Ni Hao Lin! I am having trouble with the pronunciation of the word "shi" in the fourth tone. I hear this word phonetically almost as "sure" or "sh-rr", is this correct? Sometimes it sounds like "sheer" to me as well, this word just confuses me :( lol xie xie ni! Vincent

Hi Vincent Once you've been exposed to this word many times in the audio dialog then your pronunciation should improve. Its just a matter of listening to it many times so that the ears begin to adjust to the new sounds. Richard

Normal pronunciation sounds like "sure" like you said. But then again, don't be surprised later when you hear accents where it is pronounced nearly the same as 四 sì four .

Hi Vincent, Yes, you would be quite right to believe that "shi" 是 is pronounced much like "sure" or "sh-rr" and I would be inclined to lean more towards the pronunciation of "sh-rr". As Richard said, listening to the audio repeatedly will help you to grasp it's pronunciation. As Oggiedoggy also said the pronunciation also varies among different areas in China which you might need to be prepared for when traveling. For example, I am in Kunming 昆明 right now in the south of China and often when they say 是 shì it is more often than not said like 四 sì. Thank you very much for your input Richard and Oggiedoggy and keep these comments coming! I hope this helps Vincent and keep practicing. - Lin Ping

ni hao lin I cannot get the difference in sound for the words 'have a rest' .....(xiuxi) and 'study'....(xuexi) they both sound the same :)

Actually, xuixi is probably easier to say. It is said with an long o sound. And xuexi is said with more of a short e sound. Lesson 1.3(I think) has dialogue with xuexi in it. Also, xuexi has a little bit of an r sound in the xue that xiuxi doesnt have. Hope that helps! Chinese pronunciation can be tough sometimes. Especially the almost r sounds. :) -------Selena