Error Type 1: Pitch and stress

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES

Pitch and stress are two quite distinctive areas in English but not in
Chinese. In Chinese pronunciation (Mandarin), there is no such thing as
word stress. Pitch, on the other hand, plays a greater role in Chinese than
in English. It actually changes the meaning of the word. In English:Consider how you (a
native speaker) would say [no] when
The pitch movement is referred to as "tone", and so there are 4 different answering the following 4 questions
tones in Chinese pronunciation. Each tone gives a certain meaning to a in 4 different scenarios:
word. Just to help you to understand this, IMAGINE that the sound [no] 1-Do you like horror movies? No.
is an English word and Chinese word. In English, whether I change my (Neutral)
voice pitch or not, the meaning of [no] will never change. [no] will never 2-Are you mad at me because I
mean [table] or [life] or [pen] or [suitcase], it will mean [no] as in offered your girlfriend a drink? No
[negative]. (but you ARE actually mad at him for
doing that)
Now, saying [no] in English in different tones could show the others 3-So you're coming to my wedding
how I feel but it will always mean NO (unless it's sarcasm). Now in on Saturday right? No. No???
Chinese , depending on the changes I make to the pitch while saying (surprised)
[no], the actual meaning of the sound [no] totally changes, so [no] may 4-Give me your money, give me your
actually mean [table] or [life] or [pen] or [suitcase]. money now! No. (resistant,
challenging and firm)
Error Type 1 is probably one of the most important source of error for
Chinese learners. Teachers MUST do plenty of stress exercises and
explain that pitch in Chinese has a different role in English.

Error Type 2: Connected speech

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Chinese pronunciation comes across a bit choppy. The boundaries between the syllables are
more audible (it would be easier to hear the beginning and ending of the Chinese syllables).
While in English, it would be harder to recognize the start and end of words and syllables.
Consider the
English almost sounds like the flowing water, if that makes any sense to you. Chinese
following
sounds like the turning wheels of a train on the railroad track. So why does Chinese sound
examples:
so? Well, one of the main reasons is that, in Mandarin, syllables never end with consonants
[change it]
except /n/ or /ŋ/ (and /r/ in Beijing), while in Cantonese, syllables could end with /n/,/ŋ/,
[get out]
/m/, /k/, /p/ or /t/. The quality of /k/, /p/ and /t/ in Cantonese is different from that in English
[come in]
though.
[made of]
[dig up]
So in both Mandarin and Cantonese, Chinese English learners wouldn't connect the
etc.
consonants at the end with the vowels at the beginning of syllables. For example, [he's out],
in English it would sound like [he zout], but a Chinese speaker would find that very difficult
because pronouncing /z/ at the end of a syllable is very unusual. So if you train the students
to say it as [he zout], they will get it.

Error Type 3: Words ending with consonants

 ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Words ending with
/v/: dive; love; crave
Words ending with
/g/: morgue; rogue;
As I mentioned above, in Mandarin, the syllables or words never end with consonants, bag
except with /n/ or /ŋ/. As a result, Chinese learners either omit (delete) the final Words ending with
consonant or add an extra sound (probably a schwa sound) after it, which makes it very /d/: hide; food; rude
difficult for English speakers to follow. Words ending with
/z/: bears; toys; booze
Although most consonants will be difficult to pronounce at word endings for Chinese, Words ending with
voiced consonants are the most challenging ones. By voiced consonants, I mean the /b/: bulb; curb; globe
consonants that need vibration at the throat like /b/ /d/ /z/ /g/ /v/ /ʒ/ /dʒ/ and /ð/. Words ending with
/ð/: bathe; writhe;
In addition to omitting those consonants or adding an extra sound after them, Chinese with
also de-voice them, which means that the /b/ becomes /p/, the /d/ /t/, the /z/ /s/, the /g/ Words ending
/k/, the /v/ /f/, the /dʒ/ /tʃ/ and the /ʒ/ /ʃ/. with /dʒ/: fridge;
grudge; wage
Words ending with
/ʒ/: Raj; beige;
change

