Introduction:

Chinese is a group of language varieties that form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, spoken by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world’s population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language.

The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be variants of a single language. Due to their lack of mutual intelligibility, however, they are classified as separate languages in a family by some linguists, who note that the varieties are as divergent as the Romance languages. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is just starting. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin (with about 800 million speakers, or 66%), followed by Min (75 million, e.g. Southern Min), Wu (74 million, e.g. Shanghainese), and Yue (68 million, e.g. Cantonese). These branches are unintelligible to each other, and many of their subgroups are unintelligible with the other varieties within the same branch (e.g. Southern Min).

Pronunciation is the basic part of mastering Mandarin Chinese. If you want to learn this language well, it’s necessary to lay a good foundation about Chinese pronunciation at the beginning.

No matter which level you are in, making sure your pronunciation correctly is definitely necessary and never too late. All in all, a good beginning is half the battle. With this guide, you can learn Chinese pronunciation easier in a correct way.

• Part 1: What is Pinyin?

Chinese is not a phonetic language. The pronunciation is not related to the writing of Chinese words (characters). Pinyin is a special system, created for people to learn Mandarin pronunciation. Pinyin transcribes the Chinese characters so people can pronounce them. It may be used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into computers or electronics as well.

The writing of Pinyin is similar to the English alphabet. You can pronounce every single sound out in Chinese using pinyin. However, you should aware that the Chinese pronunciation and spelling of pinyin letters are different from English letters. The sounds, which the letters of pinyin represent, do not correspond exactly to the sounds that the letters of English represent. So you can`t pronounce pinyin as if they were English. 

One Chinese sound is associated with one syllable and each Chinese character has its own pinyin syllable.

There are three parts in a pinyin syllable, which are the Initial, Final, and Tone. Initial and final represent the segmental phonetic portion of the language, rather than letter by letter.

• Part 2: What is Tones?

Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, which means that the way a sound is pronounced directly affects the meaning of what is said. Mandarin’s tones give the language a very distinctive quality, but the tones can also be a source of miscommunication if not given due attention.

There are four main tones and one neutral tone in Mandarin Chinese (or, as some say, five tones). Each tone has a distinctive pitch contour, which can be graphed using the following Chinese 5-level system.

I’ve seen some posts claim that the Chinese tones are just like English, which conveys the attitude or feeling of a speaker, however, it`s not the case. This idea is mixing up two different concepts. English doesn`t have tones since words don`t change the meanings when you pronounce them with different intonations. However, in Chinese, even with the same initial and final, different tones represent different characters and meanings. There are many Chinese characters with the same initials and finals.

• Part 3: Why Tones Matter?

If you can`t recognize the tone, you might always struggle to figure out what Chinese people said. And there are also many embarrassing situations you will encounter when communicating with Chinese people.

I met many Chinese learning quitters. They told me that they did want to learn mandarin. After they read the pinyin chart two or three times in the first two lessons, they thought these Romanization letters were a piece of cake and it was time to move forward to learn more “real Chinese“. As a result of spending too little time on mastering the tones and proper pronunciations, the subsequent overload of similar vocabulary ruined their confidence, so they had to quit. Enough practice on your ears and mouth will help you survive, even though the beginning might be tedious and tough. Once you go through this essential part, you will lay an unbreakable foundation for your Chinese learning.

That`s why the matter of the tone.

• Part 4: Tips and Suggestions: How to improve your Chinese pronunciation

Master the basic rules of pronunciation and tones.

Knowing basic greetings like “你好” “你好吗” in Chinese is not hard, but advancing beyond the warm-up greetings is quite a different endeavor. As a beginner, the most important thing is to be familiar with all pinyin sounds, spelling rules, and tone-changing rules. If possible, you`d better find a professional teacher who can speak standard mandarin Chinese and explain the differences among those similar sounds properly.

Having Enough input: Make your own language environment

If you are learning Chinese in China or luckily be surrounded by a group of native speakers, just try to talk to them about what you`ve learned. If you can`t follow them at the beginning, don`t feel embarrassed or upset. It`s a quite common phase. What you need to do is at least distinguishing the words you`ve learned and be more familiar with the intonation the Chinese language makes. Gradually you can connect all the words and figure out what they are talking about.

If you don`t have a language environment, make it yourself! There are tons of online learning resources. Also, learning from movies and TV shows is also a great way to train your sense of the language, and know more about Chinese culture as well.

Having Enough output

• Practice in words, phrases, and sentences

Don`t just practice the individual characters. There is a phonetic change in the flow of speech, especially the tones. When you first begin to study Mandarin Chinese pronunciation, it is beneficial to practice pairs of tones. Begin with a word you already know, The start is of course tough, however after going through it; the longer sentences will be much easier for you.

• Slow down and be clear

Pay attention that you do not speak too fast. It`s very natural to speak at a normal speed just like a native speaker. But you are just a beginner who might not pronounce the standard sound. Speed is the last thing you should care about. Just SLOW DOWN! Make your sounds clear and correct. If people can`t even understand you, do you seriously care about your speaking speed? After all, successful communication is the goal and accuracy is the most important thing.

• Practice makes perfect

As we mentioned above, you need to cultivate a keen sense of the Chinese language by enough input. Somewhen you are practice by yourself and not with others, you are creating the illusion that you are speaking Chinese well. The truth might be only you yourself can understand or of course, your teacher can guess what you are trying to say exactly. So the only key is practice, practice, and practice. If once doesn`t work, then do it twice, triple…… You will finally get it.

• Learn from your mistakes

As you know, Chinese people are very kind, so encouragement and compliment will be the main trend of their comments to your speaking. Confidence is necessary, but their kindness is not your reason to ignore the mistakes and your foreign pronunciation. Ask your Chinese friends to point out your inaccuracy and specific problems directly. Of course, it can`t be better if the one friend is a professional teacher. Then take down the notes of your common mistakes and analyze them one by one. This process will help you conquer your problems. It may be discouraging sometimes to hear about so many mistakes, but you will learn a lot from them quickly and it will help you to improve much faster than you think.

• Review all the time

Acquiring accurate pronunciation is a long-term battle. Don`t be naïve as if you can master the authentic pronunciation in one shot. Record all your mistakes and misunderstanding of some specific concepts. Review your notes from time to time. It will call your attention and remind you of the right way you should act. One day you will finally master them all.

So there it is; a pretty much complete guide to Mandarin Chinese Speaking Pronunciation for a beginner. Hopefully, you’ve managed to iron out some of the kinks in your Mandarin Chinese by going through and seeing how to correctly pronounce.

Good luck with the rest of your journey. We’ve given you the right type of ship, shown you how to pilot it, and set you off in the right direction. Now, all that you need to do is to make sure to keep your sails open and your rudder steady.