Pronunciation and Language Facts

If you are interested, I've put together this guide for reading names in the languages that will be coming up most often, namely Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. As others may become relevant, I plan to add them when the need arises. (Here's to hoping, though probably in vain, I never have to add Tibetan.) There is some basic jargon from linguistics that the uninitiated can skim over.

--Chinese--

**Mandarin**

Mandarin is written with an ideographic character system that is ideal for the morphology of the language. Since each syllable in Chinese is a morpheme (i.e. it has some sort of semantic value), and words are generally composed of one or two syllables (that is, single morphemes or compound words), it makes sense that each syllable would be represented by a unique character that stands for the meaning of the morpheme, and sometimes represents the sound as well. This is how so many different languages can be referred to as dialects, since they historically share the same writing system, each reader reading the characters with the pronunciation from their native dialect. (In modern times everyone studies Mandarin from elementary school, so it is just as likely they will read in the standard language used in media and taught in the classroom.)

Among East Asian languages, Mandarin has one of the more standardized transcriptions into Roman orthography, called Pinyin. The following is a guide to its pronunciation. Though Mandarin is a tonal language (i.e. every syllable has a distinct pitch--one of four available--that distinguishes it from another syllable with same string of consonants and vowels but a different pitch), and Pinyin orthography does represent tones with diacritics, these tonal indicators are never used in movie or author names, and need not concern anyone on this blog. You will not sound Chinese without using tone, but it takes a great deal of time to master the system. Read on, grasshopper.

The following consonants are basically the same as English. Technically, [b, d, g] are the same as the 'p, t, k' in the English words "spool, stool, and skill", since Mandarin contrasts for aspiration and not voicing. However, you can read them as 'b, d, g' (boy, dude, gimp)and probably get by better, as English has long VOTs on obstruent consonants. Also, [d, t, n, l, s]are pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the teeth, rather than the alveolar ridge as in English, but this is not a very noticeable difference.

Same as English:
b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, s

Almost the same as English:
h: technically this is the sound of "ch" in German 'Bach', but it tends to be less emphatic impressionistically. A slightly breathier English [h] will do.

ch & sh: you can pronounce these the same as English and get by fine as well, but there is a slight difference in that Mandarin speakers curl the tip of the tongue back (i.e. retroflex) slightly, whereas English speakers do not. (Phoneticians claim these sounds are not true retroflexes, as in Indian languages, because the sound is still produced with the blade of the tongue.)

r: This is fairly similar too, which is nice because it is such a rare sound in world languages. However, the main difference is that English speakers round their lips when pronouncing [r], while Mandarin speakers do not. Also, impressionistically, there seems to be more friction than in English.

y: The easiest way to deal with this is to treat it as a less tense version of English "y". In the syllable "yi", it is hardly even there, as in Zhang Ziyi. In the syllable "yuan", or anytime preceding a [u], it is produced the same, but with the lips rounded.

w: The same applies as with "y". It is a slightly less tense counterpart to English "w", and is gone entirely before [u] (read "oo"), though [u] is farther back in the mouth than in English.

Not the same as English:
zh: This is NOT the sound of French 'Je t'aime' or Russian 'Zhivago', and I hate it when people pronounce as such, assuming it is exotic enough to get the [Ʒ] treatment. If you pronounce it as an English "j", as in 'Joe', you will sound just fine. The same applies to this sound, however, as "sh" and "ch" above.

j, q, x: These sounds are more or less the same as English "j", "ch", and "sh", respectively. The difference is that the front of the tongue is raised slightly, which gives the impression of a hissing sound when articulated. To distinguish from "zh", "ch", "sh" above, just produce more air when pronouncing. (For the record, the IPA transcriptions would be [tɕ,tɕh, ɕ], respectively.)

z, c: The z, as in Zhang Ziyi (note the difference between zh and z), is like the "z" in English 'pizza', or the last sound in the word 'fads'. That is, it an affricate rather than a fricative. The c, as in the family names Cao or Cai, is the same as the sound at the end of the word 'cats' or the Slavic c, as in 'Gorecki'. It is an affricate as well. Just pretend there is an unwritten t before each letter.

