In this study we carried out an acoustic analysis on the three voiceless Chinese sibilants, that is the dental [s], the alveolo-palatal [ɕ] and the so-called retroflex post-alveolar [ʂ], by comparing the production of Hungarian learners of Mandarin Chinese and Chinese natives. We analysed the three Chinese sibilants according to two parameters: the sibilant constriction’s relative position in the vocal tract by the length of the cavity anterior to the sibilant’s constriction, and the degree of palatalization, that is, the length of the cavity posterior to the sibilant constriction. Due to the distinct distribution and opposition of sibilants in Hungarian and Chinese, we assumed negative transfer-induced difficulties in Hungarian speakers’ production in the case of the alveolo-palatal [ɕ]. Our results confirmed this hypothesis that Hungarian learners produced the [ɕ] identical to the dental [s] and the (alveolo-)palatalized production (which is absent from the L1) is substituted with a coarticulatory-driven gradually palatalizing pattern at the end of the sibilant phase. The production of the dental [s] and the so-called retroflex post-alveolar [ʂ] did not pose problems for Hungarian learners of Chinese.