For Mandarin learners, one of the areas most people tend to make mistakes in is pronunciation. Making errors is a natural part of learning any language, not just Mandarin, and we all have our own fair share of weak points.

That said, there are a few Mandarin pronunciation mistakes that are a lot more common than others. Pronunciation in Mandarin is crucial, because a simple shift in tone can completely change the meaning of a word. Unlike other East Asian languages, where tone is more about how natural the language sounds, Mandarin relies heavily on tone to convey the proper meaning, so correcting your Chinese pronunciations is a very important step to perfecting your Mandarin skills.

Let’s look at some common pronunciation errors in Mandarin that most people learning the language make.

Similar Sounds

There are several sounds in Mandarin that sound very similar to English speakers. When you’re not used to how a language sounds, you don’t pick up on slight changes. Just like a hard C and K are difficult to differentiate for non-English speakers, Mandarin learners usually have trouble figuring out the difference between sounds like zh and j, or x and sh. Since these sound very similar to each other, with very subtle differences, many learners often mistake one for the other.

Sometimes, while the difference in sound is clear enough, learners make the mistake of pronouncing it the same way. Other times, if a letter is familiar to them – such as d or t for English speakers – they may reflexively pronounce it the way they would in their native language.

The best way to counter this is to use a Mandarin pronunciation guide that tells you exactly how different sounds are made and where they come from so you can differentiate between them properly and avoid falling into the same pronunciation error traps again.

Stressing Syllables

English has stressed syllables within words, whereas Mandarin does not, and this is another area where learners make pronunciation mistakes. Many English speakers tend to involuntarily add stress to syllables where they feel it's natural. In English, this tends to change the sound of the vowel being stressed, and in Mandarin, it can result in changes to the tone of the vowel, which in turn, changes the meaning.

Mandarin does not have stress within words, but it does have contrastive stress within a sentence, and another mistake English speakers make is that they change the tone of the word when stressing it. It's difficult to figure out on your own how to stress a word without changing its tone if you don’t spend time listening to native Mandarin speakers. To improve your Mandarin pronunciation, listen to how native Chinese speakers are pronouncing the words before having a go yourself. Remember, practice makes perfect!

Different Tones

We’ve talked about tones, but one of the biggest things Mandarin learners struggle with is figuring out how tones work. Mandarin is a tonal language – every word depends on its tonality.

While the tones themselves aren’t that complicated to figure out, it becomes a lot trickier when tone sandhi makes them change. Which tone becomes which because of what placement – all of this can get pretty confusing and result in pronunciation errors when you are practising your Mandarin speaking skills.

There may only be four tones, but there are about 20 tonal pairs for learners to get used to before they’ll be able to pronounce them properly, which makes tones a steep learning curve for Mandarin learners.

Differentiating Words

If there’s anything that makes it abundantly clear a person is not a native Mandarin speaker, it’s their inability to differentiate words that start with zh and j, and those that begin with x and sh.

While zh and j might sound virtually the same in English, they are worlds apart in Pinyin as they represent two very distinct sounds. To make it easier to pronounce them, think about it in this sense:

The words starting with zh typically sound like the pronunciation of sh in the English language. So, think of words like lesion or leisure, and you have a good understanding of how it should be said when coming across Mandarin words that begin with zh.

As for j, the same rule applies. Let’s use the word legion as an example since the gi in the word sounds very similar to the j in Mandarin.

Words starting with x and sh also cause a lot of confusion and pronunciation errors for those learning Mandarin. Like zh and j, they seem like they sound the same, but there is a big difference.

Let’s start with x, the sound should be made from the front of the mouth, almost as if you are saying ‘shh’ when telling someone to be quiet. Other English words that have a similar sound to the x in Mandarin include sheep and shoe.

The sh sound, meanwhile, is much deeper and should come from the middle of the roof of your mouth. English words like silence and sort hit the spot perfectly when it comes to getting an understanding of how to pronounce the sh sound in Mandarin. 

With all the pronunciation differences between zh and j, x and sh, it’s no wonder that people learning Mandarin make plenty of pronunciation mistakes!

Start Pronouncing with Confidence

If you’re learning Chinese, pronouncing the words properly is very important. Native speakers perfect these sounds as they grow up, but for a new learner, this may take a lot of time. The best way to practice your pronunciation is to listen to native Mandarin speakers as much as possible and converse with them too. Don’t be afraid of making errors with your pronunciation as they will not only correct you, but also applaud you for your efforts in learning their language.

Aside from general conversations with people on an everyday basis, you should make sure you have a teacher who can help you identify where you’re going wrong.

At Linguabox, you can find the best Mandarin Chinese teachers who can help you with your learning and pronunciation and take you along the road to fluency.