Slight tricks to make your Chinese sound more native
It’s common knowledge that textbooks are useful for giving you a foundation in a second language, but following their directions to a tee will make you sound like a robot. As someone who has taught ESL on the side, I’ve definitely cringed at textbooks’ weird grammatical structures that native speakers never use (e.g., “with whom am I speaking?”). Likewise, I’ve had native Mandarin-speaking friends gently correct my Chinese many times over. This is just one of the many challenges of tackling a new language.
Luckily for Chinese learners, there are some easy practices you can adopt to instantly make your speech pop. I’ve compiled a list of tips I’ve learned that helped improve my spoken Mandarin Chinese; however, these tips are not ubiquitous to all Chinese accents and languages. Just like how English has a diversity of accents and slang words, Mandarin is not uniform, either. Speech patterns and slang vary significantly, whether you’re in places like Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, Beijing, or in a diaspora community.
Since I know Taiwanese Mandarin, most of my personal tips will come from that dialect; however, a few friends from China have provided additional contributions to this article for a fuller picture. To start with, let’s talk about slang.
High-frequency slang
It’s easy to overlook how much slang you use in your day-to-day life. My friends use phrases like “spilling tea,” “serving realness,” or “big mood” all the time, and none of these phrases came from classes — English speakers picked them up through other means. Similarly, there are countless vernacular words and expressions in Mandarin Chinese. I’ve compiled a short selection of slang words that I repeatedly heard:
狂 (kuáng, “insane,” “outrageous”)
My friends used 狂 quite frequently, so it was the first slang word I thought of for this list. This word expresses incredulity at a situation. A common phrase you may hear is 太狂了吧 (tài kuáng le ba, “that’s insane!”). This phrase is neither inherently positive nor negative. You could use it to react to surprising or miraculous news, or to something absurd. However, do not directly call a person 狂 because that would be derogatory (unless you want to insult them, of course!)
我不care (wǒ bù care, “I don’t care”) When I learned how to express this idea in school, I learned: 我不在乎 (wǒ bù zài hū). Maybe that’s common in less casual situations, but when my friends talk to one another, they swap out 在乎 with the English word, “care.” I’ve only heard people around my age use this phrase, so I’d wager it’s generational slang.
超 (chāo, “super”)
Just like in English, you can use “super,” or 超, as an adverb. Typically, Mandarin speakers in China say 超級 (chāo jí), such as in the phrase 超級好吃 (chāo jí hǎo chī, “super tasty”), while speakers in Taiwan drop 級 and say 超好 (chāo hǎo), such as: 超好酷 (chāo hǎo kù, “super cool”).
酷 (kù, “cool”)
Speaking of “cool,” contemporary Chinese has borrowed this slang from English with the phono-semantic approximation kù. Unlike with the English “cool,” 酷 could not be mistaken for temperature as its original meaning is “cruel.” Words such as 殘酷 (cán kù, “cruel”) retain this reading.
土 (tǔ, “basic,” or “unfashionable”)
In Chinese class, you may have learned that 土 means “soil” or “the ground.” This is true, but there is another pejorative use of this character as an adjective. 很土 (hěn tǔ) means that something or someone is devoid of interesting characteristics, or is outdated.
真假 / 真的假的 (zhēn jiǎ / zhēn de jiǎ de, lit. “true or false”)
If you are in Taiwan, you will hear this phrase all the time. It can be translated in a plethora of ways: “no way,” “I can’t believe it,” or “seriously?” While 真假 and 狂 are somewhat similar reactions, 真假 is more flexible. Depending on your tone and facial expression, you could use it to convey surprise, incredulity, doubt, or hesitation. 真假 can even serve as a perfunctory conversation filler-word, like “huh,” or “oh really,” in English.
Vernacular use of particles
Another great way to enhance your spoken Mandarin is to learn how to use particles. Chinese particles serve various grammatical purposes and can be exclamative (like “oh!” in English), or sentence-final particles (see this article for more details). In this case, I’m going to focus on vernacular particles, which are especially common in Taiwanese Mandarin. These are sounds that speakers tag onto the end of words or sentences to clarify their tone or emotions. This may be hard to imagine for a native English-speaker, so let me expand upon this concept a bit
Particles that make you sound friendlier
If you are talking with friends, acquaintances, or coworkers that are around your age, you can tag on 啊 (a), 呀 (ya), or 喔 (ō) at the end of short sentences to soften your speech. For example:
Person X: 你今天帶了午餐，對不對？ (“You brought lunch today, right?”)
You: 對啊～ (duì a, “yeah, that’s right~” [🙂] )
It is common to hear 啊 tagged onto one-word replies, such as 是啊 (shì a) or 對啊/呀 (duì a/ya). Keep in mind that when speaking in formal situations, such as with your boss, it is better to not use 啊 or 呀.
