Chinese · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "旅行" in Chinese?

Q: How do you pronounce 旅行 in Chinese?

旅行 is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ly˨˩˦.ɕiŋ˧˥/. It means “trip / to travel.” lü-SHING: a low sagging first syllable with the rounded front ü, then a rising second with the thin x hiss.

lü-SHING: a low sagging first syllable with the rounded front ü, then a rising second with the thin x hiss.

旅行 /ly˨˩˦.ɕiŋ˧˥/

lǚxíng

A sag then a climb, with no conversion since xíng rises. The reading is worth noting: 行 is xíng here and háng in 银行, the same character with two pronunciations. And the lip cycle is demanding — tightly rounded for lǚ, then fully spread for the x, with no leftover rounding permitted.

Listen: 旅行

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Sound it out

lǚ A bright forward l onto the ü vowel: tongue set as for "ee", lips pushed into a tight circle. The diaeresis is written here because after l both u and ü are possible. The voice sinks to the floor.

xíng Smile the lips wide for the thin palatal hiss with the tip down, onto an "ee" sealed at the back of the mouth by ng. The tone lifts from mid to high.

Hear it in a sentence

我要去中国旅行。

Wǒ yào qù Zhōngguó lǚxíng.

I'm taking a trip to China.

Listen: 我要去中国旅行。

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我要去中国旅行。 keeps wǒ at a full dip because yào falls. Then yào and qù both plunge, Zhōng holds level, guó climbs, lǚ dips, xíng climbs. Two consecutive falls near the start need separate resets, and the sentence ends by climbing out of its low point on lǚ.

Where English speakers slip

Replacing ü with plain "oo" gives lù, which is a real word meaning road — so the error changes the meaning rather than merely the accent. Say "lee", freeze the tongue, then round the lips. The x becomes an English "sh" for most learners, and the back nasal on xíng drifts forward to xín.