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: Pronouncing "Th" and "S"


q0192837465
02-04-2010, 03:20 PM
I don't have a problem with it. But I find that mostly Mandarin speaking people struggle with the difference. I always hear these ppl say "S"ousand instead of "TH"ousand. I was talking with my mom's friend who's from China and I wanted to help her correct the pronounciation. But it seems that they'r having trouble. Can any Mandarin speaking members confirm?

!LittleDragon
02-04-2010, 03:27 PM
TH sounds like TS, I wouldn't bother if you get what they're saying. I have French speaking friends from Quebec and I don't bother correcting them on the silent H because I know what they're saying.

Graeme S
02-04-2010, 03:27 PM
There are a couple problems with TH; there are two different TH sounds.

Unvoiced TH as in "think" - for this th you put your tongue between your teeth and push air.
Voiced TH as in "their" - for this th you put your tongue BEHIND your teeth (not touching the gums) and push air and use your voice.


Any kind of basic english speaker/tutor should be able to teach a kind of lesson once you have this kind of 'structural' English knowledge.

pure.life
02-04-2010, 03:34 PM
I find that taiwanese people tend to pronounce "N" like "UN"

energy becomes "un"ergy

woozzle
02-04-2010, 03:45 PM
What do you expect? they're fram Chiner. Have you heard a Caucasian guy speak Japanese? it's as much a train wreck as Chinese people trying to pronounce "Thanks"

Gumby
02-04-2010, 03:45 PM
I noticed that mandarin speakers butcher the word "usually". It usually comes out sounding like "urually".

Rich Sandor
02-04-2010, 03:59 PM
TH is often mispronounced as S or T.. mostly because few languages actually have a 'th' sound and it's easy to get away with substituting an S or T, or sometimes even a Z or D.

Thousand = Tousand, Sousand, Dousand, or Zousand.. you can pretty much substitute them in any word and it'll still be understandable.

There is no W in hungarian, only V. so it's amusing to listen to my parents try to pronounce any word with a w in it. they sound like dracula...

Brianrietta
02-04-2010, 07:39 PM
TH sounds like TS, I wouldn't bother if you get what they're saying. I have French speaking friends from Quebec and I don't bother correcting them on the silent H because I know what they're saying.

True story. I butcher my French way more severely than my Francophone friends butcher their English.

RCubed
02-04-2010, 08:05 PM
Raff out roud.

TRDood
02-04-2010, 08:09 PM
flip:
oh my GUT
we are stuck in heavy TROPIC
i want to listen to some BIBDY cent

but i find east indian's accent the most entertaining

GabAlmighty
02-04-2010, 08:16 PM
I got a problem, it involves pornography and my hand.

mrclean604
02-04-2010, 08:32 PM
uno dos tres are on fire
chicken nut bread
If you can read that you must be filipino hahaha.

Durrann
02-04-2010, 10:04 PM
^^ actually i can read that becuz of pitbulls song
"i know u want me...."

hk20000
02-05-2010, 01:42 AM
fing is, I fink sey fink th sounds like an f.

Qmx323
02-05-2010, 09:46 AM
my friend can't say th and he is cantonese.

three turns to free

Graeme S
02-05-2010, 10:34 AM
Mandarin: th->s/z
Canto: th->f
Japanese: th-s/z
Korean: th->d

In my experience.

Greenstoner
02-05-2010, 11:56 AM
useless thread