The third and most commonly used particle is 喔 (ō). Using this particle makes you sound cheerful or comforting, and can also soften blunt commands or warnings. I’ve heard my teacher describe it as, “smiling with words.” 喔 is less casual than 啊 or 呀— you can use it in a variety of settings, even at work. Some examples are:
好 → 好喔！(hǎo ō, “okay!” [😄] )
請等一下 → 請等一下喔！(qǐng děng yī xià ō, “please wait a moment!” [😄] )
小心 → 小心喔！(xiǎo xīn ō, “be careful!”)
The 喔 particle has other uses, as well. You’ll see it crop up again in a section below.
Particles that make you sound frustrated or exasperated
If you feel exasperated or irritated with someone or by something, you can tag 啦 (la) onto the end of your sentence. Two examples I can think of are 不會啦 (bù huì la, “no way!” or “it’s not like that!”) or 沒有啦 (méi yǒu la, “there isn’t [something]!” or “I don’t have [something]!”). The 啦 particle can be used in a joking manner, but it’s most often used to express frustration so pay attention to the tone of your voice if that is your intent.
Particles that make you sound excited, surprised, or emphatic
There are several particles that are closely related to one another: 欸 (èi), 喔 (o), and 耶 (ye). A non-native speaker could feel confused when trying to differentiate them — I certainly was. For instance, 真的喔 (zhēn de o), 真的欸 (zhēn de èi), and 真的耶 (zhēn de ye) all mean “really?” Confusing, right? So, let’s look at these three particles closely.
This article has already touched on 喔 (ō) as a way to express a cheerful attitude, but it can also serve as a way to emphasize you’re a bit surprised by something or are learning new information. For example, if your friend tells you some fact about themself that you weren’t aware of, you can reply with 是喔 (shì o) or 真的喔 (zhēn de o) to mean, “oh, really!” [😯] Note that the “ō” is typically shortened to a neutral tone with this usage.
But let’s say you’re really surprised by something, or that you feel super enthusiastic about a conversation, plan, or idea. In these cases, you can tag 欸 (èi) onto the end of your sentence, such as 真假欸 (zhēn jiǎ èi, “for real?!” [😲]).
As another example, let’s say you visit a new cafe with a friend and try their coffee for the first time. If you really enjoy the coffee, you could say:
欸，這杯咖啡超好喝欸！(èi, zhè bēi kā fēi chāo hǎo hē èi, “hey, this cup of coffee is delicious!” [😲/😁]
Note that 欸 also appeared at the beginning of that example as an exclamation to get the listener’s attention. This usage is very informal, so I’d recommend only using it with friends.
The third and final particle, 耶 (ye), is quite similar to 欸 in that it makes what you say sound emphatic, but I’ve been told that it sounds slightly more dramatic. To cycle back to the first example in this section, the difference between 真的欸 and 真的耶 could be respectively translated as, “really?!” [😲] and “REALLY?!” [😱]
Another example could be 好耶 (hǎo yé, “okay!” or “great!”), which lets the listener know that you are very enthusiastic about whatever they’ve said or asked.
Speech Improvement Tips
What if your concern with Mandarin has less to do with vocabulary and more to do with pronunciation? It goes without saying that nearly everything between Mandarin and English is different, whether it’s pitch, flow, or phonemes.
Even if you manage to learn slang words and when to use particles in the right context, you still may struggle with making your speech patterns sounding natural. In this case, I have some different tips for you:
Play copycat with your friends
I’ve found that the most effective way I improved my pronunciation was by copying my friends. This didn’t just involve me harassing them in-person — I take a lot of videos, so I’d listen to my friends speaking and attempt to copy them verbatim. It sounds a bit odd to do, but really it is the same method that we all use when first learning to speak our native language. Additionally, it helps you identify subtle nuances that may be difficult to pick up from a textbook or online articles, such as slight changes in inflection or pronunciation. Like with most languages, Mandarin speakers will merge sounds together or omit others for speed and convenience. Listening and repeating after your friends is a quick way to identify these shortcuts.
Listen to a lot of podcasts or YouTube videos
If you don’t have ready access to Mandarin-speaking friends or partners, then I’d recommend practicing with YouTube or podcasts. Vloggers are easy to learn from, especially if their videos depict everyday life. There are also tons of educational videos such as this one. Some of the coolest tricks I’ve learned have been from YouTubers or podcasters.
Trying humming sentences
Finally, if you’re still struggling to hear yourself speaking Mandarin, I’d recommend humming sentences after a native speaker. Instead of focusing on vocabulary, try isolating the pitch and flow of sentences. I did this when I first started learning Mandarin and treated the exercise like I was reciting a song from the radio. It can be challenging if the native speaker is talking quickly, but if you practice this using online resources, I recommend slowing down the play speed of their voice.
General Considerations
I hope you found these tips helpful. This was certainly not an exhaustive list of tips, so if you’re aware of any additional tricks for improving your Mandarin, feel free to share them in a comment. Happy learning!