u/dingzhihua

After teaching Mandarin for more than 20 years, I’ve come to believe that many pronunciation problems aren’t caused by ability—they’re caused by the way people practice.

Recently, one of my Russian students was working on z, c, s and zh, ch, sh.
He could pronounce them correctly when practicing the sounds on their own. But as soon as he put them into words, he kept slipping back into his old pronunciation.

At first, I thought he simply needed more practice.

Then I realized something.

If you keep repeating the wrong sound, you’re not building the correct habit—you’re reinforcing the wrong one.

Your brain naturally falls back on the pronunciation patterns it has used your entire life. Knowing the rule isn’t the same as building a new habit.
So instead of repeating the same sound over and over, try this:
✅ Step 1: Practice the sound by itself.
✅ Step 2: Put it into a syllable.
✅ Step 3: Practice it in a word.
✅ Step 4: Finally, use it in a full sentence.
If you start making mistakes, go back one step instead of repeating the mistake.

The goal isn’t to practice more.
It’s to repeat the correct pronunciation more often than the incorrect one.

After changing the practice method, his retroflex sounds became much more stable. They’re not perfect every time, but now he can hear the difference and correct himself.

Changing your pronunciation isn’t just about learning a new sound—it’s about replacing a habit you’ve had for years.

What’s been the hardest Mandarin sound for you to master?