Chinese accent
Mandarin Chinese is the second most spoken language in the world, with approximately 1.1 billion total speakers, over 900 million of whom are native speakers.
Chinese is widely used across China, Taiwan, Singapore, and various Chinese-speaking communities worldwide.
The main points are that Mandarin Chinese has different sounds and rhythms than English. Speakers often add vowels or drop consonants because of these differences. Additionally, Mandarin Chinese emphasises all syllables equally, whereas English emphasises certain words.
Watch videos of people speaking with a Mandarin accent and try to notice what distinguishes it from others.
What makes Chinese English special?
Diphthong Reduction in Chinese English
Diphthongs are vowel sounds that consist of two vowels that must be pronounced together. Chinese has similar diphthongs to English and some additional ones, but they often become monophthongs, where only the first vowel is pronounced. This can sometimes make understanding difficult when Chinese speakers pronounce two vowels as one.
For example, when speaking quickly, “pain” may sound like “pen” and “kite” like “cut.”
Mandarin Influence on "L" Pronunciation in English
The “L” in Mandarin is a light sound – /l/ – and the tongue often rises behind the incisors and does not appear at the end of the syllable. This leads to confusion when Mandarin speakers listen to and speak English. They hear the difference in sound but don’t associate the dark “L” with the light “L.”
For example, “plate” and “love.” The dark “L,” on the other hand, is pronounced at the back of the throat and appears after vowels. Another example: “feel” becomes “fiu,” “school” becomes “sku,” and “people” may sound like “pipo.”
Consonant Clusters in Mandarin Chinese
English uses many consonant clusters, but in Mandarin Chinese, only two consonants can be linked together at the beginning of a syllable if the second consonant is a “Y” or “W” sound.
For example, “grand” might be pronounced as “gras,” “bring” might be pronounced as “bwing,” “cramp” as “cwam,” and “jump” as “jum.”