LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "超市" in Chinese?
chao-SHRR: a high level first syllable with a strong puff of air, then a hard-falling second with no real vowel. Both initials are retroflex.
chāoshì
Plateau then plunge, with no sandhi. The aspiration contrast between two retroflex consonants is the technical content: ch has a strong puff and sh has none, and since both are made in the same place, the breath is the only thing separating them. Getting that wrong makes the word sound blurred rather than merely accented.
Listen: 超市
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
我去超市买东西。
Wǒ qù chāoshì mǎi dōngxi.
I'm going to the supermarket to buy a few things.
Listen: 我去超市买东西。
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我去超市买东西。 keeps wǒ at a full dip because qù falls. Then qù plunges, chāo holds level, shì plunges, mǎi dips, dōng holds level, and xi fades. Note mǎi keeps its full dip because dōng is level. The sentence alternates constantly and never repeats a tone twice in a row.
Where English speakers slip
Both retroflexes are flattened into English "ch" and "sh" with the tongue lying flat, and the second additionally acquires an "ee" vowel. Curl the tip for both and let the second buzz. Under-aspirating the ch gives zhāo. And the level tone on chāo tends to taper off across its long glide, which reads as a fourth tone.