Comments on: Why Is It So Easy to Rhyme in Mandarin?

By: Silas S. Brown

Silas S. Brown — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:38:57 +0000

One reason why a bank of erhua syllables is hard to come by: only a minority of Chinese people can speak them, and those that can are more likely to be shy about recording!

I helped to record syllables for Gradint in 2008. It has the basic 412 syllables recorded from context (not from isolation), in each of 4 tones + neutral tone, all broken into separate files and GPL’d (and it took us a long time to do it!) I wanted to do the erhua syllables as well, but the Mandarin speaker couldn’t say them because she wasn’t from Beijing. When I asked others, I found quite a few people who could do erhua but they’d say things like “you don’t want my voice because I failed my CCTV interview” – it seems they’re more likely to be perfectionist and therefore less likely to give it a go!

(It doesn’t help that this project records whole syllables, therefore having erhua would almost double the already-large amount of work. You could try recording initials and finals separately but I expect it would compromise the quality of the resulting syllables.)

By: peter parker

peter parker — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:45:25 +0000

“And in the bus,you could hardly hear clearly what the conductor saying, at least me”

hellen,i think the chinese guy who go to beijing for the first time,still can’t hear what the conductor said.at least me.

By: Mo Kaiwen

Mo Kaiwen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:22:00 +0000

Oh wow, that’s amazing. The instrumentation (accordion and all), the vocal melody, even which words in the lyrics get repeated, it’s all practically identical. Now the little “Wanna be be be your love!” at the end makes a lot more sense. I think song genealogy fascinates me just as much as etymology

By: Albert

Albert — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:56:58 +0000

Mo Kaiwen,

Wow! Thanks those are great. I’ve just copied and pasted them up into the list.

Incidentally, 一个人睡 by 莫文蔚 (Karen Mok) is actually a remake of “Be Be Your Love” by Rachael Yamagata in case you didn’t know.

By: Mo Kaiwen

Mo Kaiwen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:16:06 +0000

Sorry this is late in coming, but I ran across your article, and I’ve been discovering a lot of Chinese music recently, so:

a, ia, ua: 中意他　zhòngyì tā by 梁詠琪 Gigi
an (yan), ian, üan: 浮城 fú chéng by 陳奕迅 Eason Chan (this much -ian in one song really threw me for a loop the first time heard it)
ao, iao: 口香糖 kŏuxiāngtáng by 梁詠琪 Gigi (during the verse); 咕嘰咕嘰 gūjīgūjī by 孫燕姿 Stefanie
ei, ui: 一個人睡 yīgèrén shuì by 莫文蔚 Karen Mok

i (yi / ji):
夢遊 mèngyóu by 孫燕姿 Stefanie (most of the first half)
關於 guānyú by 孫燕姿 Stefanie
愛情黑盒子 àiqíng hēi hézi by 梁詠琪 Gigi

ing: 得不到的爱情 débùdào di àiqíng by 姚莉 Yao Lee (old timey lounge song)
uo, o: 漩渦 xuán wō by 孫燕姿 Stefanie
u: 腹語術 fùyŭshù by 莫文蔚 Karen Mok

By: Helen

Helen — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:51:41 +0000

I have to recommend kāi tiānchuāng开天窗（open the skylight) by Mayday

By: Helen

Helen — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:24:03 +0000

a, ia, ua 妹妹 BY 江美琪

ang, iang, uang juéjiàng倔强(Obstinacy)
by 五月天mayday,a group

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:51:25 +0000

u – 休止符xiūzhǐfú (a rest) by 孙燕姿Stefanie

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:15:20 +0000

ai – 不愿说再见 also by Leehom

By: Helen

Helen — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 09:42:39 +0000

I just had been to BeiJing. Truly Beijing rénr like érhuà.
One day, I asked a volunteer,“请问去西花市怎么走？”–”Please tell me how to get to Xī Huā Shì (a street name)?”
She smiled then asked,“请问你是去西花儿市呢还是西华寺？”–”Do you want to go Xī Huār Shì or XīHuá Sì（name of a temple)?”
I’m sure I pronounced exactly.And especially Shì ,as the normal situation.
But she asked. So I repeated,I want to go Xī Huār Shì ,not XīHuá Sì.Pay my attention on huar.
Finally got the answer.
By the way,thanks she didn’t tell me yòng tuǐ zǒu用腿走(walk by your legs).
Actually, Xī Huār Shì is more smoothly than Xī Huā Shì.
Besides,it seems that formal term should not érhuà儿化.
In addition, Beijing locals speak rén人，sounds like yínr more than rénr.
And in the bus,you could hardly hear clearly what the conductor saying, at least me.
some of them speak very fast and thick.
Is there anything wrong with my ears?
Ok, I’ve gotten carried away. Only my personal experiences.