Difficulties in learning the phonetics of the Chinese language: basic mistakes and ways of correcting them

Abstract

We dedicate our study to the importance of mastering the practical phonetics skills as a beginning step in learning the Chinese language. It reviews the basic problems Russian-speaking students have in the beginning of acquiring the phonetic competence, that are connected with the main specific characteristics of the phonetic system of the Chinese language and the differences between it and the phonetic system of the Russian language. The first part of the paper studies the main specific characteristics of the phonetics of the Chinese language and compares the phonetic systems of the Russian and Chinese languages. This part reviews the aspects of sound systems of the languages, the differences between which are most prominent. The purpose of this comparison is to recognize and describe the elements of the phonetic system of the Chinese language that cause the most difficulties to Russian-speaking students. The next part of the study is formulating the basic mistakes that are made by students in the beginning phase of acquiring the phonetic competence of the Chinese language. The connection between the main difficulties that appear in the learning process and the key differences between the phonetic systems of the Russian and Chinese languages is determined in this part of the study. The description of the mistakes is based on the materials gathered in course of studying the key aspects of the phonetic system of the Chinese language and comparing it to the phonetic system of the Russian language in those aspects, as well as personal observations. The recommendations for preventing and correcting the mistakes, which are based on the experience of the Chinese language teachers and personal observations, conclude the description of every type of mistakes.