Error Type 4: Consonants clusters

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
/pr/: problem;
practice;
pronunciation;
present
/pl/: place; plough;
plane; please;
plumber.
/tr/: try; train; trophy;
trail; tricky; trace;
As for most Asian learners of English, Chinese find consonants clusters extremely
trim.
challenging as not a single Chinese language allows consonants cluster, so teachers
/kr/: crane; crab;
should expect to see plenty of omissions, additions and substitutions occurring in words
crime; Kristen; cram;
with [pr] [pl] [tr] [kr] [kl] [fl] [ks] [sk] [st] [ts] combinations.
cradle.
/kl/: climb; claim;
Teachers need to spend a considerable amount of time with the students to practice
cloud; clear; Clayton;
these sounds as they affect intelligibility dramatically.
cluster.
/fl/: fly; fleece;
Fletcher; fluke; flirt;
fluster.
/ks/: lacks; Max;
spikes; takes; seeks,
ticks.
/sk/: ask; task; husky;
rascal; mascot; risky.
 /st/: must; rusty;
festival; Crystal;
pastor; best
/ts/: rights; mates;
fights; boots; seats;
hits

Error Type 5: Vowels reduction & the schwa sound

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Since the stress concept is unfamiliar to Chinese learners, they, as most learners of
English, have problems understanding the idea of vowels reduction and using the schwa
sound.

For Chinese, letters (pinyin, the modern Chinese alphabet) should be pronounced as they
appear. We all know in English it doesn't work like that. The schwa sound is the most /ə/: about; taken;
common sound in the English language, the longer the words are, the more likely it is pencil; eloquent;
that they will contain one or more schwa sounds. supply; sibyl

Also, the vowels in most of the conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, modals,
determiners and articles is very often reduced/changed to a schwa sound. On the other
hand, due to stress, some vowels are prolonged (made longer). The schwa sound can be
spelled as: [a] [e] [o] [u] and [y].

Error Type 6: /r/

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Since the English /r/ doesn't exist in most Chinese dialects, it is a big problem for most
Chinese learners of English who often replace it with /l/ and sometimes /w/. /r/ (beginning and
middle): right; race;
Teachers are recommended to focus on the /r/ at the beginning and end of the words and really;
not worry much about the one in the middle. The reason why /r/ is very important in the problem; traffic; frog
beginning is that it could change the meaning when changed to /l/. [rice] will become etc.
[lice] and [rust] [lust]. /r/ (end): car; meter;
prefer; bear; shower
At the end of the word is also important because without it the students couldn't connect etc.
the /r/ with vowel-starting words such as [you're on] [we're up] etc.

Error Type 7: /θ/ and /ð/

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
These two sounds simply do not exist in Chinese pronunciation. The students
can pronounce them quite easily when instructed but they remain difficult to /θ/: thin; wrath; moth; thigh;
control during a conversation. /ð/, a voiced consonant, is a high frequency Ruth; truth etc./ð/: weather;
sound as it is in words like [the] [this] [that] [these] [those] [there] etc. loathe; then; writhe; scythe;
rather etc
Chinese learners should be told that oftentimes the pronunciation of /ð/
changes in the natural spoken English, depending on the sounds after it,
notably after /n/ /s/ /z/ /t/ and /d/.

While /θ/ is a bit more complex in my opinion, it too gets affected by certain
consonants that either succeed or precede it as in [months], where we don't
actually have to pronounce [th], or [first thing], where we end up saying [firs
thing] as it's almost impossible to pronounce the /t/ before [th] etc.

Error Type 8: /v/

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Another consonant that the Chinese languages don't have. Unlike the voiced and
voiceless [th], /v/ is difficult for Chinese learners to correct as they don't seem to be
able to hold the upper lip still while bringing their lower lip into contact with the Love; have; drive;
upper teeth. living; Victor; vest; van;
valley etc.
Depending on the native Chinese dialect of the learners, they could either replace it
with /b/ or /w/ sound.

