why do Chinese words/names use X for the Sh- sound?
In: Other
As far as I understand it’s a mouth position thing. If you mime the “sh” sound, and then you mime the “k” sound in your mouth, you’ll notice your jaw moves ever-so-slightly forward. Chinese speakers tend to have that mouth position when making the “sh” sound and this is an attempt to capture that in the transliteration. It isn’t perfect, but transliterating it as “sh” wouldn’t be either.
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