... in the vernacular. Proper pronunciation is more like “she”.
This is an issue lost on most native speakers of mandarin, and it’s hard as hell to teach to learners.
pinyin —> proper sound —-> actual sound
xi —> she —> see
si —> suh —> suh
shi —> shuh —> suh
chi —> chuh —> tsuh
ci —> tsuh —> tsuh
There are more, but I’m too many beers in now to remember.
The best test is to ask someone how to say 四十四是四十四 (44 is 44). It’s a good test for tones. This is properly something like /shuh suh shuh shuh shuh suh shuh/. In vernacular, this usually becomes something like /suh suh suh suh suh suh suh/ with tones being the only hint at different words.
This is an issue lost on most native speakers of mandarin, and it’s hard as hell to teach to learners.
pinyin —> proper sound —-> actual sound
xi —> she —> see
si —> suh —> suh
shi —> shuh —> suh
chi —> chuh —> tsuh
ci —> tsuh —> tsuh
There are more, but I’m too many beers in now to remember.
The best test is to ask someone how to say 四十四是四十四 (44 is 44). It’s a good test for tones. This is properly something like /shuh suh shuh shuh shuh suh shuh/. In vernacular, this usually becomes something like /suh suh suh suh suh suh suh/ with tones being the only hint at different words.
Chinese is fun.