to learn more about pinyin, check out this awesome article by my friends at Yoyo Chinese: yoyochinese.com/pinyin

[@Amarykyong]

It would be nice if you talk about the tones. I struggle a lot with it.

[@tungthomas3449]

Amazing, Please make more videos about Final Chinese (Vowel) with IPA.

[@afs.akther8272]

For Pinyin 'sh', try thinking of English 'sh', but with the tongue curled back (ʂ).

[@lionelcerda258]

.......YOU ARE A VERY INFORMATIVE TUTORIAL TEACHER.... THE WAY YOU BREAK DOWN THE TONES & USING DRAWING GRAPHICS TODAY I WILL SUBSCRIBE TODAY WITH YOUR CHANNEL & GIVE IT A THUMBS UP...FOR A LIKE !!

[@yanysoumchet]

(: wow;)

[@kyled2153]

As a linguistics nerd, I have to say that this is the best explanation for retroflex consonants, aspiration, and affricates without using technical language

[@weaverlforest6454]

She does a very goodzjob.

[@matthewheald8964]

Same

[@ryand.5857]

Also same

[@kieuvu4146]

Same. It is so easy for me to understand how to pronounce those correctly

[@cadaverdog1424]

She’s excellent!!… but she accepts the IPA t + long-s symbol for zh, even though she pronounces it as IPA D + long-s [sorry, I don’t access the IPA yet on my cell?!]_ the actual sound lacks the impact of a t, and is really the sound- impact of our English ‘Joe’ etc. albeit in a different place in the mouth of course.

[@DennisSmdFreefightTrainer]

I am learning chinese for 3 years and never got the difference between zh and ch. NOW I finally got it with those great tongue pictures and paper experiment. Thank you so much!!!

[@xanderx8289]

Boy. You never knew about voiced and voiceless sounds? I mean that's like the first or second class on any language, even your native language.🤦‍♂️

[@TheZenytram]

I hear zh as the voiced version of ch. I just cant not hear it like that.

[@_yuri]

@@xanderx8289 he never said anything about voiced and voiceless though smh

[@sealdew5348]

@@xanderx8289 lmao not everyones like that lmao also who knows they might not even be an english native smh

[@Xetiq843]

when I first started learning chinese I fell in love with the language immediately. it was like a new part of me was born which was always meant to be there. that's why I love your videos. keep it up!

[@_anais._.]

oh my goodness this is AMAZING. I've always been able to say the difference between the constants but this has corrected the way i say them all. i am so shook. i did NOT know i had to curl my tongue and now i sound so much better when i say words. i am so hyped right now

[@mxhorsepower]

For American English speakers there is something else about the 'r' one that took me a while to find out. You might be pushing the sides of your tongue against your teeth when you pronounce an 'r' or 'l' in English and when you see the 'r' when learning these pronunciations you might be accidentally doing the same. So if you are, just try consciously relaxing the back and/or sides of your tongue. This helped me a lot when I was learning Korean. Technically I'm not 100% sure this applies for Chinese but I don't see how it wouldn't. Too bad this is an older video now. Hopefully some people see this lol

[@greenflare3125]

It's the internet, people will always find it one day!

[@pandabugdiaries2384]

thanks for the tips! i find the "r" sounds are always some of the trickier sounds no what language I'm learning

[@asloppyjoedonut9616]

Hey thanks a lot :)

[@ravenhailey8993]

you just helped me figure out my problem in 2023 😂🎉

[@larissamerlo1253]

Thanks from 2024!

[@guitarrerato]

By far, the best explanation to pronounce this sounds in all KZbin.

[@FionaRavennn]

I'm a Cantonese speaker trying to brush up my Mandarin. This video is so helpful! I never knew about the tongue positions because when we speak Cantonese, our tongues are completely relaxed. No wonder why there's a saying "天不怕地不怕，最怕廣東人講普通話" haha! Thank you Grace!

[@RoyRecinos]

What is the saying!? I can’t copy-paste to find out.

[@lehnb58]

@@RoyRecinos Google translate says: "I am not afraid of heaven and earth, but I am most afraid of Cantonese speaking Mandarin."

[@teocantsleep4611]

Hey Grace, this is hands down the best video I've seen on how to do the sounds. This is how phonetics should be taught. Thanks so much!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

I’m glad you like this method! :D

[@Bradelff]

This video of pinyin ponunciation is far and away the best video lesson for doing this. The detail of lip shape, tongue position, and air flow shown by and explained by Grace is exactly what is needed to learn this. I have had a lot of problems saying these sounds correctly, so no one understands me (most of the time) when I am saying words that use these sounds, except for standard phrases that are always easily understood.Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to do such an excellent job teaching how to pronounce these pinyin sounds.

