question about 出去

oh, I like that idea.

These lessons have chuqu in the vocab too. The idea is, you can listen to different people pronounce the same word :-)

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/weekend-warriors/vocabulary

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/hows-the-weather/vocabulary

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/a-ghost-outside/vocabulary

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/its-snowing/vocabulary

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/she-went-out/vocabulary

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/the-north-has-central-heating/vocabulary

Did you try the pinyin chart? If not, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click pronounciation. Then click one of

•Download Pinyin Chart (Win)

•Download Pinyin Chart (Mac)

You can listen to 出去 in the newbie lesson "how's the weather?" too. http://chinesepod.com/lessons/hows-the-weather/vocabulary

jiangcheng's here.....................

Hi go_manly

> zhang and jiang. In fast speech, the 'i' in jiang is almost imperceptible. The difference between zh and j is then the most important way to tell these words apart, if not the only way.

Actually the head vowel "i" is very important in Chinese pronunciation system. In the case of "jiang", you can't pronounce the consonant "j" properly without clearly pronouncing the head vowel "i". In short, both "j" and "I" are equally important, no matter how fast you speak.

Hi suansuanru

Sorry, I found a typo.

..... is different from that of ......

你好，changye。

如果你可以用中文说，我想我会更明白你的意思。

just like sh and x i guess hehe

In fact, the sound of vowel, for example, in "qu" (去) is different form that of "ǖ" (u-umlaut). The former one is something like "ǖ + i", in other words, you need to slightly ease tension of lips immediately after you've pronounced "ǖ".

I agree that the ability to differentiate between u and u-umlaut is somewhat more important. But you have missed the point of my statement. I was saying that people have more difficulty distinguishing between ch and q, regardless of importance. And I don't agree the difference is small - They are made with entirely different parts of the tongue, and have clearly distinguishable sounds.

Regarding another of your pairs - zhang and jiang. In fast speech, the 'i' in jiang is almost imperceptible. The difference between zh and j is then the most important way to tell these words apart, if not the only way.

I have to agree with orangina on this one...even if there is a slight difference in the consonant sounds, getting the vowel sound is infinitely more important if you want your listener to understand you.

This is true of a bunch of sound combo pairs...ju and zhu, xu an shu, zhou and jiu, zhang and jiang, xue and shui, etc.

I think the difference between ch and q is the u-umlaut... Yes, your tongue is in a different position for the different consonants, but I feel this is to prepare your mouth for the vowel sound to follow.

Even though the u-umlaut is difficult for English speakers, I don't think we find that as difficult as distinguishing between ch and q - some can't hear a difference.

i agree.

the tongue position is the key point.