How is zh pronounced

Another sound which seems quite different from the zh, ch, and sh sounds but is actually very similar is the Mandarin r.

You'll find your tongue in the same place as it was for the sounds of "j," "ch," and "sh" in English. Now, just as before, pull the tip of your tongue back behind the ridge. Try making the sound now. It should produce a strange, "buzzy" sort of sound. This is the Mandarin r. It will take some practice to be able to produce it reliably. The Mandarin r does not combine with quite as many vowels as zh, ch, and sh:.

The following are the IPA symbols for this section's pinyin vowel sounds:. Listen to the sounds of this section and try repeating them by clicking on the syllables below:. Keep going! The exciting "r" sound is next. A1 pronunciation points.

For more information on how to legally use this content, please see our Creative Commons license unless otherwise noted. View View source History. Tough sounds s-sh-, c-ch-, z-zh- A2 Tough sounds x-sh-, q-ch-, j-zh- A2. In series Pinyin quick start guide. Easy sounds 2.

The "a" vowel 3. Manoochehr Manoochehr 9, 13 13 gold badges 47 47 silver badges 78 78 bronze badges. Pinyin uses zh and j to represent two distinct sounds in Chinese, but these sounds are not differentiated in English, so they are both pronounced like an English j. However, as the answers mention, zh is commonly used to represent a voiced sh, the sound in words such as lesion and azure.

Just making a note of this in case other people misunderstand like me : — Kosmonaut. Kosmonaut: Right. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Short answer: "zh" and "j" are not pronounced in the same way. Improve this answer. Kosmonaut Kosmonaut 49k 10 10 gold badges silver badges bronze badges.

In my accent, Jock and Jacques have distinctly different vowels. But I'm fairly sure that most British and Irish accents would distinguish those vowels. There are also other rarer pronunciations, like in Breton -- see the Wikipedia article on digraphs: en.

Yeah, your assessment of the Chinese is incorrect. Jon: ah, thankyou! PLL: If there is such a dialect, I don't know what it might be. Jon: thankyou! PLL: Right, but I think the origin of many such common pronunciation mistakes, when it comes to foreign words, is that people propagate the pronunciations that sound more correct because they seem more foreign.

Show 1 more comment. I'm not a linguistics major, but I can tell you that the two are not pronounced the same. Robusto Robusto k 37 37 gold badges silver badges bronze badges.

Lowie Lowie 19 1 1 bronze badge. Featured on Meta.