<p>If I remember from school, there are 4 American English sounds not found in Standard Mandarin.</p>
<ol>
<li>/v/ --- the 'v' in very</li>
<li>/ð/ --- the 'th' in thank you</li>
<li>/θ/ --- the 'th' in both</li>
<li>/ɪ/ --- the 'i' in bill</li>
</ol>
<p>The bigger issue, to my mind, is that despite Mandarin lacking those 4 sounds, Mandarin lacks much more in that there are only 2 types of ended consonants in Mandarin:</p>
<ol>
<li>/n/ --- the 'n' in tian （天）</li>
<li>/ng --- the 'ng' in reng （扔）</li>
</ol>
<p>As a consequence, you'll notice that most Mandarin L1 speakers will pronounce their L2 English words without that various ending consonants found in English.</p>
<p>Ex. Foot becomes fu te （福 特）</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-14T14:18:40.310Z
2022-08-14T14:20:31.450Z
2022-08-14T14:20:31.450Z
San Liu
<p>What are the IPA symbols for sounds in (Beijing) Mandarin? Which Mandarin sounds are not in (American) English? Which English sounds are not in Mandarin?</p>
<p>Below are the IPA consonant and vowel charts where I highlighted all the American English sounds in green. I want to make a similar chart with all the Mandarin Chinese sounds.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/SG87q.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/SG87q.png" alt="IPA consonant chart with all the consonant sounds in American English highlighted" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/Vq7Jm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Vq7Jm.png" alt="IPA vowel chart with all the vowel sounds in American English highlighted" /></a></p>
<p>Edit: I did some research and created the charts below. Does anyone know enough Mandarin and linguistics to know if this is correct?</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/TB2Eo.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/TB2Eo.png" alt="revised IPA consonant chart with all the consonant sounds in American English and Mandarin highlighted" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/HOlLW.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/HOlLW.png" alt="IPA vowel chart with all the vowel sounds in American English and Mandarin highlighted" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-15T18:23:22.573Z
Take a look at this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Mandarin
monalisa
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-03T14:48:36.580Z
I’m voting to close this question because it can be answered by the relevant Wikipedia article
blackgreen
<mandarin><pronunciation><ipa>
What phonetic sounds are there in Chinese?
# What phonetic sounds are there in Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-15)

What are the IPA symbols for sounds in (Beijing) Mandarin? Which Mandarin sounds are not in (American) English? Which English sounds are not in Mandarin?

Below are the IPA consonant and vowel charts where I highlighted all the American English sounds in green. I want to make a similar chart with all the Mandarin Chinese sounds.

[![IPA consonant chart with all the consonant sounds in American English highlighted](https://i.sstatic.net/SG87q.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/SG87q.png)
[![IPA vowel chart with all the vowel sounds in American English highlighted](https://i.sstatic.net/Vq7Jm.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/Vq7Jm.png)

Edit: I did some research and created the charts below. Does anyone know enough Mandarin and linguistics to know if this is correct?

[![revised IPA consonant chart with all the consonant sounds in American English and Mandarin highlighted](https://i.sstatic.net/TB2Eo.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/TB2Eo.png)
[![IPA vowel chart with all the vowel sounds in American English and Mandarin highlighted](https://i.sstatic.net/HOlLW.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/HOlLW.png)

**Tags:** mandarin, pronunciation, ipa

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Take a look at this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Mandarin  
> **username_2**: I’m voting to close this question because it can be answered by the relevant Wikipedia article  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2022-08-14. Score: 2

If I remember from school, there are 4 American English sounds not found in Standard Mandarin.

1. /v/ --- the 'v' in very
2. /ð/ --- the 'th' in thank you
3. /θ/ --- the 'th' in both
4. /ɪ/ --- the 'i' in bill

The bigger issue, to my mind, is that despite Mandarin lacking those 4 sounds, Mandarin lacks much more in that there are only 2 types of ended consonants in Mandarin:

1. /n/ --- the 'n' in tian （天）
2. /ng --- the 'ng' in reng （扔）

As a consequence, you'll notice that most Mandarin L1 speakers will pronounce their L2 English words without that various ending consonants found in English.

Ex. Foot becomes fu te （福 特）


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