How do I get my head round Chinese pronunciation?

October 1, 2008 2:27 PM

Does anyone know any good websites for learning Chinese pronunciation?

I’ve recently tried teaching myself Chinese but I’m having some difficulty understanding pronunciation. Specifically, I’m have trouble with the Ing / Bing and In / Bin sounds. When I listen to recordings of the Ing sounds, it sounds like there’s a Y at the start of the syllable, but when I listen to the combined B + ing sound, on some recordings it sounds like the Y disappears and others it sounds like it’s still there.

Am I right in thinking that the sound transliterated as BING is recently closer to BYING in English?

I’d also appreciate any general advice on Chinese pronunciation as I’m finding it a little confusing.

posted by Jack Alucard to Education (6 answers total)

heh, my Mandarin 1 class just got into this yesterday.

FWIW, the pronunciation CD that came with my text has bin (BEAN) and bing (BEENG) quite distinctly.

but don't listen to me since I know less about this than you!
posted by troy at 2:38 PM on October 1, 2008

Might be a nuance from different speakers. Chinese speakers from different parts of China speak differently.
posted by wongcorgi at 3:41 PM on October 1, 2008

There are many variations in mandarin pronunciation, to such an extent that you may not understand the same words spoken by two different speakers. ChinesePod is by far the best resource for pronunciation that I have found because they have an entire clickable chart. However, there is a fee to use their site--but, if you're serious, is definitely worth it. The last time I scoured the web for something free was a few years ago, and I recall some helpful stuff at the MIT opencourseware site. All that being said, I just have to say it: if you want to be able to speak chinese well, seek out a native speaker that represents the accent you are trying to learn (someone with a Beijing accent is always the standard) to help you. I'm sure you get the concepts fine, but it really helps to have someone correct you at the critical initial stages.

In terms of the extra syllable you are hearing, it could actually be two words eg. bi + ying etc.., but that is probably immediately evident from the context. Alternatively, it could be a function of the tone. Forth tone bings sound different than first tone bings, etc...

Hope that helps.
posted by OlivesAndTurkishCoffee at 6:50 PM on October 1, 2008

In Mandarin, when the "ing" sound stands alone, there is a "y" sound in front of it, as in
ying-guo(英国), 印度(yin-du), 拼音(pin-yin).
The standard is to pronounce with a "y" in front (and this is how it is spelled in Pinyin too) but some speakers do not pronounce the initial y or pronounce it only very faintly, particularly Southerners.

With regard to "bing", depending on the speaker there can be a notable "y" noise, particularly with third (dipping/low) tone: 饼(bing) is often pronounced by Northerners as "bying." However, you should not notice this "y" noise as much with other tones.

Also, Beijing accents are notoriously unstandard. However, your tapes will most likely have a very standard speaker doing the pronunciation. Occasionally they like to throw "er" onto the end of some syllables, but it's more to introduce you to the phenomenon than it is a part of the standard accent, I think. I don't think any Chinese actually speak like on the tapes, but you will probably find the most standard accents in the Northeast, particularly Liaoning or Heilongjiang provinces.
posted by pravit at 7:43 PM on October 1, 2008

Best answer: I've found the pronunciation guide at Sinosplice to be awesome. It breaks everything down pretty far.

The rest of the site is awesome as well. It's a valuable resource for the (Mandarin) Chinese learner.
posted by ElectricBlue at 10:36 PM on October 1, 2008

Response by poster: All the answers were good but ElectricBlue's answer helped me the most. Any more advice on learning Chinese pronunciation would be appreciated.
posted by Jack Alucard at 7:05 PM on November 7, 2008