[@Kaneki6386]

Best explanation on KZbin, thanks!

[@warrensimpson3095]

Thanks

[@bryanalexismoya397]

This channel has changed my life!!!!!! OMG I love you so much lol. I started learning Mandarin on a whim and the pronunciation killed me.

[@djbslectures]

Thanks!

[@4SyriaTruth]

Grace, you are by far the best Mandarin pronunciation teacher I know of - no shortcuts, the real deal (by the way I speak Arabic and 6 other languages)

[@lurklingX]

The set up of this video was fantastic. It was incredibly helpful to see the picture of the head and tongue, and have the international pronunciation thing.

[@johnalmeter4654]

Excellent explanation! Just found your videos... I might actually be able to make those sounds now. Grace, you're the best! 🙏

[@MitosdaDera]

I'm so happy that I finally understand and also I'm able to do the sounds! Thank u soooo much!!

[@myh2566]

Thank you, Grace. This is the best lesson on pin-yin I have seen. Your explanation is very clear from your pictures showing the positions of tongue, teeth and air flows.

[@cormac33]

This was SO helpful and also as someone with a linguistics background, this is a really good demonstration to anyone who likes learning (about) languages how IPA can be super useful! if you can read IPA with a little practice you'll be able to figure out the exact tongue/lip positioning just from the symbols.

[@swt5736]

Hi Grace! you're amazing!! 谢谢你！！真的 I've been looking for videos that would show me exactly what you did, with the tongue and mouth position and even that drawing. It's very similar to "tajweed" which is the way to pronounce arabic to read the Quran. They use exactly the same drawing and explain exactly which part of the tongue touches which part of the palate/teeth/gums to pronounce a specific letter. I always wanted to find the equivalent for Mandarin because I thought just mimicking the sounds wouldnt be enough. I can't wait to watch more of your videos! edit: can i just add, i love that there's no background music in your explanations and you give time to practise. It's so perfect. I find background music so distracting and it always turns me off certain videos.

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Sw Therese Hi! Thanks for the feedback! You literally made my day! I really appreciate it :D Glad to have you here! Hope you will enjoy other videos as well ;)

[@speechhaven3426]

اهل مسلمة؟ اتعلم بللغة العربية والصينية

[@swt5736]

@@speechhaven3426 yes I'm muslim but I cant really speak arabic (or chinese) lol

[@tinataheri4559]

Oh i've learnt tajweed too, this way of teaching is really helpful that you will easily understand how to pronounce any sound just by looking at their mouth or hearing it, you will guess how to put your tongue or where to stick it

[@hasnaluthfiyah1450]

The IPA is really useful.... I've been studying Chinese for almost six months on my own and stuck on how to pronounce the zh ch sh r..... thank you so much for this!! I hope I found your youtube channel earlier....

[@luxielle]

I'm glad I found this channel. I've been learning for about a week or so and my tutor is actually impressed! Thank you so much. :)

[@simon-white]

Kudos for explaining the IPA with accompanying pictures, takes away all the mystery of the linguistic mechanics.

[@maruzande]

I honestly believe that there is no one who explains consonant sounds as well as you. You got me out of a problem .. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. Mil gracias!!!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Thank you for your kind words! 🥰 You’re very welcome!

[@tadhuynhvn]

Thank you that helps a lot. And the other pronunciation tips. Also you’re pretty and kind.

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Anh-Dũng Huỳnh-Trương Thank you! :D And I’m glad you have learned something from my videos ;)

[@syrenagrey182]

I'm a beginner and your lesson was so thorough and easy to understand. These sounds were giving me a hell of the time.

[@learningchinese988]

Thank you so much! You're really great! Thanks a lot. Greetings from Argentina!!

[@CecilyJenkins]

Thank you!! This is just what I needed to help me learn the ‘r’ sound in Chinese!! 🤯 I’ve been trying to imitate it for so long with no success. This video is extremely helpful. ❤

[@kimilove6953]

In addition, the shape of tongue and the position for "the roof of the mouth" is the place that determine the sound quality of retroflex. The closer the tip of the tongue touches the palate (plus with a more subapical tongue shape), the more tendency for your retroflex to sound more like the Northern Mandarin's version. The fronter the position of the tip of the tongue across the alveolar ridge (plus with a flatter tongue shape), the more tendency for your retroflex to sound more like Southern Mandarin's version.

[@sang5445]

IPA를 활용해서 설명해줘서 더욱 이해하기 너무 좋네요. 많의 강의 찾아볼테니 영상도 많이 올려주세요. 한국에서 구독자가 보냅니다.

