Ferno Posted December 30, 2005 at 08:47 PM Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 at 08:47 PM ie "tiao" and "piao"... this has happened to me several times (I check the dictionary and find out that it was a "t" instead of a "p" or vice versa, much to my surprise! ), but they seem like completely different sounds. Are the two sounds closer in mandarin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest Posted December 30, 2005 at 10:26 PM Report Share Posted December 30, 2005 at 10:26 PM no, they are very different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakkaboy Posted December 31, 2005 at 06:43 AM Report Share Posted December 31, 2005 at 06:43 AM But I might get a j and a d confused. I remember talking about Beijing's Haidian area once, and the Chinese person I was talking to thought I was saying Haijian because I didn't touch the teeth for the d - the influence of an English accent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted December 31, 2005 at 02:59 PM Report Share Posted December 31, 2005 at 02:59 PM I get that too (dian and jian, diao and jiao), never noticed until a friend completely didn't understand what I was talking about, after that I started to try and say them right. For some time I turned every jian into a dian, but I think I got it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altair Posted January 8, 2006 at 02:55 PM Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 at 02:55 PM ie "tiao" and "piao"... this has happened to me several times (I check the dictionary and find out that it was a "t" instead of a "p" or vice versa, much to my surprise! ), but they seem like completely different sounds. Are the two sounds closer in mandarin? I have occasionally had this problem as well. It may have to do with the fact that the aspiration in Chinese is stronger than in English and that this causes English speakers to pay less attention to the ealier portion of the sound that precedes the puff of air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferno Posted January 10, 2006 at 08:42 AM Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2006 at 08:42 AM hmm Altair I think that just might be it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockytriton Posted January 18, 2006 at 01:28 AM Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 at 01:28 AM I don't get those two confused, but when listening to rosetta stone say "zhuo zi shang" (on the table) and "zhuo zi xia" (under the table), it's nearly impossible to tell the difference without looking at the text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferno Posted January 18, 2006 at 03:58 AM Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2006 at 03:58 AM my biggest problem with listening now is the n/ng ending thing. Some people just simply pronounce all "ng" endings as an "n" - as if Mandarin didn't have too little syllables as it is. ie even with Jenny on Chinese Pod, I have to double-check every word that I learn and correct half of my "n" endings into "ng" endings... is my hearing bad or do some (southern?) speakers care as little about differenting "n" and "ng" as they do "sh" and "s"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterwelm Posted January 23, 2006 at 09:08 AM Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 at 09:08 AM Femo: I'm a southern speaker,southern speakers care more about the difference between "en" and "eng"( "in" and "ing" too,but "an" and "ang" can be very easily distinguished) than that of "zh/ch/sh" and "z/c/s".Because "eng/en" "ing/in" are difficult to be distinguished. My expression in english is poor,I don't know whether you can understand or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferno Posted January 23, 2006 at 10:21 AM Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 at 10:21 AM yes I understand perfectly Why the name "peterwelm"..did you just choose an English name for the forum or is it something else? If Henan people pronounce the "ng", then I think it depends on the area of the South. Ala mentioned in the non-mandarin forum that Shanghai people do not distinguish n/ng endings because Shanghai-hua is a Wu dialect and Wu dialects do not distinguish n/ng ending. I also remember some posts a few months ago about Hangzhou people not distinguishing n/ng - well, Hangzhou is near Shanghai so Hangzhou-hua is probably a Wu dialect too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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