# Pronunciation: Guiyu



## Hole

Hi!

How do you pronounce the name of this Chinese town?

Thanks in advance!


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## pp0970

seems it is not a name of Chinese town


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## Ghabi

Hello.  贵屿 would be pronounced as _kwai yü_ (ai like the vowel in English _bite_; ü as in German), if we ignore the tones.


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## Hole

Thank you. However, in the meantime I found a short movie about Guiyu, and Michael Zhao pronounces it as Gui yu, so I'm confused. I don't know, maybe it's an American way of pronunciation, but this guy grew up in China. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXzsqTFwV3Q


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## Ghabi

My bad. I wasn't thinking straight, sorry. I should have written "_kway_, with _ay_ like English _bay_" (And the _k_ is unaspirated as in _skate_).


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## Hole

But you did write _kwai _. The thing is, this guy in the film pronounced _gui _it as in _guide_, at least that's what I heard. That's what confuses me.


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## Ghabi

Hole said:


> But you did write _kwai _.


I was thinking of the Cantonese pronunciation, and gave you a wrong description.



> The thing is, this guy in the film pronounced _gui _it as in _guide_, at least that's what I heard. That's what confuses me.


Not really. He actually says _kway. _By the way, Youtube links aren't allowed here (so you've to remove it), but you can give the title and specify the time segment of the video in question so others can help you all the same.


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## Hole

Ok, thank you very much.


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## HTOT

Given the characters of 贵屿 by Ghabi,I would pronounce the place name as gui4 yu3 in Pinyin


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## Hole

Gui yu? What do the numbers stand for?


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## Green6

我看到这个拼音首先想到的是这个词：桂鱼。


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## Hole

Green6 said:


> 我看到这个拼音首先想到的是这个词：桂鱼。


 
Sorry, I don't speak Chinese


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## viajero_canjeado

Hole said:


> Gui yu? What do the numbers stand for?



The numbers stand for tones.



Green6 said:


> 我看到这个拼音首先想到的是这个词：桂鱼。



He said "When I see those words in pinyin the first thing I think of is this word:  salmon." The word "salmon" is also pronounced "gui yu".


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## HTOT

Hole said:


> Gui yu? What do the numbers stand for?


Numbers stand for tones.
4--the fourth tone  descent
3--the third tone    descent-rise
I googled and found this for your reference.

 There are four full tones in Mandarin pronunciation, and one neutral tone. Let’s read out the vowel “*a*” in the four tones.Firstā
Second á
Third ă
Fourth à
Neutral  a
The first tone — is marked as a straight  It has a long and sustained sound (as if singing a note).  
The second tone ⁄ is marked upwards. It is a rising tone (start from the lower part of your voice, then go up).  
The third tone V is marked down and up.  It is a low and curved tone. Try to go as low as you can and then bounce up. 
The fourth tone\ is marked downwards. It is a falling tone (start from the grating highest part of your voice, then go down, as if exclaiming). 
The neutral tone has no mark. It is a short and light tone.


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## indigoduck

Hole said:


> Sorry, I don't speak Chinese


 
Hi,

Use this tool to help you pronounce the pinyin according to the numbers.

http://ecl.iflytek.com/listentothis/Pinyin.aspx


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