Home / Language / Learn Chinese / Learn Chinese: Introduction to Chinese Pronunciation and Tone / Aspirated and Unaspirated Sounds
Aspirated and Unaspirated Sounds
We'll explain aspirated and unaspirated sound to help increase your accuracy and confidence towards pronunciation.
From this lesson onward, you are now able to read and speak all the sounds in Chinese. Now, you should practice and increase your accuracy and confidence towards pronunciation. In this video, Zhāng Yongzhi, a student from Thailand will learn with you.
Yongzhi can’t pronounce d and t well. Do you have the same problem?
- d, different from d in the English word “dog”, your vocal cords should not vibrate.
- t, different from t in the English word “test”, the airflow through the middle of your teeth should not be too strong. Make your tongue touch the back of the upper teeth and avoid friction between the tip of the tongue and the teeth.
b,d,z,zh,j are unaspirated sounds while p t c ch q are aspirated sounds.
- z, aligned your teeth, you can feel friction here.
- c , the position of pronunciation is basically unchanged . The difference is that the airflow is stronger. If you put your hand in front of your mouth, you can clearly feel the airflow.
Some words to practice: Click to listen
- zhīchí — support
- zànchéng — agree
- quánjiā — whole family
- jiàqián — price (When you ask for price, you can say “Duōshǎo qián?”)
This article is from the online course:
Learn Chinese: Introduction to Chinese Pronunciation and Tone
Created by
This article is from the free online
Learn Chinese: Introduction to Chinese Pronunciation and Tone
Reach your personal and professional goals
Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.
Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.
