Two Chinese Characters: How to Pronounce Beijing

[Totenschaedel98]

When he said Jingoism and started to wave the US flag, I lost my shit. I found that quite entertaining.

Good video, guys.

[mzsimmonz]

the pronunciation of "Beijing" with a "zh" sound is one of my biggest pet peeves!

[MrCrimsonpanda]

THANK YOU for finally telling the world how to pronounce Beijing! Jesus if i had a nickle for every time I have heard Beizhing, I would be a RICH man :)

[Aleks91Me]

In Italian we say "Pechino"

[bajatango]

Bay jing...... that was easy enough!

[UdallIn72]

Why in God's name was this EVER romanized "Peking"?

It doesn't sound like that at all!

[Tasarte]

@UdallIn72 Note that they pronounce Bei as something like Pei. Many centuries ago, "Pei" was only "Pe", while "jing" was pronounced like "king" in that region of China. The first Europeans in China knew in that way, Peking, and transmited so to the west. Later, native Chinese changed pronunciation to "pei" and "jing". It's represented with B and not P, because pinyin (the writing system to traslate phonetically Chinese) use "B" for "P". And so, Beijing.

[danielairy]

Cantonese exist before Mandarin by 2000 years and we say it bakging =) Southern Chinese dialects are closer to Middle age Chinese. Mandarin is highly affected by Manchurian language during 清 dynasty phonetically.

[kentpaul65102]

2 mins to learn how to pronounce 2 syllables. It was entertaining.

[worldtravel101]

haha at the chinese guys french accent! thanks for this vid and showing the tones :)

[meanian610]

COOL way of teaching i love it!!

^_^ u get to learn easier and FUN

LOLOLOL

[onigiri013]

LMAO "I teach Chinese...I AM Chinese" xD That cracked me up hahaha

[Guidus125]

@onigiri013

YEAH exactly XD

i laughed the shit outa myself before even seeing the characters for beijing XD

[AFNYOAQIS]

北京

[Birdboy029]

HILARIOUS, you guys. :D !!!

[bnmjy]

It's still pronounced as Peking (to be more specific, "pe-kin") in Japanese.

I love seeing the correlations between Japanese and Chinese. They are both very interesting languages.

[Gnickk]

Or jingoism! *shake shake*

[wikct2]

You guys rock!

[bidufu]

yea, the "j" sound in "jing" is definitely not a normal american j sound. The teeth don't come together.

Its more pronounced more like "gyung" but with the instead of the "g" sound at the beginning you need to touch your tongue to the top of your mouth (so it sounds more like a j, but not quite).

Er...at least this is the uber-northern accented way of pronouncing it.

[LenovoFightsPoverty]

baytjing

[thatpianoguy2009]

lol funny but they forgot to mention about the tones

[jamesbondrocks]

I liked it a lot when the Bei and Jing were getting close to one another. FUNNY. haha

[iCHUYY]

the chinese guy's english is just as good as an american ! :O

[ugrage]

Oh my god! People can learn other languages and become proficient! It's a revelation!

[kimo3920]

i would say his English sounds like an American born Chinese~

[antiaverage1]

@kimo3920 I know Chinese born people who can speak English this well, too.

[GypsyfromCzech]

It´ s funny, but do we really need 2 min. just to learn how to say Beijing???

[OaJien]

You'd be surprised at how hard it can be for non-Madarin speakers to pronounce simple phrases =P

[OaJien]

**non-Mandarin

[nousernameremain]

B... b... be... Beijing! ^_^

[wiseye61]

how do you pronounce Bangkok?

[LuxordYuuki]

You say it how you spell it

But if you want to sound posh.. say Krung-Thep (Kroog-Tep) :D

[wiseye61]

lol cool. I heard it has the longest name of any city.

[LuxordYuuki]

Yup the full name is like really long :D

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

It actually is. They normally go Krung Thep, or Krung Thep Mahanakorn in formal situations :D

[920306915003]

thanks for your pronounce.

[evephantom]

Welcome to Beijing!

[abseed]

good job!

[independentx0x0]

O_O

[slharris1984]

I have a louisiana creole accent so I am sad 2 hear that I will never pronounce Beijing correctly, since all my "J"s are "zhay."

[yoghurthu]

hmm... I disagree with the statement "Jing" pronounces the same as in "Jingle". The "J" in Chinese is a different sound than "J" in English. Since there is nothing with the same sound in English "J" as in "Jingle" is close enough. (My mother tongue is Mandarin.)

[evephantom]

agreed. But most of my English-speaking friends can never pronounce 'J' in the Chinese way. So this (J as in Jingle) is the best I can accept :)

[rayandsan]

Jesus loves the Chinese. He made so many of them.

[Rockieoo]

Peking is an old calling of beijing~~

[jellydounut]

isn't Peking the Cantonnese way for saying Beijing ?

