Pronouncing names in Chinese can be very hard if you haven't studied Chinese (and sometimes it's hard even if you have). Many letters used to write the sounds in Mandarin (called Hanyu Pinyin) don't match the sounds they describe in English, so simply trying to read a Chinese name and guess the pronunciation will lead to many mistakes (if you study Mandarin, you have to be aware of these traps and pitfalls).


Ignoring or mispronouncing tones will just add to the confusion. These mistakes add up and often become so serious that a native speaker would fail to understand. Read more about how to pronounce Chinese names.

The quick and dirty way ofpronouncing Xí Jìnpíng

The truly quick and dirty way is to pronounce the name of the president of China is to say SHEE JIN PING. If you want to take a shot at the tones, they should be rising, falling and rising respectively. You can also listen to a recording of a native speaker pronouncing the name and mimic.

If you happen to be familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet, you can also look at this: [?i t?inp?i?] (tones not included).

How to actually pronounce Xí Jìnpíng

The president's name is ??? (???) Xí Jìnpíng and consists of three syllables, the first being his family name, the two remaining being his personal name. Let's have a look at the syllables one by one.

1. "xí" is pretty hard because the "x" sound does not exist in English. It is alveolo-palatal, meaning that it's produce with the body of the tongue against the front part of the hard palate. The tongue position is similar to the first sound in "yes" in English. Try producing a hissing sound and you'll get pretty close. "i" is like the "y" in "city", but longer. Read more about how to pronounce "x" here. The tone should rise.

1. "jin" is also tricky, but if you know how to pronounce "x", it becomes a lot easier, because "j" is pronounced like "x", but has a stop in front of it. Think of it as a very light "t", so "tx". Be careful, though, don't breathe out too hard on "t", because then it turn into Pinyin "q"! The "i" in "jin" should be similar to the "i" in "xi" but shorter". The tone should fall.
2. "ping" is fairly straightforward and relying on your English pronunciation will take you reasonably close to the right pronunciation. One minor difference is that the "ng" is pronounced farther back and is more prominent than in English. The tone should rise.

Conclusion

Now you know how to pronounce the name of the president of China. Did you find it hard? Don't worry, there aren't that many sounds in Chines, so as soon learning to pronounce both names and words will become easier and easier.

In English, you sometimes have to learn how to pronounce each individual word, but that's not the case in Chinese, people who have studied for a semester or so have already seen or heard most of the syllables used in Chinese!