Mandarin vowels are not as easy to give a straightforward account of, as they change their pronunciation depending on the adjacent sounds. I will not attempt to cover them all, but only point a few guidelines. See the link below for a fuller explanation.

u: Ordinarily, this is [u], slightly more back in the mouth than English [u] (read "oo"). However, after the letters j, q, or x, the pronunciation becomes IPA [y], which is the same as French "u" or German "ü". To make this sound (which English speakers find snobby), simply hold the vowel [i] (as in "bee", "scene", "thing"), then round your lips. This letter exists independently in Pinyin as ü, but is written without the umlaut when it is predictable from the environment just mentioned, i.e. after j, q, or x.

ou: This rhymes with the English words "toe", "go" and "show".

ai: This rhymes with the English words "eye", "my", "sigh".

ei: This rhymes with the English words "hey", "way", "say".

e: If this is the last sound in a syllable it is [ɤ], best approximated as 'uh', except after "i" or "y", where it is [ɛ], approximated as 'eh'.

Most other vowel combinations, you should be fine with. The only exception is the "i" in the syllables "zi", "si", "ci", and "zhi", "chi", "shi", which would be too hard to explain here. Allow me to say that these syllables essentially have no vowel, rather you pronounce the initial consonant and a sharp, short sound similar to "uh", but unrounded.

One final note. Mandarin syllables can only end in two consonants (if you don't count glides--we won't), [n] and [ng]. However, the historical tendency seems to be moving towards nasalized vowels (as in Portuguese or French). At this stage of Mandarin's development they are still more like consonants, but the tongue does not make complete closure of the airflow through the mouth as in English. When pronouncing a Chinese syllable ending in one of these nasal consonants, end it without your tongue entirely touching the area it normally would, as in an approximant.

One more final note: Pinyin is not used in Taiwan, Hong Kong (where they mostly speak Cantonese anyway), or Singapore. The second most common system is the Wade-Giles romanization. For a comparison of different transliterations see the following page: Romanization Comparisons The most important points to know are:

hs: This combination, as in the director Hou Hsiao hsien, is the same as Pinyin x.

Pinyin j, q, zh, ch: These are written ch, ch', ch, ch', respectively. The only way to differentiate is that the first two always precede the vowel [i], whereas the latter two never occur before this vowel.

Pinyin b, p, d, t, g, k, z, c: These are written (more accurately) as p, p', t, t', k, k', ts, ts'.


**Cantonese**

For the most part, you can leech off your above knowledge of Chinese sounds to bumble your way through Cantonese. (Cantonese is the second most common dialect outside of China, though from a linguistic perspective it is not a Chinese "dialect" at all: It is about as different from Mandarin as Romanian is from Spanish.) Here are a few pointers for the words and names that originate from Hong Kong (for our purposes, the main area where it is spoken):

ng: This sound, the sound at the end of English "sing" or "lung", can't begin a syllable in English (or Mandarin, there it has historically become a [w]), but it can in Cantonese, where it is written simply as Ng when read with an [u] (pronounced 'oo', but more back in the mouth). This can be tricky for Westerners, but one thing to keep in mind is that the "g" is mostly gone, so be sure not to pronounce a complete stop.

h at the end of a syllable: This is not a real [h], but rather an indicator that the tone is of a low, rather than high, register. (Between the two registers, Cantonese has six tones, versus Mandarin's four.)

vowels: Well, you're pretty much on your own. Cantonese has 11 vowels, most of which can be long or short in duration (see Japanese below), plus 11 diphthongs, many of which can also contrast as long or short. I won't even try. Just let me give the following important fact: Stephen Chow's name, which in Mandarin would be Stephen Zhou, does not rhyme with English "cow". Pronounce this as if it were Stephen Joe, and you will not sound so dumb.