[Rockieoo]

NO it's not.its an old english calling.longlong time ago,maybe in the 13th century,the city really named beijing,but in the early of 20th century,beijing北京 was called beiping北平 because of the KMTs decision peking sounds like beiping... so....

[canalrats]

@Rockieoo Nope, nothing to do with Cantonese, and everything to do with the Wade Giles system of writing Chinese into European letters.

Beijing = pinyin

Peking = Wade Giles

both were meant to be pronounced in as in the video.

[inudracco]

Cantonese would be "Bak Ging"

[jdiddy666]

more "buk Ging"

[maldova]

no, more to 'bud ging'

[canalrats]

@jellydounut No, Peking is the Wade Giles system of writing the characters for Beijing. The 'b' is slightly softer than in English and the 'j' is slightly further forward in the mouth so this system was meant to show that.The Chinese never said "Peking", Europeans just wrote it that way. But someone who knew the Wade Giles system would have pronounced it Beijing.

[bireman]

in germany most people say "peking", but "beijing" gets more and more popular

[ole12boy]

But some countries say Peking instead of Beijing..

Is there any diffrnt?

[arneliis]

blaaaaaaaah saw it too late

[TuboEspectador]

I knew it was jing, and not zhing. I learned that in my basic Mandarin classes, so I KNEW IT was BEI JING. So where did all the MSM reporters get that ZHING? From Karl ROZHE? snicker.

Great piece of work, guys!!!

[johnson6689]

wow cool you realy corrected me thanks guys

[ThadMemphis]

Fantastic, guys, and thanks. Who's going to correct the NBC commentator who, inevitably, will speak about the rigorous "regime" (ray-ZHEEM) that the athletes have undertaken in their training?

[oceansof]

SNAP! I didn't know I (and everyone at NBC) have been pronouncing it wrong this whole time. Thanks, Two Chinese Characters!

[allegromarcato]

I don't know why they even mention the French. In that language the name of the city is Pékin.

[DeadBodyDysposal]

They mention French because the way that many people pronounce Beijing is like this "Beizhing" as in the word "beige", which is of French origin.

[56okvek]

Love it! Thanks for the clarity. You should do more lessons.

[shanemiller12121212]

I too get annoyed with presenters miss pronouncing Beijing. But let's not forget that the Italian that opened the Sydney Olympics miss pronounced Sydney pronouncing it Sydeney. Also Aussies pronounce Million as Miwion. They leave out the L's. Also many presenters are miss pronouncing the word OLYMPICS of all words. They are pronouncing the word as Alypmics. So the are saying welcome back to the Beissing Alypmics.

[jhicks1289]

wow, yeah. how can something so simple become so wrong... beizhing?...

[xXJEproductionsXx]

Ah I though that too when people started sayin beizhing, im like, its chinese not french morons

[poofysheep]

Arrrgh, I've been wrong all this time! Oh well...

[GTGCleoDara]

an "E," not a "E." I couldn't resist.

[kimbrakay]

Oops, you're right!  Hehe

[lechatnoir1977]

This is such a non-issue it's ridiculous. First of all, it is entirely unnecessary to say "Beijing" with the proper Mandarin tones, because we're NOT speaking Mandarin! If you're speaking English and you start using tones for Chinese names, you'll sound ridiculous. Yes, the right consonants should be used, but this is making a mountain out of a molehill. It's like telling an American to roll their "r"s when they say "burrito" in a Mexican restaurant. Why, if you're not speaking Spanish?

[DeadBodyDysposal]

Ehh, the NBC announcers are constantly mispronouncing "Beijing".I think this issue is blown way out of proportion. But, the olympics ARE being held in Beijing so it must be pretty annoying to the people living there that the announcers cant even pronounce the name of the capital correctly.

[kerflibbleflabble]

I think by zhing, they mean the "j" like sound in the word "beige". like people say "beige-ing" instead of "bay-jing". They just kinda slur it over. Hence the part when they make reference to the french language, because that sound, like the word "beige" is french.

[kimbrakay]

also, can we get people to say Chow MEIN instead of Chow "MAIN." Where do you get the "A" sound when there is a "E" in the word?

[silverslick101]

for kimbrakay, people get the 'A' sound out of Chow MEIN because it DOES say that sound in the English language. Do the words 'EIGHT', 'SLEIGH', or 'FREIGHT' look at all familiar to you? As with Beijing, it's obvious, but with Chow Mein, it actually does comply with very common words that we all use.

[cookmydinner]

The NBC broadcasters should watch this video! They have been prouncing it with the "zhing" the whole time!

[hillarywhore]

AAHAHAH!! GREAT VIDEO!

