Pinyin 5 of 6 · day 5
-n or -ng
-n and -ng make different words, not different accents: 饭 is a meal, 放 is to put.
What to listen for
- -n: the tongue tip touches behind the top teeth and the sound stops at the front.
- -ng: the tip stays down, the back of the tongue rises — the ng of sing, and the vowel before it opens up.
- Across much of the south, in and ing blur together. Learn the difference anyway; the standard keeps it.
Watch
On the morning ride: watch the mouths and mime the sounds. The listening check below works on the same ride.
Hear the difference
Tap any sound. Native speakers, not a robot voice.
in · ing
an · ang
en · eng
With a glide
Listening check
Ten sounds. Nine right and the unit is solid; below that, replay the pairs you missed and go again.
10 sounds · 9 right is solid
Earbuds in. Each sound plays as its question appears — replay it as often as you like, then pick what you heard.
Say it out loud
At the evening desk: hear a word, say it, record yourself, play both back. Whole words — the tone rides along.
Tutor: The pairs, one after the other; the tutor listens for where your tongue ends up.
Native recordings: Chen Wang (syllables) and Yue Tan (words), from the audio-cmn project, CC BY-SA. Source