Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "放松" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 放松 in Chinese?

放松 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /fɑŋ˥˩.sʊŋ˥/. It means “relaxed / to relax.” fahng-SOONG: a hard-falling first syllable, then a high level second with a thin alveolar s.

fahng-SOONG: a hard-falling first syllable, then a high level second with a thin alveolar s.

放松 /fɑŋ˥˩.sʊŋ˥/

fàngsōng

A plunge then a plateau, with no sandhi. Both syllables close at the back of the mouth, so the nasal is constant and the vowel contrast carries the difference: a wide open "ah" against a tightly rounded "oo". The pitch interval is large, from the floor of fàng to the ceiling of sōng.

Listen: 放松

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

fàng The upper teeth rest on the lower lip, then a wide open "ah" sealed at the back of the mouth by ng. The pitch plunges from high to low.

sōng A thin alveolar s with the tongue tip right at the teeth — not retroflexed — onto a rounded vowel nearer "oo" than "oh", sealed by the back nasal. Held level at the top.

Hear it in a sentence

放假以后我很放松。

Fàngjià yǐhòu wǒ hěn fàngsōng.

I feel relaxed once the holidays start.

Listen: 放假以后我很放松。

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

放假以后我很放松。 keeps hěn at a full dip before the falling fàng, since fàng plunges rather than dips. But wǒ and hěn are themselves adjacent dipping tones, so wǒ rises: wó hěn fàngsōng. Earlier in the sentence yǐ dips and hòu falls, with no interaction between them.

Where English speakers slip

The s gets retroflexed by analogy with sh, when it should be a thin hiss with the tongue tip at the teeth. The -ong vowel also opens out to an English "ong" instead of staying pursed. And in the example sentence the wǒ hěn conversion is missed as often as ever, because both syllables feel like small grammatical words.