# Forum Other Languages All other languages Chinese  Some common pinyin pronounciation mistakes and corrections

## awjln

Hi all, I notice most of non chinese native speakers tend to pronounce pinyin especially chinese name wrongly, so now I might just list some typical mistakes. Even if you are not used to the basic 4 tones, then forget about it! believe or not, if you read an entire phrase or even long text with just 1 tone, we would still understand what you're saying, but that might sound a robot voice, hehe. Ok, here it goes: 
"zh" sounds "j" in "journal", eg, "zhang" sounds "jang", but many people pronounce "zang", which is wrong. 
"q" sounds similar to "T" in Russian, but not "T" in english, the only difference is that attach your tongue tip on the inside of front lower teeth, eg "qi" sounds "Tee" . Not "chee" said by most people.  
"x" is a bit harder, I've got no idea how to explain it, but thing gets easier if you know some German, "x" sounds similar to i"ch" liebe di"ch".  but with your tongue closer to upper roof of mouth, and tongue stays flatter, while keeping your upper and lower teeth a bit closer. eg "xie" sounds "ch-yeh". not "sh-yeh".  
"j" sounds almost the same as "q", well not exactly the same, it's strange that when I pronounce "j" or "q", my tongue, lips, air flow everything stays the same, but how come end up with two different sounds? anyways, the common mistake is to pronouce it like "j" in "job" in english. 
"c" sounds "ts" in "hits", eg, "cao" sounds "ts-or", however someone say it "chao" in "chaos" in english, or "chor" , which are wrong. 
All other consonants are to be pronounced just like or similar to that in English.  
I will post the common vowel prnounciation mistakes later on, bed time now, spakona nochee

----------

