Jamie Posted July 12, 2004 at 02:42 AM Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 at 02:42 AM Does the "h" in "hén" catch in the back of the throat, almost gutteral sounding, or is it pronounced with a regular soft "h" sound? In many cases it sounds guttural to me, but when I try to imitate the sound my efforts sound terrible, like I am trying to hawk a loogie (forgive the expression). Help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shibo77 Posted July 12, 2004 at 03:07 PM Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 at 03:07 PM In Guan (Mandarin)? As in "痕hen2" in "痕迹hen2 ji4 (trace, vestige)". Hanyu Pinyin's "h" is [x] in IPA. It is pronounced from the throat. Similar to Arabic "shaykh(sheikh)", German "acht(eight)", "Scottish loch(lake)"... If you pronounce it for some time, blood might spill out from your throat. Not a good sound... -Shibo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted July 12, 2004 at 04:54 PM Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2004 at 04:54 PM Eek. Not looking forward to the blood spillage, but I'll need to practice that sound (useful also if I want to learn German). Thanks shibo77! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disenchant Posted July 13, 2004 at 03:55 AM Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 at 03:55 AM In Guan (Mandarin)? As in "痕hen2" in "痕迹hen2 ji4 (trace, vestige)". Hanyu Pinyin's "h" is [x] in IPA. It is pronounced from the throat. Similar to Arabic "shaykh(sheikh)", German "acht(eight)", "Scottish loch(lake)"... I disagree with your comparisons regarding hen2. Heng2 may be comparable 'acht,' but hen2 tone comes more from the top of the mouth, not nearly as deep-throated as German sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XiaoMa Posted July 23, 2004 at 09:23 AM Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 at 09:23 AM Yes, i agree with that, acht comes from deep in the throat while hen2 is pronounced in the middle of the mouth. In addition, hen2 is spoken flat while acht is spoken wide. I think these sounds are easy to pronouce for germans, but sounds like xi chi si qi ji are harder to pronouce.... what sound is easy to pronounce in your language? greets from germany, XiaoMa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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