How to Pronounce the Name of Taiwanese Politician Tsai Ing-wen

How to Pronounce the Name of Taiwanese Politician Tsai Ing-wen In this article, we will look at how to pronounce the name of the president Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen (è” ¡Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¦â€"‡), which in Hanyu Pinyin would be written Ci YÄ «ngwà ©n. Since most students use Hanyu Pinyin for pronunciation, we  will henceforth use that, although the notes about pronunciation are of course relevant regardless of system. Ci YÄ «ngwà ©n was elected president of Taiwan on Jan. 16, 2016. And yes, her personal name means English, as in the language this article is written in. Below are some easy instructions if you just want to have a rough idea how to pronounce the name. Then we’ll go through a more detailed description, including analysis of common learner errors. Pronouncing Names in Chinese Pronouncing can be very hard if you havent studied the language; sometimes its hard, even if you have.  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. Easy Instructions for Pronouncing Cai Yingwen Chinese names usually consist of three syllables, with the first being the family name and the last two the personal name. There are exceptions to this rule, but it holds true in many cases. Thus, there are three syllables we need to deal with. Cai - Pronounce as ts in hats plus eyeYing - Pronounce as Eng in EnglishWen - Pronounce as when If you want to have a go at the tones, they are falling, high-flat and rising respectively. Note: This pronunciation is not correct pronunciation in Mandarin (though it is reasonably close). It represents an attempt to write the pronunciation using English words. To really get it right, you need to learn some new sounds (see below). How to Actually Pronounce Cai Yingwen If you study Mandarin, you should never ever rely on English approximations like those above. Those are meant for people who dont intend to learn the language! You have to understand the orthography, i.e. how the letters relate to the sounds. There are many traps and pitfalls in Pinyin you have to be familiar with. Now, lets look at the three syllables in more detail, including common learner errors: Cai  (fourth tone) - Her family name is by far the hardest part of the name. c in Pinyin is an affricate, which means that it is a stop sound (a t-sound) followed by a fricative (an s-sound). I used ts in hats above, which is sort of okay, but will lead to a sound that is not aspirated enough. To get that right, you should add a considerable puff of air afterward. If you hold your hand a few inches from your mouth, you should feel the air hitting your hand. The final is okay and is pretty close to eye.Ying  (first tone) - As you have probably guessed already, this syllable was chosen to represent England and thereby English because they do sound quite similar. The i (which is spelt yi here) in Mandarin is pronounced with the tongue closer to the upper teeth than in English. Its as far up and forward you can go, basically. It can almost sound like a soft j at times. The final can have an optional short schwa (as in English the). To get the right -ng, let your jaw drop and your ton gue withdraw. Wen (second tone) - This syllable seldom clauses problem for learners once they sort the spelling (its uen but since its the beginning of the word, its spelt wen). It is actually very close to English when.  Its worth pointing out that some English dialects have an audible h, which should not be present here. It should also be noted that some native speakers of Mandarin reduce the final to sound more like un than en, but this is not the standardized way of pronouncing it. English when is closer. The are some variations for these sounds, but Cai Yingwen/Tsai Ing-wen (è” ¡Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¦â€"‡) can be written like this in IPA: tsÊ °ai jiÅ‹ wÉ™n Conclusion Now you know how to pronounce Tsai Ing-wen (è” ¡Ã¨â€¹ ±Ã¦â€"‡). Did you find it hard? If you’re learning Mandarin, dont worry; there arent that many sounds. Once you’ve learned the most common ones, learning to pronounce words (and names) will become much easier!