Chinese Characters I Always Forget How to Pronounce

Language Learning Chinese
1

My Chinese reading ability is quite OK and I know how to pronounce most of the characters I encounter on a daily basis (though I still often get the tones wrong). But then there are those annoying ones I have seen a hundred times but still don’t know how to pronounce.

So, I’d like to gather some of those here and everyone can add some more, as a learning and remembering excercise of sorts.

Let’s start with one that should actually be quite easy to remember, but I still had to look it up today, when it appeared before me in an article.

鱻 [xiān], like in 海鮮 [hǎixiān]

2

Here’s one that even native speakers consistently pronounce wrong: 龜裂 (split, crack, chap)

3

What the crack, it’s pronounced jūnliè? :open_mouth:

4

:+1:

Next lesson…how to properly pronounce 炸雞 (fried chicken).

5

Easy.

【集韻】【韻會】𠀤俱倫切，音麋。【莊子·逍遙遊】宋人有善爲不龜手之藥者，世世以洴澼絖爲事。【註】不龜，謂凍不皺瘃也。【釋文】舉倫反。

俱倫切: [k]ū + l[ûn] = kun

Final answer.

6

WTF :sweat_smile:

7

炸雞? you mean zhá or zhà? I would not know without research.

8

Former. The latter would be exploding chicken.

9

Depends on whose working at the frying station?

10

If the drumstick explodes, temp may be too high.

11

Here’s another one that’s commonly mispronounced in Taiwan: 涮涮鍋 (shabu-shabu).

12

Without looking it up, Shuan Shuan Guo?

13

Tones?

14

111

15

So close… :sweat_smile:

Should be: shuànshuàn guō

16

I forgot how to pronounce this

Biang

17

I wonder if there is a risk of a tone sandhi sidewinder, how is it mispronounced usually?

18

You should know this from the noodle dish.

19

For me it’s 禁止. Yeah, basic I know. I learned the meaning of this as soon as I got here, so whenever I see it I just think of the meaning and can never remember how it’s pronounced.

20

Apart from that, its pronunciation – biang – also occurs in one of my favorite phrases, “bing bing biang biang”.

I’m pretty sure that this is the weather caster on TV (EBC) whom I saw saying “bing bing biang biang” that one time – I keep watching that station and hoping she’ll say it again, but I haven’t seen her say it since.