<p>In the Mandarin Chinese, it should be 'ren' (with a second tone).
About the 'zhen', I guess it might be pronounced by someone who feels it hard to pronounce 'r-' well. Also, there can be some accents which make 人 sort of sounds like 'zhen'.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-23T23:04:53.603Z
2021-01-23T23:04:53.603Z
Kexi Chen
<p>The place of articulation varies connsiderably from the approximant /ɹ/ sound of the English phonem usually transcribed as /r/. Eng. RP (received pronunciation) is a true retroflex /r/ (like Slavonic pron.) and is also a distinct from what I would here as the initial in 人, or 日 for example. I've lived in several areas and have been exposed to a number of Mandarin and other Chinese dialects. With Chinese pron. I tend to think of what is the most widely understood, rather than correct or incorrect.</p>
<p>&quot;Similar to s in pleasure in English, but with a retroflex articulation. Otherwise, some speakers pronounce it as an English R, but lips are unrounded.&quot;</p>
<p>Denti-alveolar and retroflex series</p>
<p>&quot;The retroflex consonants (like those of Polish) are actually apical rather than subapical, and so are considered by some authors not to be truly retroflex; they may be more accurately called post-alveolar.[2][3] Some speakers not from Beijing may lack the retroflexes in their native dialects, and may thus replace them with dentals.[1]:26&quot;</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology</a></p>
<p>This is true in my experience.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-26T17:02:39.140Z
2021-01-26T17:02:39.140Z
XJMZX
<p>I've heard some people pronunce it <em>zhen</em> and some pronunced it <em>ren</em> (spoken like &quot;you had a hot potato in your mouth&quot;) and because of this I am very confused what is the correct pronunciation.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-24T08:25:10.093Z
Quote：- “I've heard some people。。。。。” Maybe if you tell us who these people are we might have a better inkling as to why, because "zhen" &  "ren" are quite far apart when spoken correctly, not discounting some punk rock singers might mix it up for special effect. As @Kexi Chen says " I guess it might be pronounced by someone who feels it hard to pronounce 'r-' Yes, especially when you have "a hot potato in your mouth" :)
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-24T11:53:54.017Z
Some are from Beijing (the ones that pronunce it "zhen"), and the others are from Chengdu.
capice_0
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-25T01:33:10.430Z
Does this answer your question? [Different accents/dialects applicable to the pinyin "r" sound](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/39540/different-accents-dialects-applicable-to-the-pinyin-r-sound)
小奥利奥
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-26T18:53:09.090Z
@WayneCheah By "zhen" I assume OP means the "s" sound in "vision" (IPA [ʒ]) - [apparently zh is used by some to represent this sound](https://pronuncian.com/pronounce-zh-sound). This is close enough to [ʐ], one of the realisations of r in Mandarin. By "r" OP probably means the English sound, which is [ɻ] and is also a realisation of "r" in Mandarin.
范阮煌
<pronunciation>
What is the 'correct' way to pronunce 人?
# What is the 'correct' way to pronunce 人?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-01-23)

I've heard some people pronunce it *zhen* and some pronunced it *ren* (spoken like "you had a hot potato in your mouth") and because of this I am very confused what is the correct pronunciation.

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Quote：- “I've heard some people。。。。。” Maybe if you tell us who these people are we might have a better inkling as to why, because "zhen" &  "ren" are quite far apart when spoken correctly, not discounting some punk rock singers might mix it up for special effect. As @username_4 says " I guess it might be pronounced by someone who feels it hard to pronounce 'r-' Yes, especially when you have "a hot potato in your mouth" :)  
> **username_0**: Some are from Beijing (the ones that pronunce it "zhen"), and the others are from Chengdu.  
> **username_2**: Does this answer your question? [Different accents/dialects applicable to the pinyin "r" sound](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/39540/different-accents-dialects-applicable-to-the-pinyin-r-sound)  
> **username_3**: @username_1 By "zhen" I assume OP means the "s" sound in "vision" (IPA [ʒ]) - [apparently zh is used by some to represent this sound](https://pronuncian.com/pronounce-zh-sound). This is close enough to [ʐ], one of the realisations of r in Mandarin. By "r" OP probably means the English sound, which is [ɻ] and is also a realisation of "r" in Mandarin.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2021-01-23. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

In the Mandarin Chinese, it should be 'ren' (with a second tone).
About the 'zhen', I guess it might be pronounced by someone who feels it hard to pronounce 'r-' well. Also, there can be some accents which make 人 sort of sounds like 'zhen'.


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### Answer by username_5 on 2021-01-26. Score: 2

The place of articulation varies connsiderably from the approximant /ɹ/ sound of the English phonem usually transcribed as /r/. Eng. RP (received pronunciation) is a true retroflex /r/ (like Slavonic pron.) and is also a distinct from what I would here as the initial in 人, or 日 for example. I've lived in several areas and have been exposed to a number of Mandarin and other Chinese dialects. With Chinese pron. I tend to think of what is the most widely understood, rather than correct or incorrect.

"Similar to s in pleasure in English, but with a retroflex articulation. Otherwise, some speakers pronounce it as an English R, but lips are unrounded."

Denti-alveolar and retroflex series

"The retroflex consonants (like those of Polish) are actually apical rather than subapical, and so are considered by some authors not to be truly retroflex; they may be more accurately called post-alveolar.[2][3] Some speakers not from Beijing may lack the retroflexes in their native dialects, and may thus replace them with dentals.[1]:26"

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese_phonology>

This is true in my experience.


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