Lose Your Accent Fast! Master Chinese Pronunciation (Pinyin from Zero)

Hello everyone, I'm Siwen. Welcome to the very first lesson of our Chinese pronunciation bootcamp. Do you think Chinese pronunciation is hard? Have you ever had a lot of strange accents? Don't worry. Starting today, I'll guide you step by step to build a standard, clear, and confident Chinese pronunciation system. First, let's see what type of unclear pronunciation can cause. For example, many people pronounce wǒ shì lǎo shī I am a teacher. To sound like wǒ sì lǎo shī Look, a tiny difference in sound can make the meaning unclear. But believe me, a calculated pronunciation is not magic. It's a set of learnable skills. In this course, I'll break down these skills and teach them in the most effective way. Our course will be like building a house, starting from the most basic sound components. We'll start with the 6 core vowels, tones, and then move to initials, vowels, and spelling. Each step builds a solid foundation for the next. Now please get your ears, your mouth, and the small mirror ready. Our learning starts right now. Hello everyone. Welcome to our first lesson of Chinese pronunciation. Today, we are going to learn the most important sounds in Chinese, the 6 single vowels. Why mouth shape matters? In Chinese, your mouth shape decides the sound. Let's start with Number 1 Open your mouth wide like saying as doctors. You can also use 3 fingers to test your mouth size. The second one Poke your lips, make them round like blowing a kiss. The last one Stretch your mouth to the sides like smelling without sound. You can also use 1 finger to test the size of your mouth. Now check yourself in the mirror. Now try with me. Now let's meet the other 3. The number 1 A flat smell, stretch the mouth collar. Number 2 Push your lips forward and round them like say Number 3 Round your lips but stretch to the collars like whisking. Now try with me. Now let's be the judge. Listen to me and repeat after me. Great job! Today you have learned the secret of shaping your mouth for Chinese sounds. Remember Your homework today, practice these 6 bowls 10 times each in front of a mirror and record yourself to listen back. Next time, we will combine these beautiful bowls to make a beautiful Chinese sound. See you next class. First, let's learn b and p. To pronounce b, you close your lips tightly, block the air flow, then gently open them making a short and sharp sound b b b. To pronounce p, you press your lips tightly together, hold your breath forcefully, then steadily open your lips, letting the air rush out powerfully p p p. Here is a little trick. You can hold a piece of paper in front of your mouth. When you pronounce b b, the paper won't move. But when you pronounce h h, the paper will move. Listen and repeat with me. Let's look at two examples. Next, let's learn m and f. With lips tightly closed and air flow escapes from the nasal cavity. Listen and repeat with me. The upper teeth tightly touch the lower lip and air flow escapes through the gap. Listen and repeat with me. Now, let's do a reading challenge. Try to read these consonants b p m f. Great job! Let's review today we learned for commonly used consonants b p m f. You may have noticed that to form the pinyin of a Chinese character, we need a tone mark. Yes, nested mark. The next video, we will continue to introduce the function of tones. See you next class. Hello everyone. Welcome to lesson 3 at Siwen. Today, we are going to learn the most essential part of Chinese pronunciation, tones. Why do mā and mǎ sound similar but have completely different meanings? Because they have different tones. Tones are not accents. They are the key rules that distinguish meanings in Chinese. Chinese has four basic tones. If we use the numbers 1 to 5 to represent pitch from low to high, then the first tone 5 5 which is high and flat like sing. The second tone 3 to 5 is the rising tone like we sing. The third tone 2 to 1 then to 4 is first a falling tone and then a rising tone like we say. The fourth tone from 5 to 1 is a falling tone like you are angry and you say the sound stop. If we place the tones on the letters we have learned earlier, then you can get the authentic Chinese pronunciation. Let's practice. Now let's practice each tone one by one with some words. The first tone The second tone Now turn your ears. Choose the one you hear. Good job. Now let's continue the third tone. The fourth tone Now turn your ears. Now let's practice the four tones together. Good job. Let's review. Today we have learned four tones. The first tone The second tone The third tone The fourth tone You have opened the door to Chinese tones. Tone is not decoration but meaning itself. Today you have learned the pronunciation of some Chinese characters. But to form more Chinese characters we need more initials and more vowels. Next class we will continue our initials. See you next class. Hello everyone. Welcome to lesson 9. Today we are going to learn Chinese consonants. Last lesson we have learned People say they sound so similar. It's hard to distinguish. Don't worry. Today you will solve this problem with me. Let's go. are pronounced with the tongue tip turned up and coordinate with the front part of the head palate. When saying zh and ch, your tongue tip first touches the head palate and then opens a gap to let the air flow. So ch comes with a much stronger airflow but zh doesn't. When saying sh, your tongue tip doesn't touch the head palate, leaving a gap or alone. Now read after me. First when we say zh, your tongue tip turned up, touches the head palate. Then we say the word When we say ch, you do the same but quickly open a gap to let the airflow go. When we say sh, your tongue tip doesn't touch the head palate, leaving a gap or alone. Now train your ears. Choose the one you hear. Now let's learn the other one. When pronouncing zh, the tongue position is almost the same as sh. But the key is your vocal cords must be vibrate forcefully. Now listen and repeat. Now let's practice in some words. Now train your ears. Choose the one you hear. Until now we have learned Do you think they sound so similar? Ok, now let's practice them together. With the same vowels and tones, pay attention to the initials. Listen and repeat after me. Now are you ready to do the challenge? Choose the one you hear. Good job! Now let's review. Today we have learned the consonants Congratulations! You have completed the most challenging initial consonants in Chinese Pinyin. Now can you distinguish them with Until now we have learned all the consonants in Chinese Pinyin. Congratulations! Now let's review them together. zh, de, te, ne, le, ge, ke, ge, ji, qi, xi, zh, ch, sh, zh, z, c, c. And the other two special consonants You have already noticed the net. We also have two more initial consonants. They are They are special because they are not consonants. Actually they are writing rules. If a female net beginning with has no initial before it, then y or w is used in the written form. And the y will pronounce w pronounce For example, The second word has only one initial In this time, we need to put y before the initial. So to keep people in mind, they are two characters, not one character. The other one which means also has two characters The second one has only one final, no initial. In this time, we will put w before w. So we will get the Pinyin Now let's practice these two special consonants in words. Oh, now you may find sometimes we don't need to pronounce the initial y or w when they go together with the final y and w. Now try your ears. Can you find which one I read? Good job. Let's review. Today we review all the consonants and we know two special consonants which is a written form when used with final y, w and i. Do you get it? Next class, we will continue our finals. See you next class.