LingoDrop
Chinese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "商店" in Chinese?
shahng-DYEN: a high level first syllable with the tongue curled back, then a hard-falling second with a tight "eh".
shāngdiàn
Plateau into plunge, with no rule involved. The interval is large, since shāng sits at the ceiling and diàn finishes at the floor, and compressing it is the usual way the word loses its shape. Both syllables also contain the open-versus-tight vowel contrast that the -ang and -ian finals set up.
Listen: 商店
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
商店七点关门。
Shāngdiàn qī diǎn guānmén.
The shop closes at seven.
Listen: 商店七点关门。
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商店七点关门。 gives shāng level, diàn falling, qī level, diǎn dipping, guān level, mén rising. Note diǎn keeps its full dip because guān is level. Six syllables and five different tonal states, with three separate level plateaus — a good drill for holding the first tone steady while everything moves around it.
Where English speakers slip
The retroflex flattens into an English "sh" and the back nasal drifts forward to shàn. Curl the tongue and close at the back. On the second syllable the -ian final opens out to "dyahn", and aspirating the d gives tiàn. And the large pitch drop between the syllables gets compressed because English compounds de-stress their second element.