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The difference between 'q' and 'ch'
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jiasen -

Hey everyone. This is my first post in these forms, and I would like to commend you all on what a
brilliant forum you have here.

I hope this hasn't already been covered (I did a quick search). I am having problems in
distinguishing between the pronoucing of 'ch' and 'q'. To my ear, ch and q sound both like the
english 'ch' sound. However whenever i try to pronounce words using 'ch', a chinese speaker will
tell me I am saying 'q' instead of 'ch'.

I can pronouce 'c' perfectly, but I'm not sure how that would translate into pronoucing 'ch'. Any
help in this area would be much appreciated.



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zeiss -

The way to pronouce 'ch' is just like 'zh', 'sh' and 'r'. Maybe pronoucing 'r' is easier for you.
It soulds like 'ge' in the word 'garage'. I can't input the phonetic symbol here, which looks like
[3].

The difference between 'q' and 'ch' is similar to that between [i] and [3] in English, I think.

Maybe here is your mistake. Take two chinese words for example, say '七'(seven) and '吃'(eat),
the chinise "pinyin" of which are [qi] and [chi] respectively. We pronounce the 'i' in [qi] just
like the english phonetic symbol 'i', but we DO NOT pronouce the 'i' in [chi]. So, you can just
pronounce the word '吃' [ch].
I hope it's helpful for you.










heifeng -

maybe this will help a bit










gougou -

Also check this table for audio samples.










Lu -

Do you have a tutor? Try asking her/him, they should be able to explain it better than can be done
in writing.
Pinyin q sounds like the English ch; c sounds like ts. Pinyin ch is c but as a retroflex, meaning
that you have to curl your tongue backwards while saying c to produce ch. The same goes for sh, zh
and r: curl tongue backwards.

I hope this helps.










lokki -

I agree that the sinosplice site referenced above is the best place to go to find out.

These can be rather tricky to get right by just listening to how it "sounds". The secret lies in
knowing some of the physical details, like where the tongue goes and in what part of the mouth the
sound is actually formed. THEN practice and listen a lot to get it just right.

Once you have the general idea it can be useful to practice short sentences where you have to
switch between the two tongue positions a lot, like zh, j, sh, q, ch ... in succession (back,
forward, back, forward,...).










mirgcire -

If you feel the roof of your mouth with your tongue you will notice some ridges or bumps just
behind the teeth. This is the aveolar ridge.

When you make the zh, sh, ch and r sounds, your tongue should be just behind the aveolar ridge,
and sound is made by constricting the air between the tip of the tongue and the roof of the mouth.

When you make the j, x, and q sounds the tongue is placed on the aveolar ridge, near the teeth.
The sound is made by restricting the air between the surface of the the tongue and the aveolar
ridge.

The z, c, and s sounds are made with the tonge even farther forward restricting the air between
the teeth and the surface of the tongue.

Here are some good words for practicing tongue position: xian sheng (先生), jin zhang (紧张),
and chu qu (出去).










self-taught-mba -

Down and dirty rule:

1. first understand j and zh since we have very close English equivalents:

j like "jeep"
zh like "German"

2. Then apply to q/ch

q is to j as ch is to zh. the q and j sounds are "sharper"

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Lu -



Quote:

zh like "German"

That's good enough an approximation if you just want to make yourself understood on a trip in
China, but if you want to learn good Chinese, you need to know that zh is not actually pronounced
like g in German.










self-taught-mba -

Yep, that's why it's a "down and dirty" rule.

But it also depends on whose saying it. Some people sound remarkably on, after explaining it that
way. (followed up by a few imitations of their tutor to do the trick for good)

And for all the BLCU'ers I meet that learn it only by imitation, I venture to say that both are
needed (easily understood comparison and imitation).

Anyway, my point was first know the j/zh difference (since they are easier for native english
speakers) then find the q/ch












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