My Speaking Score · L1 Pronunciation Guide

Chinese → English: the sounds that cost you points

The English sounds and endings Mandarin doesn't use — with mouth diagrams, minimal pairs, and drills.

Why this matters for your TOEFL Speaking score

Mandarin syllables are simple and open — most end in a vowel, /n/ or /ng/ — so English endings, clusters and a few consonants get dropped or swapped. To a scoring engine those read as missing or wrong words and lower your Intelligibility construct. These are fast, high-value fixes.

Final consonants — say the ending

Mandarin rarely ends a syllable in a stop, so /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /s/ at the end get dropped.

The Mandarin habit"cat" → "ca", "good" → "goo", "like" → "lai", "bus" → "bu". The ending disappears.
The fixRelease the final consonant — actually finish the word. Don't add a vowel either; just land the ending cleanly and stop.
ca → catgoo → goodlai → likebu → bus

Drill (30s): over-pronounce the ending: caT, gooD, likE-k, busS, washeD. Then say normally, keeping the ending.

caending dropped ✗ catending released ✓ Land the /t/ — then stop. No extra vowel.
Release the ending consonant; don't drop it and don't add "uh".

Construct: Intelligibility. Dropped endings erase tense and plurals (walk/walked, cat/cats).

/θ/ and /ð/ — think, three, this

No "th" in Mandarin — replaced by /s/, /z/ or /f/.

The Mandarin habit"think" → "sink", "three" → "free/sree", "this" → "zis".
The fixTongue tip lightly between the teeth, air flows. Voiceless = /θ/; add voice = /ð/.
sink → thinkfree → threezis → this

Drill (30s): tip peeks out — th-th-th → think, three, math; voiced → this, they, mother.

tongue tip → between the teeth
The tip moves forward to the teeth — not back like /s/.

Construct: Intelligibility.

/v/ — very, vote, save

Mandarin has no /v/; it becomes /w/ (or /f/).

The Mandarin habit"very" → "wery", "vote" → "wote", "save" → "safe".
The fixTop teeth on the lower lip with a buzz — that's /v/. /w/ rounds the lips with no teeth. Don't confuse them.
wery → verywote → votesafe → save

Drill (30s): teeth-on-lip buzz vvvv → very, voice, save, love.

/v/ — teeth on lip /w/ — lips round no teeth
/v/ uses teeth + voice; /w/ is just rounded lips.

Construct: Intelligibility.

Final L & the R/L split

Mandarin doesn't end syllables in /l/, and /r/ vs /l/ can blur.

The Mandarin habitfinal /l/ turns into a vowel: "ball" → "bao", "feel" → "fee", "people" → "peopo". And r/l can swap.
The fix — /l/: tongue tip touches the ridge behind the top teeth — even at the end of a word, finish with the tip up.
/r/: tip floats back, no contact.
bao → ballfee → feellight ↔ right

Drill (30s): hold the final L with the tip up — ball…l, feel…l, school…l. Then la-ra-la-ra.

/l/ — tip touches /r/ — tip free no contact
Even a final L needs the tongue tip up on the ridge.

Construct: Intelligibility.

Consonant clusters — blend them

Mandarin has no consonant clusters, so they get simplified or broken with a vowel.

The Mandarin habit"street" → "su-treet" or "s-treet" with sounds dropped; "spring", "world", "asked" lose consonants.
The fixKeep every consonant, blended with no vowel between. Build slowly: s→st→str→street.
su-tree→street
su-pring→spring
ask→asked

Drill (30s): r→tr→str→street; spring, world, asked, texts.

street keep s-t-r ✓ su·tree vowel added / sound dropped ✗
Fuse the consonants; keep all of them.

Construct: Intelligibility + Fluency.

Short vs long vowels

Keep these English vowel pairs distinct.

Keep these apart
sit /ɪ/ vs seat /iː/full /ʊ/ vs fool /uː/cat /æ/
The Mandarin habitshort and long /i/ merge (sit = seat); /æ/ (cat) and /ʌ/ (cut) are unfamiliar.

Drill: make /iː/ longer and tenser (seat, eat, need) vs short tense /ɪ/ (sit, it, did).

Construct: Intelligibility.

Your 10-minute daily drill

  1. Warm up (1 min): th-th-th / vvvv / final endings caT-gooD-busS.
  2. Minimal pairs (3 min): think/sink and ball/bao, 5× each, recorded.
  3. Your worst sound (3 min): usually final consonants or clusters.
  4. Sentences (2 min): real practice sentences, endings intact.
  5. Check (1 min): upload to My Speaking Score and watch Intelligibility rise.