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For any Westerns who want a serious
study of Mandarin, learning a romanization system is
very important. Pinyin is the romanization of the Chinese
"write sound."
Romanization approximates Mandarin pronunciation with Western
spellings and includes a tone mark to signify at what pitch to say a word.
This provides a phonetic alphabet for Chinese, which otherwise would not have
one. Without this, a non-native would have an extremely difficult time
learning the language.
The key to using romanization is to use the letters as a
reminder of what the authentic sound is like.
However, pinyin does not follow English letters exactly. While
the symbols are generally close to how they are used in English, they represent
Chinese sounds. Be sure and listen closely to each Chinese sound, it takes
practice to pronounce accurately.
Key to Pronunciation
Beginning
Consonants
b
b as in be
c
ts as in tsar, strongly aspirated
d
d as in do
f
f as in food
g
g as in go
h
h as in her
j
j as in jeep
k
k as in kind
l
l as in land
m
m as in man
n
n as in nine
p
p as in poor
q
ch as in cheek
r
r like the z in azure
s
s as in sister
t
t as in ten
w
w as in way
x
sh as in she
y
y as in yet
z
ds as in deeds
zh
j as in jump
ch
ch as in church
sh
sh as in shore
Vowels
a
a as in father
ai
as in kite
ao
ow as in how
an
ahn
ang
like in song
e
er as in her (Brit.)
ei
as letter A
en
weak form of and
eng
no English equivalent but nearly as in lung
i
ea as in easy
ia
yah
ie
ye as in yes
iao
yow as in yowl
iou
yee-oh
ian
ien as in lenient
in
een as in keen
iang
i-ahng
ing
ing as in sing
iong
y-oong
o
aw as in law
ou
ow as in low
ong
oo-ng
u
oo as in too
ua
wah
uo
wa as in wwater
uai
wi as in wife
uei
as way
uan
oo-ahn
uen
won as wonder
uang
oo-ahng
ueng
no English equivalent
ü
as yü in German
üe
no English equivalent
üan
no English equivalent
ün
no English equivalent
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