why do Chinese words/names use X for the Sh- sound?
In: Other
X and Sh are actually distinct sounds in Chinese – e.g. Xi vs. Shi are pronounced differently.
I don’t have a linguistics background so I could be misconstruing things slightly, but imo it might be more accurate to say that the Chinese X sound does not exist in English – Sh in English is just the closest sound to it. Similar to how the R and L sounds in English don’t quite exist in Japanese.
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