A few days ago, while looking through a classmate's old version of "Standard Japanese (Beginner Volume 1)", I noticed that in the "50 Sounds - Pronunciation" section, the book annotated the Chinese pinyin that is close to the pronunciation of each kana for better understanding.
(Sorry, but the book is not with me, so I can't provide images)
For example, "え" corresponds to "ê"?
Seeing this, I was a bit confused. My personal impression of "ê (corresponding Chinese character [欸诶])" is that its pronunciation is somewhat similar to the English letter "A" or the pinyin "ei," but shorter, which doesn't quite match "え" at all⊂彡☆))д`)
I searched online to understand it better, and now I can basically approximate this sound.
The final vowel ㄝ is written as ê when used alone.
The pronunciation of pinyin ê is similar to ai (爱), but the sound is very short; it resembles e (饿), but is not pronounced as clearly and distinctly as "饿"; it is definitely not pronounced as ei.
Quoted from Zhihu: What is ê in Chinese pinyin? Is it the same as the e in ie and üe?
Wanting to understand the reason behind it, I also checked the "Chinese Pinyin Scheme":
Here, it can be seen that the "e" in "ie" and "üe" is "ê", which is "iê" and "üê". Although it is not very detailed in Chinese pinyin, it can be more directly distinguished through the phonetic symbols below.
But actually, people from the Taiwan, Penghu, Jinma region can't completely distinguish it either.
During the search process, a new question arose: what is the relationship between "ê" and "ei"? And why have I always remembered it incorrectly (>_<)
I checked through the phonetic symbols~
Phonetic Symbols - Distinguishing ㄝ and ㄟ (Kaohsiung Xu Wei English St. Peter's School)
This Y2B video explains it well, and I roughly understood:
Just like: "a" + "i" = "ai"
"ê" + "i" = "ei" (try reading it together?)
"ei" is "ê" plus a trailing "i" sound.
Additionally, "ê" rarely appears alone, so "e" is often used in Chinese pinyin to replace it for writing purposes.
Learned something new.jpg (ノﾟ∀ﾟ) ノ
Mandarin proficiency increased by 1 point