[djdust12]

Haha, that's hilarious -- "I teach chinese", "I am chinese" haha

[wkpettyjohn]

Instead of waving the US flag for jingoism perhaps it should be the Chinese flag? China is known for its extreme nationalism and belligerent foreign policy...exactly why some wanted to boycott the Olympics!

[kkgemini86]

That's a joke. Ppl in america get put in jail for not being "patriotic" enough (depending where you are). Also the US is the one of the top countries where they socialize ppl to be "american" and to disregard their culture STARTING IN GRADE SCHOOL! So don't BS yourself and next time be A LOT more socially aware of your own country before talking trash.

[shmcminn]

rofl though i dont think ill ever be able to pronounce it right xD

[jonathanwindham]

The tv has hammered the wrong pronunciation in my head.

[ZoneMilliardo]

wow i have been saying it wrong all this time lol sry to anyone chinese i didnt mean disrespect in anyway i just idnt know

[hotforwords]

Wow.. great video! Thanks for this!

[MAguy30]

So funny and the two chinese characters are easy on the eyes. Jingoism...Ha! Hilarious!

[alizask]

Thanks for posting!

[latiosslayer]

we had to watch this in Social Studies class!!!

LOL!!!

[truth7218]

Thanks for posting this. i must admit I've always pronounced it incorrectly. and love the jingoism part :)

[F33bs]

LOL @ the jingoism bit.

[ahsusmus]

i've never seen anyone miss pronounce the word.

[caseyphx]

that's all well and good. have you ever HEARD anyone mispronounce the word?

[djmimi1]

I just sent this to all my friends who are mostly radio announcers, but maybe they can clue in those announcers on CNN or NBC...

It is really irritating to hear that french sounding pronunciation over and over and over again from newscasters.

[bigjonny1992]

Thanks guys! Nice video!

[ReverendDuck]

Haha! This was brilliant! Thanks for your highly engaging edutainment!

[jrawle]

Thanks for the video. An English "j" is a much better approximation to the Mandarin pronunciation than a French one. Why do people think because a word's foreign, it must be pronounced as in French? (I'm surprised it's the case in the US, though, where I thought Spanish was more widely taught than French, unlike the UK.)

You could have mentioned tones too, although (as people have pointed out) I realise it's not supposed to be a complete guide to correct Mandarin pronunciation.

[scottnjim]

Thanks for the info... And explaining the two charactors makes it even easier to remember! As a Flight Attendant, I go to Beijing quite often... It is IRRITATING to hear BAYSHZING!!!!!! Long live Bay-JING!

[songzephyr]

。。。can you pronounce "京" correctly?

you pronounce it like a "zhing"

don't mislead others.

[talkinfrankly]

They're teaching the ENGLISH pronunciation of jing, not the Chinese pronunciation of 京.

The English "j" sound that they use is correct and accepted as the closest approximation of the "j" sound in Mandarin Chinese. It's not exactly the same, which is why it still sounds a bit like "zh" to you.

The video is aimed toward English speakers who say "Beijing" MORE incorrectly than they need to -- saying a full-fledged French "zh" sound, instead of just pronouncing the "j" that's right in the word.

[songzephyr]

anyways, why not tell them how to pronounce j q x exactly in Chinese instead of teaching "English" one?

If someone wants to learn a language, he/she should get some information that is correct from the instructor at least.

[songzephyr]

well, i have to say that your English is very good, and I want to know how long have you been to the States.

[trinetis]

I agree with songzephyr. When I wanna learn a new language, I wanna learn the real version - not the english version.

[hillarywhore]

they aren't trying to learn a new language... they are trying to learn how to properly pronounce "Beijing" in ENGLISH! they are NOT trying to learn mandarin.

[trinetis]

well well, arent we mrs know it all..

[hillarywhore]

mr. know it all thank you very much.

[trinetis]

aah okay. too bad your name is hillary then.

[hillarywhore]

ahahahahah!! that was funny! im a supporter of Hillary Clinton. lol

im not even gonna be a smart ass to you cause that was hilarious!!

[trinetis]

I know. I was being sarcastic, stupid.

[hillarywhore]

i know u bitch. and i was being nice. can't you just take a compliment? or do you have to create friction and conflict? well, whatever. ur not important to me anyway.

[trinetis]

I though YOU were being sarcastic. Well, then I'm sorry.. And no, normally not - but I guess I was just expecting a rude comment from you. Sorry, lets just forget about this? :)

[hillarywhore]

sure. i didn't want it to go in the direction of negativity to begin with. all is forgotten =)

[trinetis]

And I dont even remember how this started :p

Cool that you support Hillary C. by the way.

[hillarywhore]

y thanks! ...too bad she lost =(

[trinetis]

Yeah really.. But I hope she runs again some day.

[hillarywhore]

it is my belief that she will. i just hope america realizes what a mistake we are making right now.

