Japanese → Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin Chinese uses 42 sounds. You already own 14 of them from Japanese. The other 28 are the work — and 23 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: close, but not identical
Mandarin Chinese: moon / month · written "yu + vowel", "ü + vowel"
Your /w/ is the one in わたし watashi (I).
the move: bilabial → labiodental
Mandarin Chinese: rice / meal · written "f"
Your /ɸ/ is the one in ふゆ fuyu (winter).
the move: palatal → velar
Mandarin Chinese: good · written "h"
Rougher than English h — like German ach, lightly.
Your /ç/ is the one in ひと hito (person).
the move: alveolo-palatal → retroflex
Mandarin Chinese: middle · written "zh"
Tongue curled back.
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in ちいさい chīsai (small).
the move: alveolo-palatal → retroflex
Mandarin Chinese: to be · written "sh"
Your /ɕ/ is the one in すし sushi (sushi).
the move: aspirated
Mandarin Chinese: to fear · written "p"
Your /p/ is the one in きっぷ kippu (ticket).
the move: aspirated
Mandarin Chinese: he · written "t"
Your /t/ is the one in たべる taberu (to eat).
the move: aspirated
Mandarin Chinese: to look · written "k"
Your /k/ is the one in かさ kasa (umbrella).
the move: aspirated
Mandarin Chinese: to go · written "q"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in ちいさい chīsai (small).
the move: aspirated
Mandarin Chinese: vegetable / dish · written "c"
Your /t͡s/ is the one in つき tsuki (moon).
the move: unrounded
Mandarin Chinese: to drink · written "e"
Not English e. Say 'o' and unround the lips.
Your /o/ is the one in おと oto (sound).
the move: rounded
Mandarin Chinese: five · written "u", "wu"
Your /ɯ/ is the one in うみ umi (sea).
the move: rounded
Mandarin Chinese: woman · written "ü", "u after j q x y"
French u / German ü.
Your /i/ is the one in いま ima (now).
the move: close-mid → near-close
Mandarin Chinese: middle · written "ong (the o)"
Your /o/ is the one in おと oto (sound).
the move: alveolo-palatal → retroflex, aspirated
Mandarin Chinese: to eat · written "ch"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in ちいさい chīsai (small).
the move: open → open-mid
Mandarin Chinese: thanks · written "ie", "üe", "ian (the a)"
Your /a/ is the one in あさ asa (morning).
the move: uvular → velar
Mandarin Chinese: busy · written "ng"
Your /ɴ/ is the one in ほん hon (book).
the move: alveolar → retroflex
Mandarin Chinese: person · written "r"
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
the move: fricative → lateral
Mandarin Chinese: to come · written "l"
Your /z/ is the one in みず mizu (water).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
Mandarin Chinese: love · written "ai"
Your /a/ is the one in あさ asa (morning).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
Mandarin Chinese: black · written "ei", "ui"
Your /e/ is the one in えき eki (station).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
Mandarin Chinese: all · written "ou", "iu"
Your /o/ is the one in おと oto (sound).
Words you may say identically
Two or more Mandarin Chinese sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
- t͡ɕ = t͡ɕʰ = ʈ͡ʂ = ʈ͡ʂʰ → your t͡ɕ vs vs vs train this pair →
- o = ɤ = oʊ = ʊ → your o vs vs vs
- a = ɛ = ai → your a vs vs
- p = pʰ → your p vs
- t = tʰ → your t vs
- l = ʐ → your z vs
- k = kʰ → your k vs train this pair →
- ɕ = ʂ → your ɕ vs train this pair →
- t͡s = t͡sʰ → your t͡s vs
- w = ɥ → your w vs
- i = y → your i vs train this pair →
- ə = ei → your e vs
Genuinely new
Nothing in Japanese sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
busy
Closest thing you own: — but front → back.
two
Also the Beijing -r suffix: nàr 那儿.
Closest thing you own: — but close-mid → mid, front → central.
four
Not /i/! Hold the s and voice it.
Closest thing you own: — but close, but not identical.
ten
Not /i/! Hold the retroflex and voice it.
Closest thing you own: — but close, but not identical.
good
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, front → back.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Japanese | Mandarin Chinese | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Mora-timed | Syllable-timed |
| Stress | No stress in the English sense — syllables are not louder or longer, so a Japanese speaker reading English tends to flatten it, and an English speaker reading Japanese tends to hammer syllables that should be even. | Stress is a matter of length and clarity rather than pitch: a stressed syllable holds its full tone, an unstressed one goes neutral and short. |
| Pitch | Japanese sits between the tone languages and the stress languages, and gets its own name for it: pitch accent. A word has at most ONE place where the pitch drops, and where that drop falls is part of the word. 箸 hashi (drop after ha) is chopsticks; 橋 hashi (drop after shi) is a bridge; 端 hashi (no drop) is the edge. Unlike Cantonese there is no contour to learn per syllable — only 'where does it fall, if at all'. Tokyo and Osaka disagree about the answer for many words, and both are correct. | lexical tone — pitch changes the word |
What you have that Mandarin Chinese doesn't
17 sounds with no job in Mandarin Chinese. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your Japanese has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned Mandarin Chinese from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
Other first languages: English · French · Spanish · Portuguese · German · Italian · Georgian · Russian · Hindi · Cantonese · Vietnamese · Korean · Malay · Turkish