--Korean--

Korean is a non-tonal, polysyllabic (not every syllable has a meaning) language that uses, since the 14th century, an alphabet, which differs from English only in that syllables are written together in squares, thus the blocky nature of Korean writing, known as han'gul.
Korean consonants are as follows:

same as English:
p, b, t, d, k, g, s, ch, j, h (usually silent), n, m, ng

not the same as English:
l & r: In terms of mental representations, these are the same sound (i.e. phoneme) in Korean. However, unlike Japanese, the two are differentiated. "l" occurs at the end of a syllable and at the beginning of a syllable that follows a syllable ending in "l". When you see "l", go ahead and read it as "l".
The "r", however, is NOT like English (or Mandarin) "r". It is like the sound in the middle of the (American) English words "batter", "fatter", "bitter", "cooter". (Wink.) This is known as a flap, and is the most common rendering of this letter in world languages, next to, perhaps, a trill.

y and family names: See the note on Mandarin "y" above. Basically this sound has less tension than English. Here's a note for you: The Korean name Yi 이 (sometimes written as Li/Lee because Korean used to use Chinese characters and Li was the reading of the Chinese character in Chinese) is pronounced "ee". Just ignore that first consonant. While we're on it, the family name "Park" 박 is not pronounced with an "r", either. The "r" was inserted to help British people pronounce Korean, and as we all know, Brits down pronounce "r" in this environment.

There's no non-technical way to put this, but Korean obstruents (the first eight sounds above) have a three-way contrast, where English only has two (Korean s also only has two). In English the vocal chords are either vibrating or they are not (an effect called voicing); in Korean, it is the distance between the vocal chords that matters (they also vibrate between vowels, but this is non-contrastive). This has led to a variety of romanizations, especially at the beginning of the word, but I will transliterate from the letter used in the Korean alphabet to its context-free equivalent in English:
p: The same as the English [p] in "spool", "spike", "spa".
ph: The same as the English [p] in "pool", "pike", "pot". (Yes, they are different.)
p': More or less the same as the [p] in English "top", "rap", "keep", but with more tension.
t: The same as the English [t] in "stool", "stack", "store".
th: The same as the English [t] in "tool", "tack", "tore".
t': More or less the same as the [t] in English "bat", "coat", "heat", but with more tension.
k: The same as the English [k] in "skin", "sky", "skate".
kh: The same as the English [k] in "kin", "kite", "Kate".
k': More or less the same as the [k] sound in English "packet", "occult" and "accent", but with more tension.
As for the Korean letters ㅈ, ㅊ, ㅈㅈ I will use ch, ch', cch until I figure a better way.

Korean vowels are not so bad, although the back vowels, viz. [a, o, u] are further back and more "pure" than English vowels. What will give you trouble? Two vowel sounds English basically lacks:

eu/ŭ 으: Sometimes written as "u", which makes it indistinguishable from the next vowel, this is basically an [u] (read as "oo") with the lips spread instead of rounded. It is also like the sound in the second syllable of the natural English pronunciation of "Athens". (Say it in the middle of a sentence to make sure you don't do anything weird while thinking about it.

eo/ŏ 어: This is an oddball. If you are a speaker who pronounces "caught" and "cot" differently, this is basically the same as the vowel in "caught", but with the lips spread, rather than rounded. If you don't differentiate these two words, you're gonna need a Korean. This vowel is often confused with Korean [o] or [a]. Good luck with it.

All other Korean vowels can probably be recovered by relying on the spelling in English.

ae 애: This is the vowel in English "cat", "sag", "bat".

e 에: This is the vowel in English "cake", "late", "ape".

For a more thorough explanation of Korean letters in IPA transcriptions see the following link: Korean pronunciation

Here are just a few more notes that the astute observer may wish to follow:

Korean stops are unreleased at the end of a syllable. They also lose all laryngeal features, so t', th, and t are all pronounces as [t] at the end of a syllable. Also, the consonants h, ch, ch', cch, s, and s' are pronounced as [t] as well.

Korean syllables exhibit liason. So a consonant ending a syllable will realign to
the next syllable, even if that syllable begins with "h". ("h" ㅎ is usually not pronounced in Korean.) This will mean that phonological rules, like the l & r rule and the syllable-final rule mentioned above, will shift. A Korean syllable ending in an "l", will realign to a following syllable that begins with "h" or a vowel and then be pronounced as a flap.

