The sounds of Chinese (The syllables)
Opening fact
Did you know that...
...there are only around 400 syllables in Chinese and most words are a combination of 2 or more of these syllables?
Lesson aims
After Lesson 1, you will:
- be able to distinguish the main sounds of Mandarin Chinese;
- be able to distinguish the tones of Mandarin Chinese;
- be able to pronounce the syllables of Mandarin Chinese, written in hanyu pinyin.
The syllables
If someone asked you what Chinese sounds like, what would you say? In fact, many people would mention a certain “melodic” and “rhythmic” quality. That is because the sounds of Chinese are, in fact, arranged in small groups – namely, syllables. Unlike in the European languages, there is a rather small and limited number of possible syllables in Chinese – around 400. Each syllable consists of a “beginning” sound (called the initial) and a “final” sound (called, well, the final). Which means that if you know how to pronounce all the “initials” and the “finals”, you know how to pronounce pretty much all Chinese sounds – as simple as that!
One important thing to know is that a “syllable” does not equal “word”. Most words consist of two syllables, although there are also words that consist of one or more than two syllables.
In this course, words are often written using Latin letters. It’s a system called hanyu pinyin – it’s one of several ways to represent Chinese sounds using Latin alphabet. Pinyin is the official system in the PRC and is recognized internationally.
Here are the sounds of Chinese. Please note that given English equivalents are only approximate.
Not all initials can be combined with all finals. Here’s a table with all the possible syllables:
Pronunciation
Initials |
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Don’t worry too much about these initials. They are pronounced more or less like their English equivalents. |
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Similar to the English “p”, but it’s aspirated – meaning that when saying this sound, you have to breathe out some air. |
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Similar to the English “t”, but aspirated. |
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Similar to English “g” in “god”. |
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Similar to English “k”, but aspirated. |
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Similar to “wh” in “who”. |
Pronunciation
Finals |
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It always has the quality of “au” in “laugh” (but is a little more open), never “a” in “man”. |
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Similar to “o” in “more”. |
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Similar to “er” in “hers”. |
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Similar to “i” in”like”. |
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Similar to “a” in “make”. |
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Similar to “ou” in “loud”. |
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Similar to “oa” in “load”. |
Pronunciation
Initials |
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Similar to “ds” in “kids”. |
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Similar to “ts” in “kits”. |
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Similar to “j” in “jug”. |
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It’s a combination of American “r” (as in “rug”) and “s” (as in “measure”). |
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Much like the English “j” in “jeep”, but much softer. Try saying the English “d” combined with an “s” and then “ee”. [A diagram would work well here, much like here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ |
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Similar to “j”, but aspirated. |
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Similar to “s” in “see”. |
Pronunciation
Finals |
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Similar to “ee” in “see”, except after z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r: after those initials, to pronounce –i, simply say the initial and extend it – you’ll get the sound you need. Or, if you are familiar with Russian, it’s close to the sound “ы”. |
Pronunciation
Finals |
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More or less like “un” in “fun”, but the vowel sound is longer. |
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Similar to “en” in “men”. |
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More or less like “ung” in “stung”, but the vowel sound is longer. |
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Join the Chinese “e” sound with the “ng” in “thing”. |
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A “oo” in “book” joined with “ng” in “thing”. |
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Similar to “oo” in “book”. |
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Similar to “wha” in “what”. |
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An “oo” sound in “book” followed by an “o” sound in “log”. |
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Similar to “why”. |
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Similar to “way”. |
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Similar to “one”. |
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Similar to “one”, but with a “ng” sound at the end. |
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A “oo” in “book” followed by an ”n”. |
By the way, –u, -ua, -uo, -uai, -uei, -uan, -uang can also be syllables on their own. Then they are written with a “w” at the beginning: “wu”, “wa”, “wo”, “wai”, “wei”, “wan”, “wang”. The pronunciation is the same.
We also have two more syllables: “wen” which is pronounced as “when”, and “weng”, which is simply the “-eng” final with a “u” sound at the beginning.
