How to Pronounce Deng Xiaoping

How to Pronounce Deng Xiaoping In this article, we will look at how to pronounce Deng Xiaoping (é‚“å ° Ã¥ ¹ ³), the name of one of the most important politicians in China during the previous century and one of the main forces behind Chinas economic development. Below, I will first give you a quick and dirty way if you just want to have a rough idea of how to pronounce the name. Then I’ll go through more detailed description, including the analysis of common learner errors. Pronouncing Deng Xiaoping if You Don't Know Any Mandarin Chinese names usually consist of three syllables, with the first being the family name and the last two the personal name. There are exceptions to this rule, but it holds true in a vast majority of cases. Thus, there are three syllables we need to deal with. Deng - Pronounce as dang, but replace a with the e in theXiao - Pronounce as sh plus yow- in yowlPing - Pronounce as ping If you want to have a go at the tones, they are falling, low and rising respectively. Note: This pronunciation is not correct pronunciation in Mandarin. It represents my best effort to write the pronunciation using English words. To really get it right, you need to learn some new sounds (see below). How to Actually Pronounce Deng Xiaoping If you study Mandarin, you should never ever rely on English approximations like those above. Those are meant for people who dont intend to learn the language! You have to understand the orthography, i.e. how the letters relate to the sounds. There are many traps and pitfalls in Pinyin you have to be familiar with. Now, lets look at the three syllables in more detail, including common learner errors: Dà ¨ng  (fourth tone): The first syllable rarely causes serious problems for speakers of English. The only things you should pay attention to is the initial, which is unaspirated and unvoiced. The vowel sound is a relaxed central sound close to the schwa in English the.  Ã‚  XiÇŽo  (third tone): This syllable is the hardest of the three. The x sound is produced by putting the tongue tip just behind the lower teeth and then pronouncing an s, but slightly further back than a normal s. You can also try to say shhh as when telling someone to be quiet, but place your tongue tip behind the lower teeth. The final isnt all that difficult and sounds close to what I mentioned above (yowl minus the l).  Pà ­ng (second tone): This syllable is relatively close to the English word with the same spelling. It has slightly more aspiration on the p and sometimes have an added, light schwa (central vowel) between the i and the ng (this is optional). The are some variations for these sounds, but Deng Xiaoping (é‚“å ° Ã¥ ¹ ³)  can be written like this in IPA: [təŋ É•jÉ‘ÊŠ pÊ °iÅ‹] Conclusion Now you know how to pronounce Deng Xiaoping (é‚“å ° Ã¥ ¹ ³). Did you find it hard? If you’re learning Mandarin, dont worry; there arent that many sounds. Once you’ve ​learned the most common ones, learning to pronounce words (and names) will become much easier!