[TuboEspectador]

"learn"? "teach", you mean ? I think you are right, tho. They are teaching the correct derivation of the local accent. Good point.

[hillarywhore]

they aren't trying to learn a new language!! they just want to know how do pronounce one damn word. quit being a dick.

[Spaetza]

I agree

[TuboEspectador]

ok, ok, the local pronunciation is more of an affricate than a fricative... But the MSM pronunciation is like singing a great song FLAT.

[keelan111]

This is too awesome.

[thedancingmole]

<3 <3

[patrickxu]

Bay Jean

[sheridanliu]

Moreover, imagine how ludicrous it would sound if, in the middle of an English language newscast or sportscast, English-speaking broadcasters started inserting the word "Beijing," pronounced precisely as the Chinese would say it. It would be inappropriate and totally farcical. The aim of this video is to teach English-speakers to say Beijing in ENGLISH without making it sound French, or for that matter, too Chinese and overly Chinky. 三人行必有我師焉

[sheridanliu]

The description of this video clearly indicates that they are promoting a better ENGLISH pronunciation of "Beijing," NOT teaching the precise Mandarin Chinese pronunciation. Thus, they do not insist on the use of tones, nor do they make the fine distinction between an English "Jing" (as in jingle bells) and a true Mandarin "Jing" (closer to a 'jeeng'). Any criticism based on that distinction may be linguistically valid, but it misses the point of the video entirely.

[hellowjp]

It's Bei Jing, NOT BEI ZHING....but anyway...

[talkinfrankly]

That's correct; that's exactly the point they make in this video.

[hellowjp]

No, the way they pronounced Beijing in the video is NOT 100% correct either. I'm Chinese, so I know.

[slipiak]

exactly!

[omgitsmejeff]

ironic how hellowjp is trying to teach

[hellowjp]

It's ironic that you think I'm ironic, since I grew up in China and speak perfect Mandarin. In Chinese "Zhing" is different from "Jing", the way they pronounced it in the video is Zhing (in Chinese pinyin) but not the correct "Jing" (pinyin).

[omgitsmejeff]

I believe that the prenouciation in the video is adequate and coherent. The prenouncation "zhing" does not exist in the pinying vocabulary, and the closest sound to it is Jing. Ironically enough, you're fluent in Manderin, yet misinterpretted a 'jing' for a non-existant pinying. Put lets put aside the argument, (L)China. =)

[hellowjp]

Of course I know "ZHING" is non-existent in Pinyin, do you really think I need you to tell me that? The way they pronounced it is not JING, it's exactly "ZHING", which doesn't exist in Mandarin and is incorrect.

[hillarywhore]

what do you mean they pronounced it "zhing"? there s no way to say "zhing"... it simply cannot be pronounced... u are just trying to create arguments... and clearly you are WRONG! are you from Beijing? cause i know that the "perfect" mandarin u brag about may not be as perfect as you think... if ur not from beijing u probably have some kind of regional accent...

[hellowjp]

Yes I grew up in Beijing, but that's irrelavant, any Chinese who speak good Mandarin would have noticed that they pronounced it like ZHING not JING. It is possible to say "zhing", just take "zh" and "ing" and combine them together, it's non-existent in pinyin, but that's exatcly how these two gentlemen pronounced it. That's why I said it's not the right pronunciation.

[hellowjp]

And by ZHING, I mean the "zhing" you would pronounce in pinyin, not in English, if you know the difference.

[hellowjp]

But of course, it's better than pronouncing it like a french "j"

[corabim]

Fabulous!! Please make more videos!!

[AAMLfan]

Thankyou for this.:)

It has always annoyed me when people pronounced it "Bayzhing" as if it were French or something. Wish they'd learn that Chinese is made of seperate syllables and characters.

[s4xton]

Best video on YouTube.

[nanxixi]

Please use a correct chinese map..

[sheridanliu]

Thank you for your comment. An unnamed (former) employee in the Two Chinese Characters graphics department has since been sent to a re-education camp in sunny Xinjiang for "reform through labour" 劳改 for the crime of posting a map of China that neglected to include Taiwan. Those pesky splittists! 祖国万岁！

[kongtube]

good work!

[PamChun]

Finally!!! You go, guys!

[cetuscript]

Hooray! Perhaps some media people will see this and stop saying it with the wrong 'j' sound. :)

[TuboEspectador]

Somehow I think that the media people were told to pronounce it with the ZH sound. Right? The reporters find out what is going on in Beijing, like how the hometowners say their city? And as reporters, they would report and then use BEI JING. But nooooooooo... I bet they would go to Chicago and call it Chicagotown, instead of Chicagoland. Maybe they would even say ZHicagotown!

[april0926]

oh...hey, it's John!!

[star375008]

Bravo~~~