... in the vernacular. Proper pronunciation is more like “she”.

This is an issue lost on most native speakers of mandarin, and it’s hard as hell to teach to learners.

pinyin —> proper sound —-> actual sound

xi —> she —> see

si —> suh —> suh

shi —> shuh —> suh

chi —> chuh —> tsuh

ci —> tsuh —> tsuh

There are more, but I’m too many beers in now to remember.

The best test is to ask someone how to say 四十四是四十四 (44 is 44). It’s a good test for tones. This is properly something like /shuh suh shuh shuh shuh suh shuh/. In vernacular, this usually becomes something like /suh suh suh suh suh suh suh/ with tones being the only hint at different words.

Chinese is fun.