Proper Lip and Tongue Positions

[pokeyzilla89]

I remember a few years ago I saw a Web site that contained flash animations showing proper lip and tongue positions for producing many different sounds. I think the animations were available for many different languages. I hope someone knows what I'm talking about. Does anyone know this Web site?

If not, does anyone highly recommend a Web site that tells/shows you the proper lip and tongue positions for making the right sounds in Mandarin?

Thanks!

[FadedStardust]

I don't know about video, but in the FSI Chinese course's "Pronunciation and Romanization" module (just google FSI Chinese to find it; it's a free download of mp3s+PDFs) it explains in a very clear manner what to do with your mouth and tongue to pronounce most single-final combinations as well as, to a much more limited extent, multiple-syllable combos.

If you're just starting out with learning Mandarin, I HIGHLY recommend this pronunciation & romanization module, you'll learn more then just what to do with your mouth and tongue; it also teaches pinyin (even if you can already read pinyin it'll probably teach you a thing or two, it did for me.), as well as proper pronunciation of tones.

The rest of the FSI course however, is very boring and out-dated (it was made in the 1970s) and veeeeeeeery repetitive. Some people do like it though, so, feel free to try it. I hope this helps you, and good luck with your learning!!

[johnmck]

I agree, you should definitely download the FSI Romanisation and pronunciation module. I am currently working through the FSI course (just finishing module 2) and I can confirm that it is repetitive and boring. Nevertheless it is a very good course, if you can stick with it. I've been banging my head against the wall with issues of speaking and listening for a few years now, I guess this is what is still motivating me to stick with it. Also the course is very long and comprehensive, if you spend an hour a day you expect to spend a least a year on this course.

When you do the course it becomes clear that it is intended to be used in a classroom environment (it is still possible to follow the course by yourself though). The tapes remove nearly all the teaching load from the teacher (allowing a standard high level of tuition even if sufficient teachers are not available). The purpose of the teacher is to supervise group activities and add any extra support the students require. Clearly the varied/fun part of the course was intended to be found during the group activities

[davidj]

The best resource I found was 汉语语音教程 (ISBN 7561910576) from BLCU, e.g from Amazon or Study Chinese Culture (with cover picture).

You can probably get the basic positions without much Chinese. You will need some Chinese for the articulation, and you will need quite a lot of Chinese for the complete book.

The big problem I found with phonetics is that teachers in UK evening classes and weekend schools don't know any phonetics and the other students think tongue positions are too technical, with the result that both just keep repeating the sound or saying it is like something in English when it is actually different, and then assume that you will learn that way.

Edited September 10, 2008 at 01:09 PM by davidj
Improve grammar.

[jhargett]

There is a nice program called Standard Mandarin (http://www.standardmandarin.com) that is basically a pinyin chart that you can click on to hear the the sounds. It also has an anatomy button that helps with where to put the tongue and so forth.

Jon

[character]

The Sounds of Chinese

China Panorama's Chinese Phonetics VCDs have cutaway animations of tongue positions.

[querido]

The best online discussion in terms of anatomy that I'm aware of is by John Pasden: http://www.sinosplice.com/lang/pronunciation/. He also gives good explanations of how to coax Chinese sounds out from between sounds that do occur in English. And don't miss the "My Story" link...

[lokki]

The best online discussion in terms of anatomy that I'm aware of is by John Pasden: http://www.sinosplice.com/lang/pronunciation/.

I'll just chip in here to add my support for John Pasdens very informative and accurate explanations in plain language. And FSI is highly recommended too.

Imho it is actually very important to learn about the tongue and lip positions and to incorporate the correct positions and movements into your pronunciation habits as early as possible. In the beginning you have to do it consciously but it will pay off in the long run, as a solid foundation for developing an accurate accent and REALLY being able to imitate the exact same sounds that you hear on native recordings. You might get somewhere close by just listening and repeating but you could easily get into bad habits of producing the right sound in the wrong way, and it would come back and haunt you as a defect later when you get better and start speaking faster and more fluently.

[Hofmann]

I recommend that you get familiar with IPA, if you haven't already. Then you can look at the tables here. It's the most straightforward approach. Also, your familiarity with IPA would allow you to easily learn to pronounce other languages.

[pokeyzilla89]

Thanks for all the links and suggestions!

Regarding my initial post, I think I found the site I was looking for: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/frameset.html. It's only available for English, German, and Spanish, though. I could have sworn there was a Web site just like this one that had hundreds of languages to choose from.

I also found this site, which may be helpful for you: http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/index.html. It sounds out IPA characters for you.

[mirgcire]

This may be what you are looking for: http://www.speakchineseonline.com/initials.htm. It displays a moving cross section of a head that demonstrates lip and tongue movement while the sound plays. It doesn't get much better than this.

[LaoDing]

Standard Mandarin, at $39.99 is an expensive application indeed, though it is complete in animated charts (I'd like to know where he got those!). The sounds you can find anywhere. Beyond that it's a handy chart, but Study Pinyin is just as good and free (I think). There are also no vocabulary examples in SM, which for the price is a disappointment. SpeakEnglishOnline is defunct and I have not been able to find those animations they had anywhere else. They're very similar to the ones that the U. of Iowa uses (which are excellent but no Mandarin). I was unable to find a free FSI Mandarin download anywhere. It seems they've sold out all the materials to private companies who let you listen and look, but to download you have to pay bucks. It's a shame. You would think that a government looking out for the interests of its people would provide them with free education, which is just  about as important to us as is water. sigh Anyway, I was able to find a torrent and get it P2P. As far as I know it's still free, you just can't find it anywhere (I couldn't). I don't know about all the modules but the phonology looks useful.

I'm looking into IPA and copying a basic mouth chart sans tongue and other mouth organs to illustrate my own Mandarin sounds, one by one, with the help of students. I've looked and looked for charts and they're not only hard to find, but not very good or not consolidated when you do find them. If I ever get a complete chart, I'll give it away for free. Maybe I'll write the U. of Iowa and see if they'll let me use their flash animation for Mandarin. Wish I had more time!

I would like to add one more thing. Although a good mimicker may pick up on Mandarin pronunciation just by listening, knowing the mechanics of it will make him even better and more 'native' sounding. And knowing the oral physiology of Chinese sounds and practicing them will make even the worst of speakers sound much better. So study your anatomy!