I was surprised by the degree to which French culture handled these things differently than American culture, so now I assume most places are unique.

I remember when it felt like "my ears opened" to french and all the sudden I could distinguish different words. Hear the sounds. And begin to make my mouth form the right shapes to make the words. Maybe I should just use @duolingo for a while before I try this out loud.

Also, will anyone correct my mistakes? It isn't their job of course. I have no expectations, but is it culturally acceptable to correct people? I noticed in France it was kind to correct people one likes/knows. Conversely it was rude if a stranger corrected pronunciation.

As an American, I just didn't correct anyone unless they specifically asked for help or I really couldn't understand what was said. Is that culture? Or just me?

Anyway, if you've read this far, and you'd like to help me avoid a faux pas, I'd be incredibly grateful. 🙏🏻 And if you've learned Chinese pronunciation and have resources you liked, please share!

Thanks for the link! So the same letters in a name would sound quite different depending where the person is from?

Some of the grid cells are a much stronger signal for that than others. If you see q, x, j (not as jh), zh you're probably looking at Pinyin romanization of Mandarin / putonghua. Signs of other dialects/languages include sylllable-final consonants other than n or ng.

... oops, n, ng, or r.