I have a question gearing time rule. Two third change to second and a third.
Of course when you learn the word you learn it with tones for correct pronouncantion.
Fiona suggests to try words in a chunk . But in real life situation you say without preparation right , you can’t learn it in advance . So t won’t work.
I was kind of hoping that when you saying third tones in raw the intonation of the first once naturally rises up to prepare to the last really low sound. Cause you cant say several 3 d tones in a row naturally.
So I am a bit confused on how to make it work
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I’ve been enjoying the series very much. In the Pronunciation section, the video that talks about difficult vowel combos and i/u/ü freezes for me with about 10 minutes left, and returns with about 3 minutes left in the video. Not sure if it’s just me (watching on my phone), but wanted to check.
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The expert that is brought in to more precisely explain tones and the subtle pitches and emphasis within the tone is excellent. (Tones 2 lesson) I will continue to study this in detail. I’ve taken Chinese for some time in the classroom setting and now with Chinesepod as an augment to improve my tones. Please give my thanks to the producers of the series, and having the foresight to include the very knowledgeable and good techniques tone expert. The effort and precision for this series helps intermediate and beginning students alike.
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Hi Frederic,Fiona,Gwilym, meanwhile I finished the lesson 16/17 I/U/Ü and the very intricate iu,ui,un,ün, pronunciation.(And of course will repeat the whole series!) Very helpful to eventually translate the “wrong” or better “misleading” pinyin pronunciation. For a westerner the pinyin is not at all helpful to acquire the skill of speaking a proper and adequate 普通话. Frederic should invent a better transcription method to replace pinyin which apparently is rather an implement for input purposes. It opened my eyes when you, Fiona, told in the lesson 16 or17 that you yourself only learned pinyin in the last couples of years to type or find the 汉字in your computer, but having difficulties to find the appropriate pinyin for your native mandarin sound.It shows that the pinyin doesn’t represent at all the true pronunciation. At least for westerner ears.
Thank you again for this helpful series!
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Hey! I just started the Say it Right Series by doing the first lesson today, and I absolutely loved it! Was really helpful, and interesting and think the format really helps (I feel with pronunciation video is super useful). I’m really looking forward to continuing with the other lessons - So good that Cpod is working on things like this, please keep up the video lessons - I love them!
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Hi, I noticed that the video for Lesson 16 “The Difficult I/U/Ü Vowel Sounds” (both while watching it on the ChinesePod Web site as well for the downloaded video) stops playing from minute 14:34 and starts again at about minute 22:00. Is it possible that there is a problem with the video itself or is it that only me have this problem?
Which browser are you using? I just tried on Chrome and it seemed to word ok. Perhaps click second button on the video and switch between HTML and Flash to see if that’s the problem.
Thank you for your support! I was using Opera Browser on an Android tablet. I tried again on a PC with the MS Edge Browser and this time it worked fine! 
Hi there,
I am just about 3/4 way through the Say It Right series and it is helping me a lot with pronunciation. I was curious if there is any collection of all the lesson drill videos together. I would love to take them with me on the go!
Thanks
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So pleased to know you like our series. 也很高兴知道我们的课程对你有帮助！
Frederic
Hi DAXU laoshi, thanks a lot for your excellent teaching. I even
re-viewed a second time the series and could improve a lot my accent as my
chinese teacher here in Berlin remarked. BTW did you write a book? Please let
me know.知您
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Hello Wande, thanks for your response, and I appreciate your support very much!
Sorry, I have not written my book yet. But I promise, you will be informed the publishing day. ; )
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Hello, Ms./Miss/Mr. 688688191!
Actually, I don’t suggest Mandarin learners to learn the 3. tone with a rising-up tail first, because it’s a lower frequency form (emphasis pattern). And if a learner says the form too early and too much, which often makes him not able to say 3. Tone naturally, but mix up with 2. tone or just sound strange.
Regarding to the basic idea of 3. tone, please watch the episode 6 and 7, you will find our brand new explanations about 3. Tone and 2. Tone. You might also go through the other episodes about tones, you could get some more important breaking-through and practical ideas.
Best Regards,
Frederic (Xu Laoshi)
Was really useful and interesting, I am not a native english speaker so i didn’t exactly face the same challenges but it helped so much anyway.
I got a (very specific) question, how do you pronounce 嗯 ńg ?
Thank you so much for this series!
Hi there. Fiona has made a short video with some ways of pronouncing the character 嗯 (en)
Enjoy
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As for me, I use Mozila and it doesn’t work…
Where are you based? If you’re in China, you might like to try a VPN.
As a young language instructor - I teach Spanish to English-natives & vice versa - I found this series so helpful. I’ve been lucky enough to have acted in plays & films & taken music lessons (voice, piano, guitar, drums, composition) since the age of 6-7; after almost two decades of theatrical & musical training - training in sensitive & discerning listening & communicating - I’ve come to naturally hear & quickly adapt to the nuances of rhythm, tone, & pronunciation in dialects. I also have synesthesia, so I can absolutely attest to the four tones having “colors” 
This is obviously great for me when I’m learning languages, but I’ve found I often take it for granted & sometimes have a real blind spot as a teacher when my students have different ways of learning & intuiting, of listening & then processing what they hear. As a teacher in the heat of the classroom, I can find myself getting frustrated: “Why would I need to tell them where to put their tongue or tense their lips? Can’t they just listen & recreate the sounds they hear?” Being able to take a more detached position from behind the computer screen, to watch from a distance as Karl & Gwilym work through a lot of these more difficult sounds in Chinese - & find their own unique ways from very different English accents (US v. UK) toward more native-sounding speech - has been instructive. I think now I have a better sense of how to effectively incorporate those mechanically-oriented muscle-placement tips into my own teaching, especially for those amazing - &, to me, rather mysterious - students with the more technical, so-called “left-brain” approach to learning. Thanks guys, you’re making me a better Mandarin speaker & a better teacher at the same time!
Also - Xu老师 rocks!
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For anyone interested, here’s a pronunciation tip (for any L2) that I’ve found helpful for, I’d say, on average… 3/8(?) of my later stage, more intermediate students (usually the more histrionic, outgoing, “class-clown” types). Disregard it if you find it unhelpful or disagree with the approach. That is: when speaking the target language, you can try to almost comically over-exaggerate the native accent you’ve gotten used to hearing, so that maybe to you or your [insert native language here]-speaking friends, it would sound like you’re actually making fun of the native accent the way a comedian might. In my 13 years of learning & speaking Spanish, I’ve been amazed to find that when I try to just sound like my natural self when speaking Spanish with native Spanish-speakers, I’m often misunderstood - my accent becomes too slack, colorless, & North American. But when I take on a sort of persona or character voice (for me I actually imitate the used-car dealer from El Salvador I always hear on the Spanish-language radio station in my hometown here in the US), the native speaker almost always compliments me on my near-native accent. To them it doesn’t sound comical or “stereotypical” but rather confident & polished. I recently tried this over Skype during an English-Chinese language exchange with a native Mandarin-speaker (doing my best impression of 巧虎的爸爸 from the kids’ cartoon), & she 100% agreed that it didn’t sound to her like an “impression” at all but actually quite native. Maybe give it a try with a native-speaker & ask for their thoughts.
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Rockin’ that S. Pellegrino in the back. Come elegante!