Pronunciation
Finals |
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Similar to “ya” in “yahoo”. |
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Similar to “yeah”. |
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The “ao” final with the “y” sound in front. |
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Similar to “yo”. |
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Similar to “yen”. |
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The “ang” final with the “y” sound in front”. |
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Similar to “in” in “pin”. |
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You know the word “ping pong”? Then you got the sound! |
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The “ong” final with the “y” sound in front. |
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Try putting your lips in the position of Chinese “u” and your tongue in the position of Chinese “i”. Or, remember the French “ü” sound – it’s similar. |
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The “ü” sound followed by a “e” sound. |
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The “ü” sound followed by “en”. |
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The “ü” sound followed by a soft “n”. |
-i, -ia, -ie, -iao, -iu, -ian, -iang, -in, -ing, -iong, -ü, -üe, -üan, -ün can also go as stand-alone syllables. They are then written with a “y” at the beginning, namely: “yi”, “ya”, “ye”, “yao”, “you”, “yan”, “yang”, “yin”, “ying”, “yong”, “yu”, “yue”, yuan”, “yun”.
Evaluate and comment this lesson
Latest comments
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Walter Navarro18.10.2021 03:39Sin sonido
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Walter Navarro18.10.2021 03:12It´s good to add a sound example.
Thanks! -
Rafal Zazula25.01.2021 21:30no sound
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Max Imperiali04.09.2020 15:19ok2
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Magdalena Stefaniak14.07.2020 15:34Nie moge odtworzyć żadnego dźwięku
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Magdalena Stefaniak14.07.2020 15:17I like it
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Magdalena Stefaniak14.07.2020 15:16Nice
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rui areias13.05.2020 13:40nice
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Massimo Imperiali30.04.2020 20:32ok
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Massimo Imperiali26.04.2020 15:35:)
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Massimo Imperiali26.04.2020 15:29?
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Elena Caterina04.03.2020 09:56Se lo aprite con Explorer l'audio funziona
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roberto satta08.01.2020 07:02Per l'audio è necessario Adobe Flash Player.
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Aleksandra Niedzielska10.11.2019 16:20Nie rozumiem sensu opisywania jeśli nie ma dołączonego dźwięku do ćwuczenia wymowy?
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Красимира Стоилова09.10.2019 13:10
Your whole program without audio is pointless - cheating. -
Красимира Стоилова09.10.2019 13:08Хей, нали към урока има аудио ?! Защо не се отваря ?!
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Marcos Vinicius Parangole20.08.2019 15:03XieXie
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Krzysztof Michalik09.07.2019 14:29Na razie bardzo przystępnie.
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zhivka georgieva20.05.2019 20:46no audio
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nicoletta tiraboschi27.03.2019 19:00Non c'è l'audio o sono io che non lo trovo?
Grazie -
Dragan Vukotić24.01.2019 03:37Precej podobno našemu slovenskemu jeziku,če dodamo malo iz znanja francoskega in nemškega.....smo tam.
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Daniela Pugi11.01.2019 08:04It miss audio!
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Miriam Soukupova07.12.2018 22:32No audio available!
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tichaona maphosa12.11.2018 22:54very nice indeed1
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JULIA SOCORRO LOPEZ26.10.2018 22:30para mi esta genial gracias
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Yordan Cherkezov28.09.2018 16:33Yǒuqù de shēngyīn!
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Yordan Cherkezov28.09.2018 16:32Wǒ shì bǎojiālìyǎ rén.
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Fabrizio Benedetto Alessandro Di Zitti21.09.2018 09:31audio chiaro, chiare le spiegazioni, il suono è fondamentale. E' come una melodia...
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Marc De Jonghe13.07.2018 09:15audio aangeraden
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ΕΥΘΥΜΙΟΣ - ΡΑΦΑΗΛ ΑΓΓΕΛΗΣ01.05.2018 22:18Ενδιαφέρον!!!
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Eva Dios31.03.2018 15:08A kiejtést össze lehetne hasonlítani a magyarral, a hehezetesek esetében a némettel.
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Eva Dios31.03.2018 15:07A kiejtést össze lehetne hasonlítani a magyarral, a hehezetesek esetében a némettel.
