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Learning mandarin pronunciation | ||
Tags: Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Tannimun Triglot Newbie Norway Joined 4662 days ago 3 posts - 11 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Norwegian, English Studies: Spanish Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 4 19 March 2012 at 1:04pm | IP Logged |
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I've read most of the threads in this forum I found, and thought were relevant or interesting enough, but one question still remains unanswered.
When beginning with mandarin I'm really afraid of learning the wrong pronunciation. I know it takes 10 times longer to learn it correct if you learn it wrong from the beginning. I have found two different pinyin charts with audio, so I can choose what syllable I want to hear and with what tone. My thought is that I could go through and learn all the different syllables by heart so I would never have to worry about mispronunciation So my questions; 1. Is it even possible to learn all the syllables perfect? 2. Is it a waste of time trying to learn the "pinyin sounds" instead of trying to learn the actual chinese language? Does these questions make sense? I've been avoiding the Pimsleur and Michel Thomas courses because I just don't trust my ears to hear the right pronunciation, and even less my own mouth to be able to say the correct words with the correct pronunciation. I'm waiting to get my Assimil Chinese course, at least then I can se the pinyin phonetics at the same time I'm trying to hear the differences in pronunciation. But what does phonetic romanization help me if I don't know by heart how it should be pronounced, or at least how it in theory should be pronounced? My goal is to forget about pinyin when thinking of words, but I do really want to learn the pronunciation correct from the beginning, and I can't stress that enough. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4706 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes  Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 2 of 4 19 March 2012 at 1:41pm | IP Logged |
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It's of course not a waste of time to learn how to read pinyin. There's probably no other way around anyway.
When I've started learning Mandarin, I found that reading the IPA description of pinyin was the most effective way to learn the difference between close sounds (zh/ch or others), because my native friends seemed unable to help, except by repeating the sounds over and over. And for your question 1, you can learn how to pronounce in a very standard way the sounds, but of course when you'll speak these sounds will undergo assimilation, and even more when you listen to it! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5409 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 3 of 4 19 March 2012 at 3:20pm | IP Logged |
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Pinyin is your friend. If you understand from the start that you are not to assume that pinyin spelling corresponds to English sounds, and if you learn what each letter stands for, then it will allow you to find the accurate pronunciation of any word for the entire duration of your studies.
As for learning a chart, I suppose that's one way to do it. I would actually concentrate on useful words containing the sounds. This way, you can also feel what these sounds are like when you also have a consonant at the beginning of the word, or a nasal consonant at the end (which slightly nasalizes the vowel). And you will be building a small vocabulary at the same time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6610 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 4 of 4 19 March 2012 at 3:27pm | IP Logged |
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This is the millionth time* I post this link on these forums, but it remains the undisputed king of Mandarin pronunciation guides: Sinosplice Mandarin pronunciation
* It's not actually the millionth time 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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