LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "高兴" in Chinese?
gao-SHING: a high level first syllable with an unaspirated g, then a hard-falling second with the thin x hiss.
gāoxìng
Plateau into plunge, with nothing to adjust. The interval is large — gāo establishes the top of your range and xìng falls from there to the bottom — so this word is a good calibration exercise for both tones at once. If the drop feels small, the first syllable was probably not high enough.
Listen: 高兴
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
我今天很高兴。
Wǒ jīntiān hěn gāoxìng.
I am very happy today.
Listen: 我今天很高兴。
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我今天很高兴。 keeps hěn at a full third tone, because gāo is level rather than dipping. Wǒ also keeps its dip since jīn is level. So the sentence has two unchanged third tones, three high level syllables, and one plunge at the end — and the fact that no sandhi fires anywhere is itself worth noticing, since learners often assume it must.
Where English speakers slip
Breath after the g gives kāo. Keep the release silent. The bigger error is the x, rendered as English "sh", which makes the second syllable sound retroflex when it should be thin and forward. And the -ing ending drifts to xìn with a front n, which is a different syllable. Three small things, and getting all three right in one two-syllable word takes deliberate practice.