IPA

I'd be interested to know how to write down some sounds using the IPA.

1. Soft French 'n' sound, such as in 'bon'.
2. Soft German 'ch' sound, such as in 'ich'.
3. Hard German 'ch' sound, such as in 'mach'.
4. Chinese 'x' sound.
5. Chinese 'q' sound.

Ok, thanks.

<<1. Soft French 'n' sound, such as in 'bon'.>>

This is represented as a nasalization of the vowel, with a tilde.

"blanc" [blɑ̃] or [blɒ̃]
"vin" [vɛ̃]
"bon" [bɔ̃] [bõ]

With "blanc" and "bon", the first transcription is what's traditionally used, whereas the second one is closer to the vowel quality found in modern Parisian French. (Note that depending on the font or the browser, tildes and other diacritics may not appear in the right position.)

<<2. Soft German 'ch' sound, such as in 'ich'.>>

That's a voiceless palatal fricative, [ç].

<<3. Hard German 'ch' sound, such as in 'mach'.>>

That's a voiceless uvular fricative, [χ].

<<4. Chinese 'x' sound.>>

This is a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative (in between alveolar and palatal), [ç].

<<5. Chinese 'q' sound.>>

This is a voiceless aspirated alveolo-palatal affricate, [tɕʰ].

Correction: number 4 should be [ɕ].

Thanks! Out of interest, when you say in between alveolar and palatal, can you give me an example of what these two would be on their own?
Thanks

Alveolar sounds are made by touching the tongue against the ridge behind the teeth, also known as the alveolar ridge - so this includes the English sounds [t], [d], [s], [z] and [n].

(Postalveolar consonants, by the way, are made by touching the tongue behind the alveolar ridge - for example, English "sh" [ʃ], "ch" [tʃ], "zh" [ʒ] and "j" [dʒ].)

Palatal sounds, like the German soft "ch", are made by touching the flat part of the tongue against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth).

Alveolo-palatal consonants are made with the flat part of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth, but a bit farther forward than palatal consonants.

(Maybe looking at the IPA chart ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IPA_chart_2005.png ) would help you get your bearings.)

Thanks, that's interesting. However when pronouncing [s] and [z], my tongue touches my upper teeth. However I've just noticed that it's uneven, it's the right part of my tongue touching the right teeth! Is this normal?!

<<However when pronouncing [s] and [z], my tongue touches my upper teeth.>>

Some English speakers have a dental realization of those consonants, which I guess could be described as "denti-alveolar" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denti-alveolar ), in which the tongue touches the upper part of the teeth. This kind of sound is found in French, Spanish and Italian, as well.

<<However I've just noticed that it's uneven, it's the right part of my tongue touching the right teeth! Is this normal?!>>

I think it's normal for consonant production to be a little bit asymmetrical. For example, my tongue seems to go a bit to the left when making consonantal sounds. This is most evident when I say [l] (an alveolar lateral approximant), because my tongue touches to the left, and the airflow escapes to the right.

When I say "hard" with the r, I pronounce the final d at the very back of my alveolar ridge. Is this "postalveolarization (to a degree)" normal?

I think that's normal. English /r/ is generally pronounced as postalveolar or retroflex, and it makes sense that that might pull the /d/ back a bit.