Can someone tell me once and for all how to pronounce szechuan?

[noya]

Thanks!

[xIcewind]

Why? I don't see much difference between there and here--I am a native Mandarin speaker, and I'm sure others who have replied speak it too.

[mariacarmen]

i don't speak Chinese at all, but i agree. to my ear, all of these files sound to me as if the speakers are saying "Sih-u-chuan" - a slight bending of the "ih" sound ("ih" as in kitten) into the "u" a kind of "eu" sound, but very fast "siheuchuan" - so almost a 3 syllable word.

i've always said it wrong, then - i thought it was sehz-wahn.

[beevod]

It is good to see a definitive answer.

[taos]

Here are two more audio recordings which may be better than the recording on Wikipedia.

http://www.forvo.com/word/sichuan/

[pie22]

my mind always says it "zesh-wan"

[flylice2x]

Shez -won

[shamrock4751]

Go to dictionary.com. They have the phonetic spelling but even better: You can listen to it pronounced. They say it "Setch Wan", Setch rhymes with Fetch and Wan is like Obi Wan Kenobi.

[yfunk3]

Like a lot of Chinese words that have become popular in the States, there's really two ways of pronouncing it.

In Mandarin, it's more like "sitch-wan"

In English, it's "setch-wan".

Neither way is incorrect, really.

[xIcewind]

I'll toss this in here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zh-...

[taos]

That sounds like "full-tran" to me.

I've always pronounced it like Seh-Shwan. Short e and short a. But I could easily be wrong.

[yfunk3]

Wow, that sounded weird, except for the "chuan" part?

Maybe there was something wrong with the file or upload.

[xIcewind]

No, it's the correct recording.

The first character is the same pronunciation as the number "four". Well, it's the same character as the number "four".

[yfunk3]

Okay, so when I played it last night, it totally sounded like "foo-chuan", but this morning is sounds correct.

Also want to add that it'd sound diferent depending on what kind of accent the speaker has (in China, of course). Beijing accent is standard, and it is a bit harsher in its enunciation and stressing of the R sounds.

[Barbara76137]

that is pretty much the way I pronounce it, but I'm from Illinois and get picked on for my accent all the time, no matter what I say.

[JungMann]

In Pinying, it's Sìchuān. The closest phoenetic spelling would be tsih-chwahn.

[sarge]

great question.

JungMann, Are you saying Shee-swan?

[carolinadawg]

I always thought it was say-schwan?

[PeterL]

Say Schwan sounds like Cantonese.

[JungMann]

No. Is that how you pronounce it? When I hear Chinese people say it, it sounds like the phoenetic spelling I gave above; but I don't say it tonally lest I get smacked for being a toff.

[sarge]

Sorry Jung, but I am having trouble pronouncing your phonetic translation

[JungMann]

I'm pretty sure say-schwan is wrong. Say sih-chwahn. (ih = short i like "kit"; ah = short a like "swan").

[Brian S]

I think you're right. And you can have your computer say it to you by going to this website and typing in sichuan

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict...

[Blueicus]

My mother always pronounced it more like see-chwahn. In cantonese it would be closer to "sei-choon"

[mpalmer6c]

A Chinese American lady I know, whose parents own a Chinese restaurant in S.F., says it's sheh-shwan (sheh as in chef, shwan rhymes with swan).

[FoodChic]

I always though it was pronounced like "Zhez-waun."