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.
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?
 |
By using Pinyin, it is pronounced "gǒu |
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 |