There are several factors to consider for learning Chinese pronunciation. Maybe the most important reason would be that the native Chinese speakers appreciate correct pronunciation far more than correct grammar. That is quite reasonable, just consider what the benefit of having perfectly correct grammar is, if none of the words are understood.

Second, if you get the Mandarin pronunciation wrong from the beginning, it will be a lot harder to correct later. What adds to that point, is the fact that learning Chinese pronunciation does have a few similarities with English, but it does also have quite a few difficult differences.

The third reason is a bit softer, but not to be neglected though. When you have good Chinese pronunciation, the Chinese will commend you for speaking their language very clearly and being easy to understand, adding to your self-confidence, and encouraging you to continue extending your vocabulary and knowledge of grammar.

Chinese is a tonal language. Tones are the changes of the pitch in pronunciation of a syllable. There are 4 tones in Mandarin Chinese. Each Chinese word (character) carries a tone. Different tones carry different meanings.

Click on the Pinyin in the table below you will hear different tones.

Chinese Pinyin is a Roman-letter based system that China now uses to mark the pronunciation of Chinese characters. With four tones and pinyin, any Chinese characters can be pronounced precisely. In many cases, Pinyin is quite intuitive to English speakers with only a few exceptions. However, it can be a twist to render Pinyin in four tones for people who just start.

Pinyin is made up of 2 tables: vowel table and consonant table

Pinyin – Vowels

As you can see, most vowels are simply a combination of the 6 major vowels in the first row, which is obviously the most important part, and some special consonants.

How can you remember all this?  We are putting all these into English words with virtually the same sound for you to learn and remember in an easier way.

*Note: letters in the following explanation in “…” are pronounced as in English, and those in ‘… ‘ are pronounced in Pinyin.  Also, all samples are delivered in 4 tones.

a – as the vowel in “star” without the “r” sound

o  – as the vowel in “law”

e – as the vowel in “stir”

i – as the vowel in “bit”

u – as the vowel in “food”

ϋ – as “y” in “yellow” followed by the ‘u’ above

ai – as the vowel in “bike”

ei – as the vowel in “lake”

ui – combination of ‘u’ and ‘i’, the same as word “we” in English

ao – as the vowel in “loud”

ou – as the vowel in “flow”

iu – combination of ‘i’ and ‘u’, the same as word “yew” in English

ie – combination of ‘i’ and ‘e’, as the vowel in “sierra”

ue – combination of ‘u’ and ‘e’, as the vowel in “buena”

er – combination of ‘e’ and ‘r’, as the vowel in “early”

an – as the vowel in “anchor”:

en – as the word “earn” without the “r” sound:

in – as in the word “inn”

un – as in the word “one”:

ϋn – as “y” in “yellow” followed by the English word “one”

ang – as the word “long”

eng – as the vowel in “lung”

ing – as the vowel in “England”

ong – as ‘u’ followed by the ‘ng’ as above:

Consonant Table:

For consonants, we also  put all these into English words with the same sound for you to learn and remember in an easier way.

*Note: We pronounce these consonants followed by some vowels that can help deliver the sound more clearly.  Letters in the following explanation in “…” are pronounced as in English, and those in ‘… ‘ are pronounced in Pinyin.

b – as the “b” in “book”

p – as the “p” in “pool”

m – as the “m” in “moon”

f – as the “f” in “food”

d – as the “d” in “door”

t – as the “t” in “tom”

n – as the “n” in “no”

l – as the “l” in “love”

g – as the “g” in good”

k – as the “k” in “kill”

h- as the “h” in “high”

j- as the “j” in “jeep”

q- as the “ch” in “cheese”

x- as the “sh” in “sharp”

z- as the “z” in “zero”

c- as the “ts” in “tsunami”

s- as the “s” in “sun”

r- as the “r” in “red”

zh- start with ‘j’ in “jeep”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.

ch- start with ‘q’ in “cheese”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.

sh – start with ‘x’ in “sharp”, but then end smoothly with “r” sound. The first 2 sounds in the sample voice show such move.

( ‘zh, ch, sh’ are similar to, but strictly different from ‘j, q, x’ respectively. However, mixing them is not a too big problem for you to be understood in China.)

y- as the “y” in “yes”

w- as the “w” in “wood”

Google-Kingsoft PowerWord Cooperation Edition” was jointly developed by Kingsoft and Google to provide users with free translation software. Translations of word, sentences, and full text between Chinese, Japanese, and English is supported.Download Now!

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For Human Translation Service

1.How to input Pinyin with different tones.


2.How to switch between traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese

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