Chinese learners is native-like or if the L1 influences it. Furthermore, this comparison also contributes to our knowledge of how palatalization of fricative segments realizes in Hungarian. To the authors’ knowledge, this question has not yet been studied before. We compared the production of three groups: two groups of HLCh (beginners and advanced learners) and Chinese native speakers. The speakers produced three isolated words: 夏 xià/ɕa/[ɕjâ], 萨 sà/sâ/[sâ], and 厦 shà/ʂâ/[ʂâ]. In the two Hungarian-speaking groups, we also recorded Hungarian pseudowords,/saː/,/sjaː/,/siaː/, and/sijaː/in isolation. We analysed the sibilants in the two languages from two aspects: the relative position of the constriction in the vocal tract (using the center of gravity measure) and the degree of palatalization (using the frequency of the second formant measured at the beginning of the vocoid segment right after the sibilant). Results for Hungarian tokens in Hungarian speakers’ production showed a gradual coarticulatory effect of/j/and/i/on the denti-alveolar/s/, affecting the sibilant's closing section. This means that the Hungarian/s/featured coarticulatory palatalization patterns in (alveolo-) palatal contexts. We also found that the palatal/i/had a stronger palatalizing effect on the denti-alveolar/s/than the alveolo-palatal/j/, as expected. Regarding the production of the Chinese sibilants, results in Chinese natives contradicted previous findings and showed that speakers differentiated the Chinese/s/and/ɕ/only in the degree of palatalization but not in the relative position of the constriction in the vocal tract. HLCh produced the Chinese/ɕ/similar to i) that observed in natives, ii) to the Chinese/s/, and iii) to the Hungarian/s/(followed by an (alveolo-) palatal vocoid) both in terms of the relative position of the constriction in the vocal tract and the degree of palatalization. Results did not confirm any expected difference as a function of vocalic contexts; thus, the hypothesized [i]-insertion in HLCh was not confirmed. Results contribute to our knowledge of second language acquisition and coarticulatory processes in the Hungarian language.