Even after months of practice I still find it difficult to get the pronunciation right, and even more so if I try to do it at anything approaching natural rates of speech. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to approach this: useful websites, tips on how to produce the right sound, etc
If any Chinese teachers are reading this, do you think you could show a learner how to produce the right sounds in your language, bearing in mind that you have to explain it 'from scratch' : how to use your teeth, lips, tongue, breath, etc. to put together the sound. A real challenge !
Thanks Laurence, the sounds I'm making are better ! It's hard work, as you say, but then almost no-one ever said Chinese was easy ! 谢谢
I'm not Chinese, but I have had a few friends explain this to me and I think I'm able to give you the basic idea.
There are 3 groups of sounds - ZH, CH and SH (and R) / Q J and X / and then the rest
For the fist lot, you need to curl your tongue back to get it on the roof of your mouth. If you put your tongue behind the base of your top teeth and then slowly pull it further back whilst constantly maintaining contact with the top of your mouth, you will get to a point where it feels like it's going down into gutter (strnge analogy, but I hope you get the idea). About a third of the way down here is the right place for your tongue. Now for ZH you try and say "J". For CH you try and say "CH" and SH you try and say SH, but all of these you must do with your tongue in this new position. Does this make sense? For the R, you sort of vibrate your tongue of the roof of your mouth until it sounds something like a Chinese R. As always, hours and hours of listening will help you get it closer. I found practising the word 生日
For the Q, J and X, you need to put your tongue in a different position.
@Ben; Denis Thank you for your suggestions. I'll look in to both of these.
Adrian, are you in touch with the Confucius Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London? They will be able to give you a lot of help with tutors, learning material, immersion courses, etc.
