The "r" sound

Have you every noticed that the "r" sound is different in many foreign languages? English, Spanish, Russian, French, Japanese, German... the "r" sound is different in every one. Well, guess what? It's also different in Mandarin Chinese. Pinyin "r-" does not make the same sound as "r" in English. In fact, the Mandarin Chinese "r-" sound does not exist in English, so you're going to have to train yourself to make the sound.

Pinyin's "r" Sound

Like the ch-, sh-, and zh- sounds of last section, Mandarin Chinese's r- sound is also retroflex. That means the tip of your tongue should be pointed up toward the roof of your mouth, and also be rather far back in your mouth. That makes it quite different from the typical American "r" sound, which is pronounced by raising the middle of the tongue in the back of the mouth.

This may seem strange, but the Mandarin r- sound really is very similar to the ch-, sh-, and zh- sounds.

• r- is pronounced by making the "French j" sound like in the words "leisure" and "pleasure". While making that sound, slowly pull the tip of your tongue further into the back of your mouth. The sound will start to sound less "buzzy" and more like an "r" sound. That's the Mandarin r- sound.
• ri is an odd syllable because it almost feels like you're not making a vowel sound at all, or if you are, you're doing it kind of at the same time as the "r" sound. This sound rhymes with the zhi, chi, shi sounds of last section, and there's certainly no "ee" sound in it.

There is actually a range of acceptable "buzziness" for the r- sound in Chinese. You can't actually make the sound in the words "leisure" and "pleasure"; that's too "buzzy." But you don't have to pull your tongue so far back that the buzziness fades entirely.

Pinyin Chart Fragment

This is just a part of the full pinyin chart, limited to the sounds we've covered so far.