Error Type 9: Confusing /l/ for /n/

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
As with Vietnamese learners of English, Chinese also confuse /l/ for /n/ as the
English /l/ has no equivalent in Chinese.
/l/ (initial): light; lace;
Teachers need to help the learners drop the nasality when attempting to produce that lead; laugh; learn
sound as well as free the sides of the tongue while keeping contact between the tip /l/ (medial): fault; rolling;
and the alveolar ridge. falling; swollen; really
/l/ (final): recall; fall; roll;
However, when /l/ occurs at the end, it just sounds like [o] as Chinese learners available; identical
move their lips forward. Students need to be told to keep their lips back and to focus
only on the tongue movement.

Error Type 10: Confusing between /iː/ and /ɪ/

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
In English, the length and tenseness of the vowel change the meaning of the
word, as in [feast] and [fist], but not in Chinese pronunciation.

As I already mentioned in error 1, pitch or tone is one big factor in changing the /i:/ Need; read; treat; believe;
meaning of a certain syllable. So while to our ears [deep] and [dip] sound quite meat; wheel; receipt etc./ɪ/:
different, to Chinese learners' ears, they don't. Minimal pairs exercises can be Knit; rid; tit; live; mitt; will;
quite helpful and dialogues targeting those two vowels are particularly useful. sit etc.

Remember, the problem is not that they don't have those sounds, but that they
don't find much difference between them.
 Error Type 11: Confusing between /e/ and /æ/
ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
As I already explained in error 10, there are several vowels that Chinese learners are
confused about. /e/ and /æ/ is one of the minimal pairs that Chinese students struggle
with. They can't hear much different between [bet] and [bat], [set] and [sat] etc.

It would be easier to hear the difference between [bed] and [bad] because of the voiced /e/: bed; led; men; leg
consonants after the vowels. The /æ/ in [bad] is longer than that in [bat] because of the /æ/: bad; lad; man; lag
/d/.

So teachers are advised to choose minimal words with voiced consonants to train the
learners' ears to distinguish between /e/ and /æ/.

Error Type 12: Confusing between /uː/ and /ʊ/

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Like with /i:/ and /ɪ/ and /e/ and /æ/, Chinese learners are confused with /uː/ and /ʊ/. food; pool; fool; Luke;
shooed
Words like [shoed] and [should] sound pretty much the same, so do [fool] and [full] foot; pull; full; look;
or [pool] and [pull]. should

Error Type 13: Confusing between /æ/ or /e/ for /eɪ/

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Chinese learners may pronounce [mate] as [met] and [bait] as [bet]. Similarly, they
may confuse [west] as [waist] and [kept] as [caped].
/æ/: fat; mat; hat; man;
can't; past
In Pinyin (Chinese written in Alphabets), the [e] vowel sounds like the English /ɜ/ +
/e/: Fed; met; head; men;
/ə/, imagine the word [work] in [British]. In Pinyin, [ei] sounds exactly like /eɪ/ in
Kent; pest
English.
/eɪ:/ fate; mate; hate;
main; caned; paste
My point is that there is no vowels equivalent to the English /e/ that can stand alone
in Chinese pronunciation.

Error Type 14: /m/ at the end of the words

ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
AnotherIn most Chinese dialects, consonant /m/ never occurs at the end of the
syllable/word, so Chinese learners never close their lips at the end of words like
[arm] [rhyme] [same] [cam] etc. /m/ (final): mime; dime;
came; fame; room; column
As a result of this, the students don't link the /m/ with the vowels after it as in [I'm
eating] [I'm off] etc.
 Error Type 15: Confusing/oʊ/ for /ɔː/
ERROR DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Vowel /oʊ/ does exist in Chinese, yet the students are still confused
/oʊ/: Wrote; owl; boat; coat; mode;
between /oʊ/ and /ɔː/ due to spelling.
road; so
/ɔː/: all; bought (UK); caught
Teachers just need to raise the students' awareness of those two sound
(UK); fall (UK); saw (UK)
revealing some common spelling patterns of the two vowels.