[@mr.giang_salesmanager6563]

Thank you so much for taking me out of confusing all these pronounce. You are so pretty and have very good teaching skills.

[@JonasTjader]

Thank you Grace, great video!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

I'm Jonas Oh!!! Wait!! I have watched many of your videos! I can’t believe you watched my video and left a comment! Thank you! You made my day haha 😂

[@JonasTjader]

@@GraceMandarinChinese your video is really clear! please make a video on pronounciation of z and c, like zai and cai, this is what I always have problem with... thanks for watching my video :)

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

I'm Jonas I’ve talked about “z c s” in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2ecgGxpi6tnZpY And also if you want, you can practice all Chinese consonants with this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWmYq5htfdepgNk 😊😊

[@JonasTjader]

@@GraceMandarinChinese Great, thanks, I missed that you had already done that video :)

[@LauralieTardif]

I love that you use IPA! I learned it at school and find it useful to understand the differences between similar sounds in Chinese with sounds in my mother tongue!

[@AverageSparrow]

Thank you for these lovely videos! I just started learning Chinese and honestly the sounds have been harder than the tones so far. I appreciate you using the IPA and mouth diagrams. It helps a lot.

[@nhuquynhpham01]

It's extremely useful for me. This is the best guidelines. Thank you so much

[@JustLooking]

When you showed the IPA for zh/sh, my immediate reaction was: wait a minute, I've already learned a Western language (Swedish) with those two sounds! Now my problem is getting used to starting a syllable with them; unlike Mandarin, Swedish usually puts [ʂ] and [ʈʂ] at the END of words like _fors_ [fɔʂ] 'waterfall' or _hörts_ [hɶʈʂ] 'been heard'.

[@mpe777]

Big help for me. I am starting now and was always confused about the zh sh ch. Thank you!!

[@SanJoseCAJeff]

Seeing both the IPA and bopomofo is helpful. I have always had trouble with the 'r' in Mandarin, and your tip makes it more distinct, thank you

[@christopherlee287]

I'm left-handed, have a monotone accent and struggle to pronounce even my native language as I have dentures. I couldn't be more unsuited to learning Chinese! Haha I feel I actually just made progress though watching your video! Thank you Grace. :)

[@RosencrantzDead]

Thank you so much. I'm starting to learn Chinese seriously for the first time and I've been having huge trouble with these sounds. Your explanation has made the most sense so far!

[@missmeadow3264]

That is the best explanation for how to pronounce the Mandarin "r" that I have come across. Thank you so much!

[@alexbloddrunk1875]

I’d love to have a teacher like you🥰

[@mikikazukimaus]

after watching this video I can only say... my mouth and tongue feel waaay too tired! but I could somehow grasp your superb explanation, thanks a lot! I gotta say that adding IPA makes and tongue position graphics makes it super useful too, I learnt english that way so I'm kinda used to that teaching method. Once again, thank you! I can finally begin learning ^_^

[@googrit]

You are going to think I am exaggerating, but I am not. I shed tears of gratitude the first time I watched this video. It is *so* much better than any other such explanation on the internet (I have watched them all). Patiently waiting for the rest of the vowels... Thank you so much for this!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

I'm glad you found the video helpful!! and thank you for giving me the feedback!

[@jademao7]

with you I learn Chinese and used my ear to English in which I am also studying. Thank you

[@vickyxie]

GRACE YOU'RE BLOWING MY MIND omg as a heritage speaker I always couldn't do the R sound quite right, omg this just BLEW my MIND it's so simple the way you explain it lol. thank you!!!

[@rayhem]

whenever i think i have it, i get it mixed up again! ive never made these sounds before, i have a long way to go. but this is the very best video i have found about it and its been helping immensely thank you

[@cherryphoo9363]

Thank You so much grace now I can pronounce chinese pinyin correctly because your teaching.

[@nabibibi.9908]

Thank you, Grace . I really like your video. You make me get great motivation. I will learn English from you too after I can speak mandarin . Your videos are my treasure. 💚

[@iagonoah6974]

I really appreciate your effort on making such an amazing video. I've recently started learning Chinese and I'm glad to have found your channel. Wish you all the best!!!

[@thanhbui2246]

I was looking for pronunciation instruction. Your video is absolutely what I've been looking for. Your drawing and explanation were very detailed, clear, and super super helpful. Thank you so much for such a wonderful video.

