LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "警察" in Chinese?
jing-CHAH: a low sagging first syllable with an unaspirated j, then a rising second with the tongue curled back and a strong puff of air.
jǐngchá
A trough, then a climb, with no conversion since chá rises. The word puts two very different affricates side by side: one palatal, forward, unaspirated, with spread lips; the other retroflex, curled back, with a strong puff. Getting both right in succession is the whole demand.
Listen: 警察
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
警察来了。
Jǐngchá láile.
The police are here.
Listen: 警察来了。
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
警察来了。 keeps jǐng at a full dip because chá rises, then chá climbs, lái climbs again, and le fades at that high pitch. Two consecutive rises need separate downward resets — and since the sentence is short and often said with urgency, running them together is especially tempting.
Where English speakers slip
Breath on the j gives gives qǐng, a real and common word. Keep the breath in for the first syllable and release it for the second — the two affricates need opposite treatment. And the back nasal on jǐng drifts forward to jǐn, while chá's open vowel is often tightened toward English "cha".