Chinese pronunciation resources+tips

Dearest podfic friends, welcome to cdrama/cfandom hell!

Here are some tips and resources to help you get started podficcing works with Chinese terms! 

In short, my advice boils down to :
1. Do your research. (you are here, that’s a good sign!)
2. Do your best. 

Here is a more in-depth meta I wrote about some thoughts I have on the matter. Hopefully it can help! 

 

Other tips: 

FOCUS ON ACCURATE PRONUNCIATION (ESPECIALLY CONSONANTS) OVER TONES
Focus on getting the pronunciation(consonants+vowels) as accurate as possible. Worry less about the tones in a podfic context because the Chinese names and terms tend to be fairly isolated within English sentences, and also we assume listeners come in with knowledge of these names and terms. Therefore there is a low chance that they would get confused with other chinese words and affect comprehension. Code-switching within sentences is tricky and sometimes the tones sound muddled or flattened because of how they fit into the narrative flow anyway, so don’t get hung up on tones.

DIVERSIFY YOUR STUDY MATERIAL AND PRACTICE YOUR BASICS
Find guides for learning Mandarin Pinyin in languages that you speak outside of English, if you can! These resources I’m sharing are mostly aimed at English-speakers. But if you can study other resources that use different linguistic references and models, they can help give you a more diverse and well-rounded breakdown of the sounds and help your understanding. Approach it like learning any new skill; study and practice the basic building blocks (sounds) to better get a grasp of the compound elements(words). 

USE TOOLS TO HELP YOU
These stunningly generous individuals have shared their tips and tools: 

- @GodofLaundrybaskets created this handy script to include the pinyin tone marks into MDZS text for easier tone discernment.
- @Revolutionaryjo uses a soundboard app to quickly and easily access voice clips for reference. HERE and HERE are her chopped up files made from my MDZS guide.

REFERENCES FOR LEARNING 

Yoyo Chinese's interactive Pinyin chart with audio clips
Yoyo Chinese's Pinyin lessons playlist

 

Yabla 's visual pinyin chart (thanks @godoflaundrybaskets)

Vowels and consonants in pinyin do not always pronounce the way they do in English. I had a full semester of class at Chinese school when I was tiny just to learn how to use pinyin! This channel has a pretty excellent pool of tutorial vids for learners: 

If we break that down to specific sounds: 
The A group 
The E group
The I group part 2 
The O group
The U group
The Ü group part 2 
The J Q X sounds
The Z C S sounds 
The ZH CH SH R sounds 

TONES
Arguably one of the hardest things about speaking Chinese. Here's a pretty handy video tutorial that explains very well how to make each tone! 
LEARN 1st & 2nd TONES
LEARN 3rd & 4th TONES

FANDOM SPECIFIC PRONUNCIATION GUIDES BY ME 

NIRVANA IN FIRE | GUARDIAN | MDZS/UNTAMED |
QI HUN | SHAN HE LING(wip)

**TAKING REQUESTS**
If you have requests for terms in these or any other cfandom, just provide me a list of the terms u need and I’ll gladly record them for you. If you can provide the hanzi(chinese character), that would be preferable, but just pinyin is fine too.

 

GUIDES AND RESOURCES BY OTHER PEOPLE

MDZS guide, TGCF guide, ScumVilain Guide  by @Summertea

GUARDIAN guide by @qikiqtarjuaq 

GUARDIAN guide by Fanfan 

Pinyin Guide, MDZS guide 1 & MDZS guide 2 by Cyan 

The King's Avatar by @oakleaffic

 

If you have any questions or need help, please don’t hesitate to ping me here or on Twitter @Lunarflares. 

Have fun! Add oil!

 

Nirvana in Fire pronunciation guide

Accent disclaimer: I'm a Beijing native who grew up in French Canada. I believe my accent is fairly Standard but feel free to disagree. (I've been told by a taxi driver in Beijing that I "don't sound native". Thx dude, its bc I sound like a textbook xD) 

PART 1 - Main Cast (MCS, NH, JY, LC)

PART 1 AUDIO LINK (right click to save)

( part 1 name list )

 PART 2 - Jiang Zuo Alliance (FL,LG,ZP,GY,TL,MiaoYin,Mr13,PhysYan) 

PART 2 AUDIO LINK (right click to save) 

( part 2 name list )

 

 PART 3 - Households (MQ,LX,JinYang,NF,LZY,QM,TS,Foya,etc) 

PART 3 AUDIO LINK (right click to save)
 ( part 3 name list )

 PART 4 - Royal Palace (dadperor, JYu,JH,CP,Jingmom,consorts) 

PART 4 AUDIO LINK (right click to save)

( part 4 name list )

 PART 5 - Palace adjacent & Nobles (MZ,GZ,SZ,CQ,JR,YJ,YQ,XY,XB,XQ,Zhuo fam) 

PART 5 AUDIO LINK (right click to save)

( part 5 name list )

 
PART 6 - Others (XJ,XD,XC,XQ,Banruo,Hua ladies, Locations) 

PART 6 AUDIO LINK (right click to save)

( part 6 name list )