[@patleo123]

Grace, you are best !! The pronunciations are so similar. But you grouped them together and tell me the very minor differences. I learn bit by bit. Thank you

[@morgianaalibabax2307]

Super useful video. Thank you so much.🥰🌹🌹🌹

[@Mamonoui]

你值得在教中文发音方面获得第一名，非常感谢！我来自阿尔及利亚，母语为阿拉伯语，我正在学习中文。我真的很喜欢你的视频，再次感谢！❤

[@morgianaalibabax2307]

Thank you so much. I need more videos teaching pronunciation like this because I'm struggling with pronounce Chinese words.😂😂😂

[@MegaGehendra]

A SMART TEACHER.......great!!!! Greeetings from Nepal!!!

[@-goatqueen6817]

Thank you SO much for this video, Grace! I (officially) began learning Mandarin yesterday, and I was already close to giving up so soon because of the tones, pronunciations, and characters. This video, though, really helped me nail down some of the harder pronunciations for me, so I’m eager to keep going with my learning! 谢谢！

[@mdr8062]

Not a day bestie

[@-goatqueen6817]

@@mdr8062 What.

[@mdr8062]

@@-goatqueen6817 没关系

[@tacitozetticci9308]

Good job! Just what I needed, very concise too. Subscribed

[@thats.amorev]

I was so shocked! I’ve just started learning Chinese and tried to copy the sounds at the beginning of the video to practice. But when when you introduced the IPA I tried again, following the diagram and there was an instant improvement! Thanks for the awesome video Grace 😄💕

[@altanshagj5538]

The most easy to understand way of pronouncing vowels, thank you

[@言って-x1e]

Thank you teacher Grace, now I can pronounce each sound of Chinese clearly.

[@z.m.4331]

I wish there were word examples right after showing the pronunciation for each particle, but still this was an enormous help! Thanks :D

[@AS-wi6hr]

good teacher!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@vnlcully]

I am taking a quality over quantity approach by mastering the pronunciation of sounds before I learn a bunch of words. I hope it works well and thank you 🙏

[@zz79ya]

Really difficult for me from Korea. How wonderful Chinese people are

[@popito8366]

out of all pronunciation videos of mandarin consonants on the internet. Yours are the best thank you for including IPA symbols as I'm familia with it I can easily replicate the sounds . 谢谢你！

[@ahmeds5181]

This is really helpful Grace!!! Most teachers dont teach with IPA without which it is really difficult to understand the difference! But you made it very clear!! I am in Taiwan and trying to learn mandarin…Thanks😃

[@lynntfuzz]

Thank you so much!!!! What a wonderful video! You explain it so clearly, it all makes sense now. Now I'm going to go practice. Ha!

[@duynguyen53225]

That's really helpful and easy to understand and mimic! Good job!

[@yasmim1919]

Thank very much! Your videos are so helpful, and so well made, thank for sharing your knowledge and making it so accessible!

[@msace6710]

Thank You Grace. I have to say some of these sounds are challenging for me

[@cristinachui5348]

Amazing. I always wanted to know where to place my tongue and lips for different sounds and words. Thank you so much for this!

[@WestSeaSpirit]

Wow this was extremely helpful! I developed the Shì sound after so many mistakes. Now I often pronouce it correctly. I was naturally developing the Zh sound and r, but this gave me EVERYTHING I needed. Thank you.

[@秒學印尼語]

Hi! I'm Grace's classmate, just here to add that according to the book 《語言學綱要》by Ye and Xu (1997), there are two ways of pronouncing the sound "r". In page 69, it was stated that "r" can be pronounced as /ɻ/ which is the same as the English rhotic "R" sound. But some people also pronounce it as /ʐ/, which has a certain "z-ish" vibe to it, mainly heard in the Mainland. This sound does not exist in English, but for Italian, Russian, Polish or speakers of other languages stated in this wikipedia page: ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_retroflex_fricative ), please do check the sound out! It makes you sound cool (or at least I think so! haha) Anyways, great video, Grace, as always!

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

Thank you for this information!

[@RonIbarra]

This is pretty interesting! The sampled voice is like saying allá with an Argentinian accent - though typically this sound is very rare in Spanish.

[@rodrigoneustadt6302]

What you say about Italian and Russian is wrong. Those sounds can br heard in Polish, Czech, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Hungarian, French and some other languages. The way you pronounce the r changes depends on what vowel follows it. You should not try to teach if you don't know what you're talking about.

[@janetmissjacksonifyourenas2904]

Rodrigo Neustadt they literally make a detailed, helpful addition and bc they made 1 mistake which doesn’t even have to do with chinese, that they shouldnt help ppl learn chinese. bruh

[@dirtyyy7668]

@@rodrigoneustadt6302 /ʐ/ is a common phoneme in Russian and Polish but not Czech. When Russian and Poles say /ʐ/ (spelled ж for Russian and ż/rz for Polish) Czechs say /ʒ/ (As in English word vision). Compare Russian жабаˈ/ʐabə/ and Polish żaba /ˈʐa.ba/ with Czech žába /ʒaːba/.

