Mandarin Chinese → English
English uses 43 sounds. You already own 14 of them from Mandarin Chinese. The other 29 are the work — and 27 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
English: make · written "a_e", "ai", "ay", "ei (eight)"
Your /ei/ is the one in hēi 黑 (black).
the move: close, but not identical
English: time · written "i_e", "igh", "y", "ie (pie)"
Your /ai/ is the one in ài 爱 (love).
the move: close, but not identical
English: house · written "ou", "ow"
Your /ai/ is the one in ài 爱 (love).
the move: close, but not identical
English: hair · written "air", "are (care)", "ear (bear)"
American: /ɛr/.
Your /ei/ is the one in hēi 黑 (black).
the move: labiodental → dental
English: think · written "th"
Tongue between the teeth, no voice.
Your /f/ is the one in fàn 饭 (rice / meal).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
English: ship · written "sh", "ti (-tion)", "ci", "ssi"
Your /ɕ/ is the one in xiè 谢 (thanks).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar
English: church · written "ch", "tch", "tu (nature)"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in jiā 家 (home).
the move: close → near-close
English: sit · written "i", "y", "e (unstressed)"
Your /i/ is the one in yī 一 (one).
the move: open → near-open
English: cat · written "a"
Between /ɛ/ and /a/; mouth wide.
Your /a/ is the one in mǎ 马 (horse).
the move: longer
English: see · written "ee", "ea", "e_e", "ie"
Your /i/ is the one in yī 一 (one).
the move: longer
English: car · written "ar", "a (father, bath — British)"
Your /ɑ/ is the one in máng 忙 (busy).
the move: rounded
English: hot · written "o", "a after w"
American: /ɑ/.
Your /ɑ/ is the one in máng 忙 (busy).
the move: longer
English: food · written "oo", "u_e", "ew", "ou (soup)"
Your /u/ is the one in wǔ 五 (five).
the move: close-mid → near-close
English: near · written "ear", "eer", "ere (here)"
American: /ɪr/.
Your /ei/ is the one in hēi 黑 (black).
the move: retroflex → postalveolar
English: measure · written "s (measure)", "si (vision)", "ge (beige)"
Your /ʐ/ is the one in rén 人 (person).
the move: voiced
English: dog · written "d", "dd", "-ed"
Your /t/ is the one in dà 大 (big).
the move: voiced
English: go · written "g", "gg", "gu"
Your /k/ is the one in gǒu 狗 (dog).
the move: voiced
English: very · written "v", "f (of)"
Your /f/ is the one in fàn 饭 (rice / meal).
the move: voiced
English: zoo · written "z", "zz", "s (plural after voiced, between vowels)"
Your /s/ is the one in sān 三 (three).
the move: close-mid → open-mid
English: cup · written "u", "o (son, love)", "ou (young)"
Your /ɤ/ is the one in hē 喝 (to drink).
the move: close-mid → open-mid
English: boy · written "oi", "oy"
Your /oʊ/ is the one in dōu 都 (all).
the move: mid → open-mid, longer
English: bird · written "er", "ir", "ur", "ear (earth)"
American: /ɝ/ with the r.
Your /ə/ is the one in mén 门 (door).
the move: labiodental → dental, voiced
English: this · written "th (function words, between vowels)"
the, this, that, they, mother, breathe.
Your /f/ is the one in fàn 饭 (rice / meal).
the move: alveolo-palatal → postalveolar, voiced
English: judge · written "j", "g (e,i,y)", "dge"
Your /t͡ɕ/ is the one in jiā 家 (home).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: home · written "o_e", "oa", "ow", "o (final)"
American: /oʊ/.
Your /ə/ is the one in mén 门 (door).
Words you may say identically
Two or more English sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in Mandarin Chinese 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.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Mandarin Chinese | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Syllable-timed | Stress-timed |
| Stress | 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. | Contrastive, and unmarked in writing — the single most common cause of not being understood. Dozens of noun/verb pairs differ only in where the stress goes, and every unstressed vowel collapses to /ə/. |
| Pitch | lexical tone — pitch changes the word | No lexical tone, but intonation carries an enormous amount: rise for yes/no questions, fall for statements and wh-questions, and a whole grammar of contrast ('I didn't say SHE took it'). |
What you have that English doesn't
28 sounds with no job in English. 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 Mandarin Chinese has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned English from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
Other first languages: French · Spanish · Portuguese · German · Italian · Georgian · Russian · Hindi · Cantonese · Vietnamese · Korean · Japanese · Malay · Turkish