{"id":1972,"date":"2015-07-06T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T16:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?p=1972"},"modified":"2020-12-10T13:45:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:45:41","slug":"common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Problems with English Consonants for Native Chinese Speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A few weeks ago, I did a post on <a href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/english-pronunciation-resources-for-native-spanish-speakers\/\">the English learning needs of native Spanish speakers<\/a>. In this post, we\u2019ll look at some of the needs of Native speakers of Mandarin Chinese.<\/p>\n<p>The sound of Mandarin Chinese and the sound of English are very different in many ways. Because of this, Chinese speaking learners of English face a number of unique pronunciation challenges. English consonants can be especially challenging for native Mandarin speakers. Let\u2019s look at some of the most common consonant difficulties. Being aware of these common errors is the first step toward correcting them.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Consonant sounds in \u201cgendered\u201d pronouns (pronouns that refer to males or females)<\/h2>\n<p>In Mandarin Chinese, the pronouns \u201che\u201d and \u201cshe\u201d are written differently, but have the same spoken pronunciation. Even in English, \u201che\u201d and \u201cshe\u201d are very similar sounding words. Because of this, it\u2019s especially easy for Chinese students to use these pronouns incorrectly. Similar problems happen with the possessive pronouns \u201chis\u201d and \u201chers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chinese English language learners should practice saying and hearing the \u201ch\u201d and \u201csh\u201d sounds in \u201che\u201d and \u201cshe\u201d to overcome this challenge. For \u201chis\u201d and \u201chers,\u201d Mandarin speakers should focus on being able to properly hear and say the \u201cr\u201d sound. \u201cR\u201d doesn\u2019t really exist in Chinese. When it appears near or at the end of a word, native Mandarin speakers do not pronounce \u201cr\u201d at all. This can make \u201chis\u201d and \u201chers\u201d sound almost exactly the same.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>English consonants at the end of syllables<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cR\u201d isn\u2019t the only consonant that Chinese students have trouble pronouncing at the end of English syllables. Like most East Asian languages, Mandarin has few \u201cclosed\u201d syllables&#8212; syllables ending in a consonant. Words and syllables ending in consonants are of course much more common in English (just look at the words in this sentence).<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes native Chinese speakers will leave out the consonants at the end of a word completely. For example, \u201cI thought\u201d can easily sound more like \u201cI thaw.\u201d At the end of English words, Mandarin speakers tend to leave out the \u201cl\u201d sound and replace it with a vowel sound. It\u2019s not uncommon for \u201cl\u201d to be mispronounced as an \u201coh\u201d or \u201cooh\u201d vowel sound at the end of words. Examples of this include \u201cpeepoh\u201d instead of \u201cpeople,\u201d or \u201csimpoo\u201d instead of \u201csimple.\u201d Chinese students should pay extra attention to the way they \u201cclose\u201d words that end in consonants.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Voiced consonants<\/h2>\n<p>At other times, native speakers of Mandarin Chinese will mispronounce difficult English consonant sounds by replacing them with consonants that are more common in Chinese. When the \u201cg\u201d sound appears at the end of an English word, for instance, a Chinese leaner may instead say the \u201cng\u201d sound. (EX: \u201cfrong\u201d instead of \u201cfrog.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cG\u201d is a voiced consonant, where the vocal cords and voice must be used for correct pronunciation. Many English voiced consonants can be difficult for Chinese learners, both at the beginning and end of a syllable. The voiced consonant \u201cth\u201d can be particularly hard for native Chinese speakers. The \u201cth\u201d sound involves pushing the tip of the tongue against the front teeth. Chinese speakers of English tend to replace \u201cth\u201d with several different consonants that involve the tongue and front teeth, including \u201cl,\u201d \u201cd,\u201d \u201cs,\u201d and \u201cz.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chinese students should make note of which consonants in English are voiced, and take care to say these consonants correctly while using their vocal cords.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few weeks ago, I did a post on the English learning needs of native Spanish speakers. In this post, we\u2019ll look at some of the needs of Native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. The sound of Mandarin Chinese and the sound of English are very different in many ways. Because of this, Chinese speaking learners [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13618],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[13630],"class_list":["post-1972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speaking"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Common Problems with English Consonants for Native Chinese Speakers - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Common Problems with English Consonants for Native Chinese Speakers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few weeks ago, I did a post on the English learning needs of native Spanish speakers. In this post, we\u2019ll look at some of the needs of Native speakers of Mandarin Chinese. The sound of Mandarin Chinese and the sound of English are very different in many ways. Because of this, Chinese speaking learners [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-06T16:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-10T21:45:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/files\/2016\/09\/Facebook-SEO-Default.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Recine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@MagooshTOEFL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Recine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers\/\",\"name\":\"Common Problems with English Consonants for Native Chinese Speakers - Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-06T16:00:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/common-problems-with-english-consonants-for-native-chinese-speakers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Common Problems with English Consonants for Native Chinese Speakers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/\",\"name\":\"Magoosh Blog \u2013 TOEFL\u00ae\ufe0f Test\",\"description\":\"Online TOEFL Preparation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\",\"name\":\"David Recine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/de262e64bb4e3e488753d8c58ff3cc70\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Recine\"},\"description\":\"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. 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Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew"],"knowsAbout":["TOEFL","IELTS","TOEIC","PET","FCE","BULATS","Eiken","SAT","ACT","GRE","GMAT"],"knowsLanguage":["English","Italian"],"jobTitle":"Content Creator","worksFor":"Magoosh","url":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":13630,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"David Recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b70c17ee6f3ef87dc4cc5dbdebda911d6dd30dfe15845e4b1d459a3e1b33ef98?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"Recine","first_name":"David","description":"David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he's helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT.\r\n\r\nDavid has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C50&amp;q=Recine+magoosh&amp;btnG=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his Master's Thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Reading with Pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-WITESOL-Program-FINAL-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> WITESOL (link to PDF)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> NAFSA<\/a> conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru.\r\n\r\nCome join David and the Magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCra3KQoJlOP7RYwaCyH2qew\"> Youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MagooshEnglishLearning\"> Facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> Instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> LinkedIn<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1972"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/toefl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}