Shi2 versus xi2

[nipponman]

http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/biweekly/animation1/432_d4/index.htm

Hey, at that link, if you click on the first sentence, you can hear that that woman says shi2, but it doesn't sound like the classical shr2, but like a xi2. What gives?

[zhwj]

It's just the woman's Taiwanese accent - her sound there is just not as fully retroflex as standard Mandarin, and it colors the vowel a bit. You can see from the Zhuyin fuhao that the character is still read as ㄕˊ (shí).

[skylee]

Thank you, nipponman, that is a nice link. There are many interesting stories there. I told someone this story today and we couldn't stop laughing. Such a stupid ghost. ha ha ha.

[xiaocai]

The one posted by skylee was a text in my secondary school book. My friends and I were really surprised. I mean, this would be the only article in our textbooks with the theme of ghost, or, say, supernatural events.

[nipponman]

Thanks for your replies.

And skylee, I wish I could take credit for it, but atitarev actually posted it http://www.chinese-forums.com/showpost.php?p=49937&postcount=9

It's just the woman's Taiwanese accent - her sound there is just not as fully retroflex as standard Mandarin, and it colors the vowel a bit. You can see from the Zhuyin fuhao that the character is still read as ㄕˊ (shí).

Thanks, but I can't read zhuyin :oops

P.s. I like this way of pronouncing things better. In the beginning I didn't like the shr sound. I don't mind it now, but I still like shi.

[Quest]

Funny cartoons haha, but what's spoken does not always match what's written.

Also, I don't think these stories are good for children, they teach bad behaviors.

[atitarev]

If you click on Print icon (main page), you can get a full transcript with characters, pictures, zhuyin, pinyin and English translation (96 pages). The file is big - 18 MB.

Shame, there is no audio download.

[xiaocai]

And the way the lady pronounces 和 in the cartoon which mentioned my nipponman is really, bad, with obvious Taiwanese accent.

Also, I don't think these stories are good for children, they teach bad behaviors.

Strongly agree with this.