<p>The difference between "in" and "ing" is in the ending sound. Say "in", hold it for a second or two, and feel the position of your tongue. Your tongue should be in the front, touching the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. Then say "ing", and do the same. Your tongue should be at the back of your mouth. Try to hear the difference in sound when you do this exercise. Differentiating the sound will come with practice. Hope this helps.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T14:44:12.827Z
2016-03-16T14:44:12.827Z
monalisa
<p>Many people in South China are not clear of n and ng. That's, as you mentioned, Wu ascent problem. I suggest you use dictionary to know what character are n or ng, and listen to those who pronounce good, for example, presenters of CCTV news</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-17T04:15:11.353Z
2016-03-17T04:15:11.353Z
gcd0318
<p>When you pronounce "ing" sound, you should feel reverberation in your nose, "in" doesn't. 
Listen carefully to "<a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqb=%E7%B2%BE%E8%8B%B1" rel="nofollow">精英</a>"(jing ying) and "<a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqb=%E9%87%91%E9%93%B6" rel="nofollow">金银</a>"(jin yin) and feel the difference.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T02:32:41.857Z
Actually both /in/ and /ing/ are nasal sounds. So there is a vibration in the nose for both. The difference is the position of the tongue in the mouth. For /in/ it is the same as /it/, whereas for /ing/ the position of the tongue is the same as /ik/.
dda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T02:18:57.470Z
2016-03-16T02:18:57.470Z
thinwa
<p>We've made a video all about this topic over on the Say It Right series.</p>

<p>The link to that specific video is <a href="https://chinesepodtv.wistia.com/medias/6ed5mm4y4v" rel="nofollow">here</a> which you can watch for free, but if you found it helpful, you could check out the rest of the series here. </p>

<p><a href="https://chinesepod.com/lp-sir" rel="nofollow">https://chinesepod.com/lp-sir</a></p>

<p>Hope it helps. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-17T08:43:09.183Z
Cannot load the video. (I believe I'm not blocked by the GFW.)
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-17T02:10:53.060Z
2016-03-17T02:10:53.060Z
Fiona Tian
<p>I grew in a family that speaks Wu Chinese, so I cannot differentiate between the "ing" sound and the "in" sound. Are there any ways to tell them apart or pronounce them differently? They sound the same to me. (Hanyupinyin)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T13:00:38.377Z
I'm confused as to whether you are living in a Chinese speaking country or not because if yes, you'd be asking about ways to tell the differences from the character and if no, it would be helpful if you point out the "other native language" of yours.
andrew
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-16T15:23:50.557Z
(Question irrelevant) I'm curious about whether you can distinguish -ing and -in in English, like sin and sing?
Stan
<spoken>
How do I tell the difference between "ing" and "in"?
# How do I tell the difference between "ing" and "in"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-16)

I grew in a family that speaks Wu Chinese, so I cannot differentiate between the "ing" sound and the "in" sound. Are there any ways to tell them apart or pronounce them differently? They sound the same to me. (Hanyupinyin)

**Tags:** spoken

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm confused as to whether you are living in a Chinese speaking country or not because if yes, you'd be asking about ways to tell the differences from the character and if no, it would be helpful if you point out the "other native language" of yours.  
> **username_2**: (Question irrelevant) I'm curious about whether you can distinguish -ing and -in in English, like sin and sing?  

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## 4 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-03-16. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

The difference between "in" and "ing" is in the ending sound. Say "in", hold it for a second or two, and feel the position of your tongue. Your tongue should be in the front, touching the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. Then say "ing", and do the same. Your tongue should be at the back of your mouth. Try to hear the difference in sound when you do this exercise. Differentiating the sound will come with practice. Hope this helps.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2016-03-17. Score: 1

Many people in South China are not clear of n and ng. That's, as you mentioned, Wu ascent problem. I suggest you use dictionary to know what character are n or ng, and listen to those who pronounce good, for example, presenters of CCTV news


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### Answer by username_5 on 2016-03-16. Score: 0

When you pronounce "ing" sound, you should feel reverberation in your nose, "in" doesn't.
Listen carefully to "[精英](https://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E7%B2%BE%E8%8B%B1)"(jing ying) and "[金银](https://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=%E9%87%91%E9%93%B6)"(jin yin) and feel the difference.

> **Comments:**
> **username_6**: Actually both /in/ and /ing/ are nasal sounds. So there is a vibration in the nose for both. The difference is the position of the tongue in the mouth. For /in/ it is the same as /it/, whereas for /ing/ the position of the tongue is the same as /ik/.  

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### Answer by username_7 on 2016-03-17. Score: 0

We've made a video all about this topic over on the Say It Right series.

The link to that specific video is [here](https://chinesepodtv.wistia.com/medias/6ed5mm4y4v) which you can watch for free, but if you found it helpful, you could check out the rest of the series here.

<https://chinesepod.com/lp-sir>

Hope it helps.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Cannot load the video. (I believe I'm not blocked by the GFW.)  

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