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Eben Nkrumah Amissah Fletcher19.02.2018 07:52i'm greatful
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Katarzyna Chabior20.10.2017 13:36Czy ktoś miał problem z dźwiękiem?? Niestety u mnie nic nie słychać
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Maria Fernanda Tavella13.10.2017 15:51buona e chiara
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SUSANNA SERRELI05.10.2017 12:52abbastanza esauriete
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Paolo Pasquini01.10.2017 07:26Molto promettente
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levente schepisi10.07.2017 11:35Un buon punto di inizio!
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Paolo Vittorio FRIGERIO12.06.2017 17:21Buon inizio, vediamo come continua
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Edson Monteiro18.05.2017 06:28Muito obrigado, Valeu mesmo
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shabbir lone01.04.2017 12:29ok
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Asif Muhammad06.03.2017 06:10Nice but have to put audio also
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Ramadan Shaban11.02.2017 05:19Grazie
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Ramadan Shaban11.02.2017 05:18Grazie
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Aleksandra Kmin26.01.2017 02:12trudne ale uczę się dalej
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GIOVANNI MEGLIOLI24.01.2017 08:16Grazie
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Châu Tân11.01.2017 09:55Thanks so much
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richard asiku19.12.2016 04:11Thanks
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richard asiku19.12.2016 04:02Thanks
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Светослав Петков18.12.2016 22:44Също като на Български
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NANA GVASALIA17.12.2016 16:20perfect. thanks
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Mendall Rogers23.10.2016 14:55GREAT! Thank you!
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Sting Schmalz19.10.2016 17:26ist ok
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Simone Stoppa19.10.2016 16:33Auguri a tutti XD !
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Pietro Luigi Riillo29.06.2016 13:46Si può cominciare...
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francesco prisco27.05.2016 00:38buon inizio!! :)
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francesco prisco27.05.2016 00:21buon inizio!! :)
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Alexandru Popescu15.04.2016 21:37Foarte bine!
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Alexandru Popescu15.04.2016 16:32Pronunțare clara, plăcută, distincta.
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Maria-Magdalena Doichita09.04.2016 18:23Foarte instructiv!
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Dennis Ritter31.03.2016 13:39Es könnten ein paar mehr Übungen zu den Tönen sein, allerdings gibt es dazu bei der BBC ein Spiel, das einen etwas größeren Umfang bietet http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/games/tones.shtml
Aber gerade die ersten beiden Seiten dieser Einheit sind klasse! Insbesondere der Verweis auf die schwierigen Töne bei Wikipedia! -
Paweł P.01.03.2016 17:01Nawet nie jest takie trudne :)
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sylwia michalska08.12.2015 14:54to jest jak polska wymowa jedynie te u z kropkami u gory to niemieckie u umlaut
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erika vergerio20.10.2015 21:59finalmente ho capito i toni!!
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matteo cherubini13.09.2015 19:57Perfetta molto chiara!
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Raphaela Miranda11.09.2015 22:50Lição ótima e de fácil entendimento! Parabéns pelo bom trabalho.
P.S: Algumas tabelas de fonemas estão sem o áudio -
sviriniuc tatiana03.08.2015 11:38la inceput e binisor
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maria paola ricci31.07.2015 15:04La sezione è ben spiegata e piuttosto chiara.
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giovanna bedino24.04.2015 16:12La parte più complicata è individuare il tono, non è spiegato bene nella pronuncia, comunque è interessante, anche se no semplice. Grazie!!
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tomasz Pawłowski05.04.2015 16:24Łatwe
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Mila Papucci17.03.2015 23:06alcune spiegazioni sui suoni non corrispondono molto alla pronuncia parlata
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giovanni taormina13.03.2015 17:20Pura intuizione
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giovanni taormina13.03.2015 17:17FACILE DA CAPIRE
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Enrico Rossini13.03.2015 17:00pratico e preciso
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Agnieszka Mazur11.03.2015 12:22Inspiracja motywacja jest! szukalam tak dobrego narzedzia! od podstaw! rewelacja!
dziekuje chinese4u! 1 lekcja - super! -
Андреа Пандулис30.12.2014 22:19Поздравления за чудесното начинание!
