Why is it that when I hear a Chinese person say an r in Mandarin it sounds like a drawn out zh or j kind of sound? Am I hearing it wrong or is this an acceptable way to say it?

Answer 1

The "zh" or "j" roots back to the non-traditional Taiwanese phonetic system (not an alphabet). These sounds exist in Mandarin.

Examples of zh: 炸，这，之，州，祝，追

Examples of j: 及，界，菊，君

Answer 2

the zh or j sound may come from combination. Such as zhe er這兒.this type of words contain the r sound but also contain the zh sound. It’s like in English, when you say care, it contain the r sound but also contain k and a sound.

In Chinese the pure r sound is very similar to English. Only the tone is different. (Chinese goes up, second tone二聲，in English goes down, fourth tone四聲)