Hacker News Reader

t͡ʃ, t͡ɕ, ʈ͡ʂ all sound so close to my poor ear that I'd struggle to articulate the difference. They sound like exactly the same thing at slightly different speeds.

View on HN

The latter two are distinguished in Mandarin Chinese, the difference between ‘q’ and ‘ch’ in Pinyin.

Note that that isn't the only difference between the Mandarin sounds. Pinyin "q" is also a laminal consonant, not an apical one.

well 't' specifically... it doesn't sound like I'd say it. almost like the tongue's not being puffed forward hard enough.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com