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Chinese phonetics : The pinyin - Lesson 01

Pinyin 拼音 is the system used for transcribing the sounds of Chinese words into the Latin alphabet. It's a written aid to pronunciation created in China in 1958. Other phonetic transcription systems do exist but are less and less used.

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No Alphabet

The Chinese writing does not use an alphabet but many characters made of horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines.

For instance, how do you pronounce this character? 

caractère chinois

By using Pinyin, it is pronounced "gǒu " (and means "dog")

Without knowing the pinyin, it is very difficult to learn Chinese as a foreign language. Chinese students themselves use this method. However, it must remain an aid to pronunciation; the best way to learn the pronunciation of the words and to repeat what we hear.

Composition and Use

  • Chinese characters are composed of only one phonetic syllable like "gou";
  • All these syllables start with an initial which is the consonant beginning the sound; in "gou", the initial is "g";
  • And all end with a final; in "gou", this is "ou".

When you want to know the pronunciation of a word transcribed into pinyin, separate the initial and the final and look in the following tables how they are individually pronounced.

Table of the 21 initial sounds

Initial
   Prononciation  
Initial
   Pronunciation
b
   like in "boat"
q
   like in "cheese"
p
   like in "pot"
x
   like in "she"
m
   like in "most"
z
   like in "dzêta"
f
   like in "fact"
c
   like in "tse-tse"
d
   like in "dot"
s
   like in "soap"
t
   like in "ten"
zh
   like in "junk"
n
   like in "no"
ch
   like in "chain", tongue curled back
l
   like in "lap"
sh
   like in "shower"
g
   like in "game"
r
   like in "rain"
k
   like in "koala"
w
   like in "whisky"
h
   like in "hay"
y
   like in "yen"
j
   like in "jeep"  

Table of the 35 final sounds

Finale
   Prononciation  
Finale
   Pronunciation
a
   like in "father"
ie
   like in "yes" en anglais
ai
   like in "bike", "high"
in
   like in "mine"
ao
   like in "Macao"
ing
   like in "ding dong"
an
   like in " Russian"
iong
   like in "Jünger"
ang
   like in "bang"
iu
   like in "yukon"
o
   close to "saw"
u
   like in "rude"
ong
   like in "gong"
ua
   like "aqua" in Italian
ou
   like in "go"
uo
   like in "war"
e
   like in "bird"and "sir"
ui
   comme "ouais"
ei
   like in "say"
uai
   comme "why"
en
   like in "men"
uan
   like in "one"
eng
   linke in "sung"
un
   like in "went"
er
   like in "are"  
uang
   oo+ahng
i
   1. like in "sit"
2. like "sir", après "c","ch","r","s","sh","z" et "zh" 		 
ü
   like the French "u"
ia
   like in "yak"  
ue
   ü+eh
iao
   like in "yeowl"  
üan
   ü+an
ian
   like in "yen"  
ün
   like in "grün"
iang
   e+yang        

Exercise

Listen to the following pronunciations to train your ear:

1. yi   6. qing   11. quan
2. zhong 7. xie 12. cong
3. cui 8. cai 13. zai
4. qiu 9. ren 14. duo
5. yue 10. shi 15. shang
NEXT LESSON :
The Chinese tones