[@vladimirru13]

So, so helpful. Thank you.

[@GeoScorpion]

Ah! Perfect explanation! Also, your diagram of the shape of the mouth behind the upper teeth was a LOT more helpful than others: Before, I thought I had to nearly swallow my tongue or something. I had problems with sh- and r-, but when you mentioned vocal cords (voiced), it snapped into place, finally! Thank you, Grace!

[@GeoScorpion]

(BTW, I was told that if your mouth doesn't ache a bit after a few minutes of this, you're probably not doing it right... ) 🤣😫

[@danielart4062]

thank you so much for this video, this is the only video where i clearly understood the differences sending you hugs from israel :)

[@Ethan7_7]

As a native macedonian(slavic) speaker, we have the 3 sounds in my language, albeit we pronounce them a lot clearer(closer to english) And I love that you gave the IPA explanations, helps me as Im a linguistics student

[@LordFaFi]

You are a great teacher. Thank you so much.

[@tevamcdowell3637]

Thank you!! I learned " " traditional " " singing of opera (+ballet) and punk rock. I learned opera sounds and ballet when i was really little. The end of your video will continue to be most helpful. I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing the visual pieces of what your sounds are like.

[@isailecter3155]

This is just what I needed! Thank you very much for the video. Goes right to the point and is really helpful

[@arfiyankun6627]

Thank you so much. Your explanation is easy to understand. Now I can differentiate between the 3 because of you. Xiexie ni

[@GilmarCatala]

I watched tons of videos about it but this is an incredible explanation, thank you!

[@HQNATV]

This is so helpful, thank you! Especially at the beginner level where its very hard to segregate those sounds.

[@zhanghoang]

Xìexie laoshi !

[@clonkex]

After messing with this a bit, I think the main difference between zh and ch is that zh begins with immediate vocalisation, whereas ch has a burst of unvocalised air before the vocalisation starts.

[@KatyM423]

This was SO helpful. Thank you!

[@_chimera_]

Excellent content, Grace! ❤

[@victoriakexing8784]

Hi Grace! First of all, thanks for the video and explanation. But I have 2 Issues that make pronunciation of these sounds quite complicated for me: 1. As it was already mentioned earlier in one of the comments here, it's more complicated to pronounce the sounds with other vowels than "i" and with different tones. 2. I understand clearly the pictures with tongue positions but I don't see and feel the tongue positions inside my mouth, the only thing I can feel is when tip of the tongue is behind my teeth.

[@feiwong70]

Thanks so much for these awesome videos, Grace. This is super helpful. I wondered what the differences between these pronunciations.

[@Melissa-bb4xd]

Thank you so much, I finally got It. Most videos teach these sounds simply comparing them to English, but this is much better ❤️

[@rhatid]

An excellent explanation! 👏👏👏👍

[@luigi0654]

Thanks for the vid, I’ll try to keep practicing. I think you should do a video about the differences between c, s and z. Or x, j and q. Or something related to those. I think those are the most difficult for some people learning chinese.

[@GraceMandarinChinese]

luigi0654 You’re welcome! Yes I know.😊 I’m planning to do the pronunciation training “j q x” in the near future!

[@ephemeral2552]

I found this from Graces video with the student who studied Chinese for 1.5 years. I thought it was just another pronounciation video which would leave me where I started. How wrong I was. Very well done video

[@dimii27]

I admire your teaching skills!

[@Garbaz]

That paper demo was great! And overall, really nice explanation. I still don't quite understand the IPA, but the tongue pictures really helped.

[@xyz-pf1yz]

thank you teacher, the best explanation ever, hands down. ✋

[@santiagovalencia7709]

Fantastic video. Really good. Probably the best video on this topic. I love that you use Zhuyin, I prefer that to pinyin because each sound is properly represented, and not hidden by a romanized substitution that do not include all the sounds. However, you say that in English they don't have the 3 sounds you talked about in this video...and I think they do but only as a form of tonal extension when they pronounce certain words. I'll explain. For example: Zhi is like Ger in German Chi is like Chur in Church Shi is like Shir in Shirt Equally, for other tricky sounds like ji, qi: Ji is like Jee in Jeep Qi is like Chee in Cheese I don't know if it will help someone or add more confusion but those helped me at the beginning when I did not have any reference to imitate the sounds.

[@2010mceric]

Thank you for this. I've been struggling with those sounds. This really helped!