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	-a-	-a	-ai	-ao	-an	-ang	-e-	-e	-ei	-en	-eng	-er	-o-	-o	-ou	-ong	-i-	-i	-i*	-ia	-iao	-ie	-iou	-ian	-iang	-in	-ing	-iong	-u-	-u	-ua	-uai	-uei	-uo	-uan	-uang	-uen	-ueng	-ü-
zh-		zha zha [tʂɑ] ㄓㄚ cha	zhai zhai [tʂaɪ̯] ㄓㄞ chai	zhao zhao [tʂɑʊ̯] ㄓㄠ chao	zhan zhan [tʂan] ㄓㄢ chan	zhang zhang [tʂɑŋ] ㄓㄤ chang		zhe zhe [tʂɯ̯ʌ] ㄓㄜ che	zhei zhei [tʂeɪ̯] ㄓㄟ chei	zhen zhen [tʂən] ㄓㄣ chen	zheng zheng [tʂəŋ] ㄓㄥ cheng				zhou zhou [tʂɤʊ̯] ㄓㄡ chou	zhong zhong [tʂʊŋ] ㄓㄨㄥ chung			zhi zhi [tʂʅ] ㄓ chih											zhu zhu [tʂu] ㄓㄨ chu	zhua zhua [tʂu̯ɑ] ㄓㄨㄚ chua	zhuai zhuai [tʂu̯aɪ̯] ㄓㄨㄞ chuai	zhui zhui [tʂu̯eɪ̯] ㄓㄨㄟ chui	zhuo zhuo [tʂu̯ɔ] ㄓㄨㄛ cho	zhuan zhuan [tʂu̯an] ㄓㄨㄢ chuan	zhuang zhuang [tʂ̯u̯ɑŋ] ㄓㄨㄤ chuang	zhun zhun [tʂu̯ən] ㄓㄨㄣ chun			zh-
ch-		cha cha [tʂʰɑ] ㄔㄚ ch'a	chai chai [tʂʰaɪ̯] ㄔㄞ ch'ai	chao chao [tʂʰɑʊ̯] ㄔㄠ ch'ao	chan chan [tʂʰan] ㄔㄢ ch'an	chang chang [tʂʰɑŋ] ㄔㄤ ch'ang		che che [tʂʰɯ̯ʌ] ㄔㄜ ch'e		chen chen [tʂʰən] ㄔㄣ ch'en	cheng cheng [tʂʰəŋ] ㄔㄥ ch'eng				chou chou [tʂʰɤʊ̯] ㄔㄡ ch'ou	chong chong [tʂʰʊŋ] ㄔㄨㄥ ch'ung			chi chi [tʂʰʅ] ㄔ ch'ih											chu chu [tʂʰu] ㄔㄨ ch'u	chua chua [tʂʰu̯ɑ] ㄔㄨㄚ ch'ua	chuai chuai [tʂʰu̯aɪ̯] ㄔㄨㄞ ch'uai	chui chui [tʂʰu̯eɪ̯] ㄔㄨㄟ ch'ui	chuo chuo [tʂʰu̯ɔ] ㄔㄨㄛ ch'o	chuan chuan [tʂʰu̯an] ㄔㄨㄢ ch'uan	chuang chuang [tʂʰu̯ɑŋ] ㄔㄨㄤ ch'uang	chun chun [tʂʰu̯ən] ㄔㄨㄣ ch'un			ch-
sh-		sha sha [ʂɑ] ㄕㄚ sha	shai shai [ʂaɪ̯] ㄕㄞ shai	shao shao [ʂɑʊ̯] ㄕㄠ shao	shan shan [ʂan] ㄕㄢ shan	shang shang [ʂɑŋ] ㄕㄤ shang		she she [ʂɯ̯ʌ] ㄕㄜ she	shei shei [ʂeɪ̯] ㄕㄟ shei	shen shen [ʂən] ㄕㄣ shen	sheng sheng [ʂəŋ] ㄕㄥ sheng				shou shou [ʂɤʊ̯] ㄕㄡ shou				shi shi [ʂʅ] ㄕ shih											shu shu [ʂu] ㄕㄨ shu	shua shua [ʂu̯ɑ] ㄕㄨㄚ shua	shuai shuai [ʂu̯aɪ̯] ㄕㄨㄞ shuai	shui shui [ʂu̯eɪ̯] ㄕㄨㄟ shui	shuo shuo [ʂu̯ɔ] ㄕㄨㄛ sho	shuan shuan [ʂu̯an] ㄕㄨㄢ shuan	shuang shuang [ʂu̯ɑŋ] ㄕㄨㄤ shuang	shun shun [ʂu̯ən] ㄕㄨㄣ shun			sh-
r-				rao rao [ʐɑʊ̯] ㄖㄠ jao	ran ran [ʐan] ㄖㄢ jan	rang rang [ʐɑŋ] ㄖㄤ jang		re re [ʐɯ̯ʌ] ㄖㄜ je		ren ren [ʐən] ㄖㄣ jen	reng reng [ʐəŋ] ㄖㄥ jeng				rou rou [ʐɤʊ̯] ㄖㄡ jou	rong rong [ʐʊŋ] ㄖㄨㄥ jung			ri ri [ʐʅ] ㄖ jih											ru ru [ʐu] ㄖㄨ ju	rua rua [ʐu̯ɑ] ㄖㄨㄚ jua		rui rui [ʐu̯eɪ̯] ㄖㄨㄟ jui	ruo ruo [ʐu̯ɔ] ㄖㄨㄛ jo	ruan ruan [ʐu̯an] ㄖㄨㄢ juan		run run [ʐu̯ən] ㄖㄨㄣ jun			r-
	-a-	-a	-ai	-ao	-an	-ang	-e-	-e	-ei	-en	-eng	-er	-o-	-o	-ou	-ong	-i-	-i	-i*	-ia	-iao	-ie	-iou	-ian	-iang	-in	-ing	-iong	-u-	-u	-ua	-uai	-uei	-uo	-uan	-uang	-uen	-ueng	-ü-

Next up: the "ü" vowel (you're almost finished!).

Sources and further reading

• Sinosplice: Chinese Pronunciation
• ChinesePod: A, O with ZH, CH, SH, R, E with Z, C, S, ZH, CH, SH, R, I with Z, C, S, ZH, CH, SH, R, U with ZH, CH, SH, R

A1 pronunciation points