Hi everybody, and welcome to Break Through Chinese Pronunciation.
In this series, we’ll cover all the key sounds in Mandarin that don’t exist in English or are not pronounced like you think, as well as the most difficult and confusing sounds in the language, so you can really get a handle on Chinese pronunciation.
If you’re completely new to Chinese or you’re finding Mandarin pronunciation difficult then these videos are for you.
Or if you’ve been learning Mandarin for a while already but you think your pronunciation or tones need a bit of sharpening up, then these videos are going to be helpful for you too.
And don’t worry that I’m not Chinese, because we’re going to be using audio from native Chinese speakers.
It’s not really that useful to just practise sounds on their own, so we’re going to practise tones and words at the same time.
Remember the four tones, and try to pronounce the syllables and words in the correct tones as we practise.
And if you’ve got no idea what the four tones are, then watch my video on that first, and then come back to this video.
To get the hang of these sounds, you’re going to need to practise out loud. Being able to recognise these sounds is one thing, but being able to pronounce them yourself is a completely different matter, so be sure to actually get your mouth moving.
If you can’t do that right now, then you might want to come back to this video later when you’re in a convenient place to start experimenting.
I’m using colour coding everything to make it clear:
Dark blue is 1st tone, orange is 2nd tone, dark green is 3rd tone, red is 4th tone and silver will be for syllables that are unstressed.
Ok, let’s get started. Just repeat the sounds as accurately as you can, paying attention to what tone they are in.
Bo – 广播 guǎngbō – broadcast
Po – 老婆 lǎopo – wife
Mo – 触摸 chùmō – touch
Fo – 佛教 fójiào – Buddhism
Wo – 我爱你 wǒ ài nǐ – I love you
Duo – 多少 duōshǎo – how much?
Luo – 骆驼 luòtuo – camel
Nuo – 承诺 chéngnuò – promise
Guo – 中国 zhōngguó – China
Kuo – 包括 bāokuò – including
Huo – 火车 huǒchē – train
Zuo – 工作 gōngzuò – work
Cuo – 错 cuò – wrong
Suo – 所以 suǒyǐ – therefore
Zhuo – 桌子 zhuōzi – table
Shuo – 说 shuō – to say
Ruo – 弱 ruò – weak