Hi, Welcome back to my channel.
I’m Grace.
Last time I talked about
how to pronounce “zh ch sh r” these Chinese consonants.
And today I’m going to teach you how to pronounce “j q x” correctly.
I’ll tell you about their tongue positions
and the differences between them.
Plus, I will compare “j q x” with “zh ch sh”,
which will help you distinguish these sounds.
Let’s go.
let’s start with the easiest one: “X ㄒ”
Btw I’ll add Zhuyin,
which is the phonetic symbol
we use in Taiwan, next to the pinyin.
OK, same as last time, let’s look at the IPA first.
If this is your first time watching my videos,
you might not know what IPA is.
So if you’re wondering about this,
you can take a look at my previous video.
I put it here.
Ok the IPA of “X ㄒ” is this one
this symbol represents a tongue position like this.
the first thing you need to do is
put the tip of your tongue down
behind the bottom of your teeth.
and then move the front part of your tongue
towards the position pointed out here.
More specifically,
this position is before the palate and after the alveolar.
So move the front part of your tongue towards here,
but remember do not touch it.
just like the picture shows.
and also you have to pay attention to your lips,
your lips should spread wide like you’re smiling.
and then let the air out.
X
Ok practice with me: X X X
OK, next one, “j ㄐ”
The IPA of “j” is this / tɕ /.
Now, you can recognize / ɕ / this symbol.
it means that “j” and “x” both have the same tongue position.
so when you want to make the “j” sound,
you can put your tongue in the same position as “X”,
like this picture shows,
also your lips should spread wide.
The difference between “j” and “x” is that,
as you can see,
there is an extra symbol “t” here,
it means that to pronounce this “j” sound,
You need to block the air in your mouth first.
So here is the way to block the air:
You let the front part of your tongue stick to
the position I pointed out,
and then let the air go through your mouth.
At this moment because your tongue is blocking the way,
the air can not go out. like this.
Then the next thing you need to do is
let the front part of your tongue go down a bit
and let the air out to say. “j”
ok, let’s practice: j j j
The final one is “q ㄑ”
This one is pretty similar with the previous sound “j”.
So, in order to tell the difference between them,
let’s take a look at their IPA first.
They both have this and this,
meaning their tongue positions are exactly the same
and to pronounce them, you have to block the air first.
And you might notice that the only difference is that
“q” has an extra symbol “h”.
This small “h” means that when you pronounce this sound,
you need to exhale more strongly.
Everything else is just the same as “j”
OK, let’s practice: q q q
After learning how to make these sounds,
let’s figure out the differences between “j q x” and “zh ch sh”.
if you haven’t watch my previous video about “zh ch sh r” yet,
I suggest you go through it first.
Because after watching that,
it’ll be more easy to understand what I’m about to say.
OK, let’s get into it.
Generally speaking,
the tongue positions of these two sound groups are different.
When pronouncing “zh ch sh” you should curl the tip of your tongue
to the position pointed out in the picture.
on the other hand
when you pronounce “j q x”
the tip of your tongue is behind the bottom of your teeth.
Like this.
let’s practice to distinguish “zh” and “j”,
“ch” and “q”,
“sh” and “x” together.
First, let’s start with “zh” and “j”.
It can take you a little time
to think about their tongue positions
and the differences between them.
ok? Now, practice with me.
執行 to implement
機型 models
日誌 journal
日記 diary
remember that
although these two sounds have different tongue positions,
you have to block the air in your mouth first for both of them.
Next, let’s practice “ch” and “q”.
遲到 to be late
騎到 ride to
雞翅 chicken wings
機器 machine
when pronouncing these two sounds,
remember to exhale more strongly than with “zh” and “j”.
the last one is “sh” and “x”.
ok, think about their positions first.
when pronouncing these two sounds,
you don’t have to block the air,
you just put your tongue at the right position,
and then let the air out.
Let’s practice:
潮濕 humid
朝西 towards west
演示 to demonstrate
演戲 acting
OK, this is today’s lesson.
if you just started learning Chinese,
it will definitely take you some time to
get used to these tongue positions.
just keep on practicing,
you will pronounce them well eventually.
And if you want to get the information of this lesson,
you can go to my Instagram and find the handout.
I’ll see you next time,
bye!