Nasals ending a syllable will assimilate in place to the following consonant if there is one.

Stops will assimilate to their nasal counterparts if the next syllable begins with a nasal. So in the word /hankukmal/ 한국말 the pronunciation is [hanggungmal].


--Japanese--

Japanese is the nicest to Western tongues and ears, in that it is mostly read with the Latin values of the letters you see. It is a polysyllabic, nontonal language like Korean, that uses a combination of ideographic Chinese characters (kanji), two separate syllabic scripts (collectively called "kana", one character gives the pronunciation of an entire syllable), and the sometime roman lettering (romaji).
The consonants are the same as what you get in English, with the following exceptions:

sh, j: These sounds, to me at least, sound more like Mandarin "x" and "j" than their English counterparts, but I don't speak Japanese. One key difference is that "sh" and "j" are pronounced in English with slight rounding of the lips that is absent in Japanese.

ts, dz, z: This can begin a syllable, just like the Mandarin "c", whereas in English it cannot. This is the sound at the end of English "cats". This sound, and its voiced counterpart dz, are often written as simply [t] or [d] because they only precede the vowel [u]. Consider the alternate spellings of "aduki/adzuki beans". Furthermore, for many dz is simply pronounced as z.

r: This is somewhat like the Korean "r" described above, but it varies quite a bit from speaker to speaker. It has been described in various ways, but I will call it a retroflex flap. Like the sound in the middle of the English words "butter", "batter", "cutter", but with the tongue curled back somewhat. It variously sounds like an English "l", "t", or "n". Listen to a speaker say "Domo arigato" for clarification.

f: This sound is commonly not considered part of the Japanese sound system because it only occurs beside certain vowels. Actually, it is different than the English [f] in that the lower lip does not touch the teeth (IPA ɸ). Essentially, anywhere a [h] would proceed [u], you get this sound, which to some listeners sounds more like an [h] anyway. When [h] would precede an [i], you get something like the sound at the end of German 'ich', or the sound at the beginning of English "hue" or "huge" in casual speech, i.e. IPA [ç] (NOT equivalent to the French cedilla).

Japanese has what are called geminate consonants. This means you hold the consonant for twice the duration of a singleton consonant. Certain words are differentiated just by this effect. You can also think of this as a syllable ending in a consonant and beginning in the same consonant (since otherwise Japanese syllables must end in a vowel.....or homorganic nasal, but ignore that). Geminate consonants are usually just written as two of the same consonant in a row.

It is different with vowel length. The same thing applies: a vowel held for twice as long as a short vowel can change a word (e.g. 'hodo' means "extent", 'hodō' means "sidewalk), but convention varies between adding a macron over the vowel (as I have done), or writing the vowel twice, as in 'shiitake'. I will defer to the macron unless a name is commonly transliterated otherwise.

Otherwise, vowels are read as their latinate counterparts. One possible exception is that Japanese [u] is commonly pronounces without lip rounding, making it similar to Korean "eu". Also, high vowels ([i] and [u]) devoice between voiceless consonants, so a high vowel between, say, the letter "s" and "k", will sound as if it is not even there. Spooky.

One final note on prosody. Japanese does not use a stress-based system like English, rather it uses a lexically-determined pitch-accent system, where the voice rises in pitch rather than volume on one syllable of the word. This means for Westerners that some attempt should be made to pronounce words as if every syllable received equal stress (a very simplified, but useful view). A very noticeable example is the word "yakuza" ヤクザ, which some English speakers unknowingly pronounce with a prominent "cooze" in the middle, with the two a's pronounced as schwa. This annoys me. Act as if the stress is on the first syllable, and reduce no vowels: YAkoozah.

For a more complete picture, see the wikipedia page on Japanese phonology.

You can trust that I did not take the time to proofread this, nor am I an expert on Japanese pronunciation. Any errors pointed out will be greatly appreciated.