In this episode, we learned 11 Taiwanese consonants and the important features about these sounds: voiced, voiceless, aspirated, and unaspirated.
(These show notes use tables and rich formatting. Please visit the episode webpage for an optimal viewing experience.)
For those of you who are familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the chart below is a quick summary for you:
在本期节目中，我们学习了11个台湾辅音，以及这些音的重要特征：浊音、清音、送气音和不送气音。
(本集节目说明使用了表格和丰富的格式。请访问剧集网页以获得最佳的观看体验。)
对于那些熟悉国际音标（IPA）的人来说，下面的图表是对你的一个快速总结。
| Place & Manner of Articulation | Voiceless | Voiceless | Voiced |
| Aspirated | Unaspirated | — | |
| Bilabial | ph– /pʰ/ | p– /p/ | b– /b/ |
| Alveolar | th– /tʰ/ | t- /t/ | — |
| Alveolar affricate (Palatalization) | tsh– /tsʰ/ (tshi /tɕʰi/) | ts- /ts/ (tsi- /tɕi/) | j– /dz/ (ji– /dʑi/) |
| Velar | kh– /kʰ/ | k– /k/ | g– /g/ |
1. Aspirated consonants: ph-, th-, tsh-, kh-
When you say an aspirated consonant, you can feel a puff of air coming out of your mouth. Try putting your hand in front of your mouth, and say “pass”, “pen” or “pink”.当你说一个送气的辅音时，你可以感觉到嘴里有一股气喷出来。试着把手放在嘴前，说“pass”, “pen” or “pink”.
The Taiwanese ph-, th- and kh- are just like the normal English “p”, “t” and “k”. The tsh- sound is similar to the “z” in “pizza” with a strong air stream.
2. Unaspirated consonants: p-, t-, ts-, k-
There isn’t a strong burst of air when you say the Taiwanese p-, t-, ts- or k-. In English, it only occurs when a “p”, “t”, or “k” follows consonant “s”, for example, the “p” in “spend”, “spit” or “spill”.在英语中，只有在辅音 “s “后面出现 “p”、”t “或 “k “时才会出现，例如 “spend”, “spit” or “spill”中的 “p”。
Taiwanese p-, t- and k-, may be difficult for English speakers because they can sound quite similar to English “b”, “d”, and “g”.
3. Voiced consonants: b-, j-, g-
Your vocal cords rev up when you say a voiced consonant. Place your hand over your throat, and slowly say: “bat”, “bell” and “beak”. If you exaggerate the “b” sound, like “bbb-bat”, “bbb-bell” and “bbb-beak”, you will feel your vocal cords start vibrating even before you release the obstruction created by your lips. That early vibration of your vocal cords is what you need when saying Taiwanese b-, j- or g-.
PRACTICE TIP 1 – ASPIRATED VS UNASPIRATED CONSONANTS
Here’s a little experiment to help you see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated consonants. Try holding a piece of paper just a few inches in front of your mouth, and then say the following word pairs:这里有一个小实验，可以帮助你看出吸气辅音和不吸气辅音的区别。试着把一张纸放在你的嘴前几英寸处，然后说下面的单词对。
| pain – Spain | park – spark | peak – speak | pot – spot | pin – spin | port – sport |
You should see when you say the aspirated ones, the puff of air from your mouth will move the paper, whereas the unaspirated ones won’t.你应该看到，当你说送气的时候，你嘴里的气会让纸动起来，而不送气的就不会。
Since English speakers aren’t used to starting a word with an unaspirated consonant, here’s an exercise you can try to help you isolate that sound.
- Slowly draw out the “s” sound: sss-pend, sss-pit, sss-park
- Split the “s” and “p”, so that there’s a slight pause right before you say the “p”.
- Gradually make the “s” quieter and quieter, until you eventually drop the “s” part. But, still keep imagining that you’re making that “s” sound right before the “p”, and you should be able to make a syllable with an unaspirated “p”.
You can also practice this with “stand” or “sky” for an unaspirated “t” or “k”.
由于英语使用者不习惯用未送气的辅音来开始一个单词，这里有一个练习，你可以尝试着帮助你分离出这个音。
慢慢引出 “s “音：ss-pend，ss-pit，ss-park
把 “s “和 “p “分开，这样在你说 “p “之前就有一个轻微的停顿。
逐渐让 “s “的声音越来越小，直到最终放弃 “s “的部分。但是，还是要不断地想象你在 “p “之前发出那个 “s “的声音，你应该可以用一个不送气的 “p “发出一个音节。
你也可以用 “stand “或 “sky “来练习未送气的 “t “或 “k”。
PRACTICE TIP 2 – UNASPIRATED VS VOICED CONSONANTS
- Try to slowly say the words “bbb-bat”, “bbb-bell”, “bbb-beak” and feel the vibration of your vocal cords. You can also do it with “ggg-go”, “ggg-get”, etc.
- Remember the feeling of this “early vibration” of the vocal cords, which is needed for saying the Taiwanese voiced consonants b-, j- and g-. Without such vibration, they would sound like the Taiwanese p-, ts- and k-.试着慢慢说出 “bbb-bat”、”bbb-bell”、”bbb-beak “等词，感受声带的震动。也可以用 “gg-go”、”gg-get “等来做。
记住这种声带 “早期振动 “的感觉，这是说台语声母b-、j-、g-所需要的。如果没有这种振动，它们就会听起来像台湾的p-、ts-和k-。
PRACTICE TIP 3 – MINIMAL PAIRS
Practising with minimal pairs like “bió” (second) vs. “pió” (watch) will help you master these sounds in Taiwanese. In our podcast, we’ve provided a list of them. Try listening to the audio a few more times.
| bió 秒 (second) | pió 錶 (watch) | — |
| bí 米 (rice) | pí 比 (to compare) | — |
| bōng 墓 (grave, tomb) | pōng 磅 (to weigh; pound) | — |
| pha̍k 曝 (to bask/dry in the sun) | pa̍k 縛 (to bind; to tie up) | ba̍k 目 (eye) |
| phah 拍 (to hit) | pah 百 (hundred) | bah 肉 (meat; flesh) |
WORDS USED IN THE REVIEW EXERCISES:
E01
| kin 巾 (scarf, towel) | khin 輕 (light) |
| tshiò 笑 (to laugh) | tsiò 照 (to shine, to illuminate) |
| tha̍k 讀 (to read) | ta̍k 逐 (each, every) |
| phóo 譜 (music score) | póo 補 (to mend, to supply) |
| tsian 煎 (to pan fry) | tshian 千 (thousand) |
E02
| tsím 枕 (pillow) | jím 忍 (to endure, to put up with) |
| kâu 猴 (monkey) | gâu 賢* (to be skilled) |
| bān 萬 (ten thousand) | pān 辦 (to deal with, to do) |
| jû 如 (as, if, like) | tsû 慈 (loving, affection) |
| guán 阮 (we, us) | kuán 管 (to administer, to be in charge) |
*alternate character used due to encoding issue.
E03
| kì 記 (to memorize, to record) |
| tsú 煮 (to cook) |
| ji̍t 日 (day) |
| tshá 炒 (to stir fry) |
| tn̂g 長 (long) |
| khóo 苦 (bitter) |
| pit 筆 (pencil; writing utensil) |
| gōo 五 (five) |
| that 踢 (to kick) |
| bîng 明 (bright, clear) |
| phang 芳 (fragrant) |