Elaine

Many students are struggling to pronounce Pinyin well. “j, q, x and zh, ch, sh” are the most difficult ones because there are no such initials in their language. In the following weeks I will talk about the manner of articulation and focus on the position of the tongue

Articulation “j”

Press the front part of the tongue gently against the hard palate (the alveolar ridge) to form a complete blockage, and then release the tongue slightly to create a narrow passage, through which the air squeeze out with an affricate sound. The vocal cords do not vibrate. According to the orthography, when ü follows y, j, q, or x, it is written as u.

Pactice these combination

ji li,   jia ju,   jie jie,   jiang he,   jing zi

For most of the students who is learning Chinese ,as I know, probably have problem in pronouncing the single finals and initials which are totally different from the ones in their native language.

Here is the articulation which, I think ,may be helpful for your learning .

ü ：the mouth is slightly open and keeps the lips rounded ,the tongue stretching forward with its front part raised. According to the orthography,when ü follows y , j ,q or x, it is written as u ,and if there is not an initial before ü, y should be added before it ,and the two dots above ü should be omitted ,like yu.

“AVATAR takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery…”

As a big fan of it, I think what the new movie gives us is not only an entertainment of a conventional science film telling a story about the disaster that we used to seeing, but also a revolutionary innovation which costs over 5 hundred million and takes 5 years to make (although the story itself, in a sense, is somehow familiar to us).

Also, the most important thing is that, I guess, it provides us the opportunity here to learn about some new words in the movie. Is there any other good idea than this? Nope, let’s set off on this fantastic journey!

1. 动作电影 action movie
2. 电影院cinema
3. 场景scene
4. 喜剧片comedy
5. 悲剧片tragedy
6. 恐怖片dracula movie
7. 武侠片swordsmen film
8. 伦理片ethical film
9. 爱情片affectional film
10. 系列片serial
11. 预告片trailer
12. 卡通片,动画片cartoon (film)
13. 短片short(film)
14. 彩色片colour film
15. 默片silent film
16. 无声电影silent cinema, silent film
17. 有声电影talkie