<p>I would consider it practically impossible to learn how to pronounce words correctly in Chinese without audio.  There's many obstacles:</p>

<ul>
<li>The initial x of <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%9C%80" rel="nofollow noreferrer">需</a> (xū) doesn't seem to have an equivalent sound in English.  (Have you heard news reporters try to pronounce <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping" rel="nofollow noreferrer">习近平</a> (Xí Jìnpíng)?)</li>
<li>The final u in <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%87%BA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">出</a> (chū) and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8E%BB" rel="nofollow noreferrer">去</a> (qù) are pronounced differently (compare their bopomofo), despite being represented by the same letter.</li>
<li>The difference between e.g. <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">上</a> (shàng) and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%90%91" rel="nofollow noreferrer">向</a> (xiàng) is very subtle, likewise for nasal vs. non-nasal finals, e.g. <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BA%AC" rel="nofollow noreferrer">京</a> (jīng) vs. <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%B4%A5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">津</a> (jīn).</li>
<li>There's also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_sandhi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">tone sandhi</a>, where the tone changes in words，e.g. your example <a href="http://dict.cn/%E4%BD%A0%E5%A5%BD" rel="nofollow noreferrer">你好</a> may be written as two third tones (nǐ hǎo) but this changes to one second tone and one third tone (ní hǎo) when its pronounced.</li>
</ul>

<p>It may be possible to benefit from knowledge of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo" rel="nofollow noreferrer">bopomofo</a>.  However, it's like trying to fight with one arm tied behind your back.  It's vastly easier to simply listen to the sound on some video (or the book's accompanying CD); there's zillions of them available free online.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-09T12:26:05.157Z
This is probably useless information but apparently Ghanaian English‘s pronunciation of ship  [ɕip] does contain the same initial as Chinese’s “x” initial.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-09T12:42:14.893Z
Ok but why did people downvote my question? What kind of community is this?
Salmush
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-09T12:42:43.557Z
Just because im a beginner
Salmush
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-09T14:07:22.107Z
@SalmaanAl-Faaris I didn't downvote it, but I think it's because the question isn't super clear. Are you only trying to learn pronunciation from books? Or do you want to learn how to pronounce things properly to aid your book studies? If you make your questions more specific it will be easier for people to give you the answers you are looking for as well.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-09T14:23:34.863Z
@user3306356 read the question title again *facepalm* that is exactly it
Salmush
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-09T14:32:05.877Z
@SalmaanAl-Faaris Take it or leave it. You wanted to know the reason for the downvote - that’s the reason.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-10T07:36:09.313Z
@SalmaanAl-Faaris Stackexchange as a whole isn't a support group. It is a community where people answer well-formulated questions. Downvotes are not an entirely correct way of handling your question, I flagged it as "not clear what you're asking", but if my rep was low I could have only downvoted it.
Vitaly Osipov
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-09T12:19:28.800Z
2018-07-09T12:19:28.800Z
Becky 李蓓
<p>I'm learning Chinese on a book and it shows the words sometimes in Latin alphabet such as <em>Ni-hao</em>, but it doesn't show how to spell the word with the right pronunciation. Can someone help how I can learn the pronunciation and accent with the aid of the books I have?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-29T22:46:14.740Z
These sorts of questions maybe better off being asked at [Language Learning](https://languagelearning.stackexchange.com/).
Becky 李蓓
<pronunciation><books>
How to learn pronunciation effectively with help of books?
# How to learn pronunciation effectively with help of books?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-09)

I'm learning Chinese on a book and it shows the words sometimes in Latin alphabet such as *Ni-hao*, but it doesn't show how to spell the word with the right pronunciation. Can someone help how I can learn the pronunciation and accent with the aid of the books I have?

**Tags:** pronunciation, books

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: These sorts of questions maybe better off being asked at [Language Learning](https://languagelearning.stackexchange.com/).  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-07-09. Score: 2

I would consider it practically impossible to learn how to pronounce words correctly in Chinese without audio. There's many obstacles:

* The initial x of [需](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%9C%80) (xū) doesn't seem to have an equivalent sound in English. (Have you heard news reporters try to pronounce [习近平](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping) (Xí Jìnpíng)?)
* The final u in [出](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%87%BA) (chū) and [去](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8E%BB) (qù) are pronounced differently (compare their bopomofo), despite being represented by the same letter.
* The difference between e.g. [上](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8A) (shàng) and [向](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%90%91) (xiàng) is very subtle, likewise for nasal vs. non-nasal finals, e.g. [京](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BA%AC) (jīng) vs. [津](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%B4%A5) (jīn).
* There's also [tone sandhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_sandhi), where the tone changes in words，e.g. your example [你好](http://dict.cn/%E4%BD%A0%E5%A5%BD) may be written as two third tones (nǐ hǎo) but this changes to one second tone and one third tone (ní hǎo) when its pronounced.

It may be possible to benefit from knowledge of [bopomofo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo). However, it's like trying to fight with one arm tied behind your back. It's vastly easier to simply listen to the sound on some video (or the book's accompanying CD); there's zillions of them available free online.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: This is probably useless information but apparently Ghanaian English‘s pronunciation of ship  [ɕip] does contain the same initial as Chinese’s “x” initial.  
> **username_0**: Ok but why did people downvote my question? What kind of community is this?  
> **username_0**: Just because im a beginner  
> **username_2**: @SalmaanAl-Faaris I didn't downvote it, but I think it's because the question isn't super clear. Are you only trying to learn pronunciation from books? Or do you want to learn how to pronounce things properly to aid your book studies? If you make your questions more specific it will be easier for people to give you the answers you are looking for as well.  
> **username_0**: @user3306356 read the question title again *facepalm* that is exactly it  
> **username_2**: @SalmaanAl-Faaris Take it or leave it. You wanted to know the reason for the downvote - that’s the reason.  
> **username_3**: @SalmaanAl-Faaris Stackexchange as a whole isn't a support group. It is a community where people answer well-formulated questions. Downvotes are not an entirely correct way of handling your question, I flagged it as "not clear what you're asking", but if my rep was low I could have only downvoted it.  

---

