tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1097986209385885261.post841405645278030798..comments2024-02-25T18:44:51.365-08:00Comments on English for Chinese: Which English letter do Chinese pronounce wrong the most?Yong Huanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1097986209385885261.post-19938937986583719922015-01-07T07:08:51.326-08:002015-01-07T07:08:51.326-08:00Kristine, thanks for your comment. I suggest you r...Kristine, thanks for your comment. I suggest you re-post it changing "I'm an" to "I'm at", "they confidence" to "their confidence", "disappear" to "disappears", and removing "you say that". You can keep the embedded link pointing to your web site.Yong Huanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1097986209385885261.post-84306510009995179682015-01-07T03:35:04.908-08:002015-01-07T03:35:04.908-08:00Hello Yong Huang,
I'm Kristine Peterson and I&...Hello Yong Huang,<br />I'm Kristine Peterson and I'm an <a href="http://www.ccjk.com/language-translation/simplified-chinese-translation-services/" rel="nofollow">English to simplified Chinese Language Translator</a>.<br />Most of your observations are right but something has rooted in Chinese students when they try to learn English. For instance, you say that some are not confident and the fact is that they confidence gradually disappear as they strive to do endless exercise. We really need practice but we are truly afraid of losing faces particularly in front of many people. I think that this is partly due to our culture.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04412203960505828400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1097986209385885261.post-64524044332238908182014-12-11T10:35:04.834-08:002014-12-11T10:35:04.834-08:00Yes, many Chinese pronounce "N" as "...Yes, many Chinese pronounce "N" as "恩" (without tone). I just tried pronouncing this character many times. I think the weak vowel at the beginning of it is articulated between the front and central position, which may be called near-front (refer to the vowel chart). The tongue is not as stiff as [e] or [ə]; it's relaxed. Anyway, the correction should be to move the position toward the front (stick the tongue a little further out and down), open the mouth just a bit more, and articulate it louder and longer.Yong Huanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1097986209385885261.post-27518985033513972832014-12-10T17:47:55.205-08:002014-12-10T17:47:55.205-08:00Indeed. [en] is not a good representation, either....Indeed. [en] is not a good representation, either. And different people pronounce the letter slightly different, even if they all have this tendency. Have you encountered people pronouncing it exactly as "恩"? I have, and I found it quite interesting.<br />And about "Ng" and "fish", yes they have the [ŋ] component. That's why I said "the front-nasal version", trying to get rid of that component and just keep the consonant part. But when I came to think about it just now, I realized that [ŋ] is not exactly what we refer to as "the back-nasal sound" in Chinese.... But, anyway, I am from the south. I don't know anything about back-nasal sounds. :D enchyislehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01415193912548005674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1097986209385885261.post-88348307247739814152014-12-10T07:04:25.929-08:002014-12-10T07:04:25.929-08:00enchyisle, thanks for your comment. Yes, we're...enchyisle, thanks for your comment. Yes, we're talking about the same phenomenon. I agree that my [n] completely removing the vowel is not a very good representation of what's pronounced by them. But in my opinion, neither is [en] a good one. Maybe [(superscript e)n] is better, where the superscript "e" indicates a very short and weak sound of [e]. (I can't create the superscript text with the sup HTML tag in this comment.) I'm not very sure about family name "Ng" or "fish" in Shanghainese. Do they have the [ŋ] component in it (like the very last part of "sing")? If so, that's not it.Yong Huanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12820517092538495121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1097986209385885261.post-72193093798324003402014-12-09T20:56:00.439-08:002014-12-09T20:56:00.439-08:00I've heard many Chinese people from the north ...I've heard many Chinese people from the north pronounce "n" like {en} in pinyin (like 恩).<br />Perhaps because [ɛn] looks like it.<br /><br />But you used [n] for the Chinese pronunciation. I don't know if we are talking about the same phenomenon. For me, [n] sounds more like a front-nasal version of the family name "Ng", or "fish" in Shanghainese.enchyislehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01415193912548005674noreply@blogger.com