Archive for the ‘Pronunciation’ Category
Thursday, April 24th, 2008
DISCLAIMER: In case I have a Chinese reader, I should tell you "funnest" isn't a real word.
This post started out innocently enough as a fun way to test the new audio plugin (thanks to Beijing Sounds for the tip) and celebrate the joy of speaking a foreign language. But ...
Posted in Word Hog | 18 Comments »
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007
Let's face it people: Those 4 (actually 5) tones in Mandarin Chinese don't really play by their own rules. Sure, if Chinese people are saying one word by itself, and if they're saying it really slowly, then the tone will probably sound like the textbook says it should. But ...
Posted in Tones | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 16th, 2007
If you're writing a lot of pinyin on the computer, and you're not good with the numbers, you may want to try using something I call "diǎndiào"点调 (dot tone). It uses periods in lieu of tone numbers, like this:
dian...diao.... = diǎn diào
As opposed to:
dian3 diao4
Sometimes, in a chat, or ...
Posted in Tones | 2 Comments »
Thursday, March 15th, 2007
As I'm sure many of you know, the number of syllables in Chinese is limited. It's not like English where you can just throw together practically any letters you want and make a new word (like "craisins").
So, that means it's actually possible to make a chart of all the ...
Posted in Sounds | 46 Comments »
Sunday, March 11th, 2007
One of the frustrating things about learning Chinese is the high frequency of incidents where my Chinese just "doesn't work." I may be saying something I've said a thousand times, and the next time I say it, I just get blank stares and loud blinking in response. Why?
There ...
Posted in Pronunciation | 28 Comments »
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