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Davide Montorsi27.11.2014 12:13Semplice da seguire ma alcuni tasti per la riproduzione dei suoni non funzionano, soprattutto nella pronuncia delle finali.
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Rebekah Hellwig05.11.2014 04:56For the most part, this lesson was very inspiring. Although I like to study from a notebook, and some of the pronunciation examples were very unclear and hard to say correctly without a listening example. Like take for instance the example of the syllable un-. You said that the pronunciation of this was like the oo in book followed by and n, when in reality it would better be described as the oo from good followed by an n.
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mahima jain01.11.2014 04:44Hey im not able to hear sounds..can anyone help me.
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Květuše Belanová03.10.2014 12:44Yo pienso qué bueno.
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Piotr Filipowicz02.10.2014 21:47Szkoda, że tłumacz tłumaczył większość opisu znaków bez większego zrozumienia. Stąd duża ilość odniesień do języka angielskiego - który ze swojej natury jest mocno odmienny od chińskiego. O wiele bardziej dla polskiego studenta byłyby przydatne odniesienia do języka polskiego w którym duża ilość głosek chińskich występuje w sposób naturalny.
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Aleksandra Kmin26.07.2014 20:00trudno jest powiedzieć głośno dzwięk na wdechu- ale próbuję
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Ondřej Hrušák09.06.2014 00:04most accented characters are missing
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Christian Pecher21.05.2014 22:00guess question 9 is wrong pronunciation or text, should be shi instead of chi, right??
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paolo gorli13.05.2014 13:00occorre un buon orecchio musicale per le differenze! Molto esercizio!
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Katarzyna Wnętrzak19.04.2014 15:32w przypadku złej odpowiedzi na teście, można pokazać dobra odpowiedź
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Grace Sumidanu18.03.2014 21:32Bardzo pomocne i szczegółowe.
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Leszek Ostrowski27.02.2014 22:13Bardzo pomocna jest wymowa dla początkującego.
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Giuseppe Coco17.02.2014 12:41molto utile per iniziare
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ari saarinen25.01.2014 18:59Some tones not included (samsung galaxy tablet)
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Dragoslav Milekic24.01.2014 15:30I can't hear some sounds, are they removed or what? (Не могу чути неке звукове, јесу ли склоњени или шта се дешава?)
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Andrea Ferrante04.12.2013 13:47Ultimato il test sarebbe utile conoscere la risposta esatta ed avere la possibilità di ascoltare tutti i suoni ed i toni. In ogni caso davvero utile.
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silviu bordun26.11.2013 16:28Nu e atat de greu
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Sarmite Eglite03.11.2013 11:32Very good for starters
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Iwona Zych08.06.2013 22:53Bardzo miła lekcja. Jednk przydałyby się przykłady słów w języku chińskim, które obrazowałyby wyraźniej wymowę poszczególnych sylab.
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Jolanta Frac29.05.2013 07:43Podoba mi sie,robie postepy.
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Jolanta Frac29.05.2013 07:34Bardzo pomocne wiadomosci w poczatkowej fazie nauki.
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Esztora Petőfi16.05.2013 12:59Jó a hangzás.
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Vaclav Vrana14.05.2013 10:19Toto je velmi dobře prezentované.
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Blanka Slavik14.05.2013 08:28Príjemné zvuky.
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Donata Cazacu13.05.2013 08:37Este uşor de înţeles.
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Андрей Врабчев10.05.2013 12:07Интересно и полезно
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Marta Malinowska09.05.2013 14:00The information are presented in the interesting way.
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Elżbieta Kowalczyk21.04.2013 09:28przydatne będą przykładowe krótkie wyrazy pokazujące wymowę danego dźwięku w przytoczonym słowie wyrazie
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Joanna Domżalska08.02.2013 19:09some sound buttons dont work
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Małgorzata Jendryczka30.12.2012 15:37There is no sound for "h"in the first table
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Neo Celso01.12.2012 21:21I imagine myself as a child learning the basic sounds, getting the "feel" of the tones, from the mouth of my mother. I found the approach simple yet very effective. With more practice, repetitions, and imagination, I can profit a lot from this lesson. And, thanks a lot!