| Shi Fu
Pinyin,
The Official Chinese System of Romanizing Chinese
The
official phonetic system of romanizing Chinese is pinyin.
Pinyin means "phonetic transcription." Since 1958,
pinyin has been the officially endorsed system in The People's
republic of China. It replaces the old system promulgated
by the British called "Wade/Giles." Much of literature
about China uses the old system. Many maps also have this
old Wade/Giles system. Under this new pinyin, the pronunciation
is much closer to the actual sounds used by the Chinese. For
example the old Soochow is now Suzhou, correctly pronounced
Su-joe, not Su-chow. Names in Wade/Giles such as Tsingtao
properly pronounced as "Ching Dow Oh" is now spelled
Qingdao.
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a
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Vowel
as in
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ah
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ai
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Diphthong
pronounced as
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eye
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b
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Consonant
as in
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be
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c
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Consonants
"ts" as in
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its
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ch
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Consonants
as in
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chip
strongly aspirated
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d
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Consonant
as in
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do
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e
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Vowel
"o" as in
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oh
when not a Diphthong
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ei
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Vowel
"a" as in
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say
when in a Diphthong
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f
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Consonant
as in
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foot
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g
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Consonant
as in
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go
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h
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Consonant
as in
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her
strongly aspirated
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i
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Vowels
"ea" as in
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eat
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j
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Consonant
as in
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jeep
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k
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Consonant
as in
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kind
strongly aspirated
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l
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Consonant
as in
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land
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m
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Consonant
as in
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me
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n
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Consonant
as in
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an
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|
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ao
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Vowel
"a" as in
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law
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an
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Consonant
as "an" in
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lan
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en
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Consonant
as "en" in
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hen
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eng
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Consonant
as "eng" in
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length
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ang
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Consonant
as "ang" in
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hang
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ong
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Consonant
as "ong" in
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song
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p
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Consonant
as in
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par
strongly aspirated
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q
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Consonant
"ch" as in
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cheek
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r
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Consonant
as in
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right
not rolled
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s
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Consonant
as in
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sister
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t
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Consonant
as in
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top
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u
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Vowels
"oo" as in
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too
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ue
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Diphthong
as "uee" in
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queen
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ui
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Diphthong
pronounced as
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wee
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w
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Consonant
as in
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want
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x
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Consonants
"sh" as in
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she
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y
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Consonant
as in
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yet
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z
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Consonant
as in
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zero
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zh
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Consonant
"j" as in
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jump
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Written
Chinese is uniform throughout China, but the spoken language
varies from region to region. The Beijing dialect is the official
dialect and is taught in schools throughout China. It is known
as putonghua or as Mandarin outside China. The pitches or
"tones" present a problem for novice speakers. With
its tens of thousands of characters, Chinese has only 400
syllables with which to pronounce them. As a result, a single
sound can represent more than 100 different written characters.
Tones and the use of compounds multiply the number of available
word sounds.
Putonghua
, the national dialect has four tones. The numerals 1,2,3,4
at the end of each pinyin stands for the different tones.
1 is the flat tone " "
, 2 the rising tone " "
, 3 the falling-rising tone " ",
4 the falling tone " ",
and nothing for the light or no tone. Let's take the word
"ma" for example:
The
first tone (flat) "ma" in means "mother."
The second tone (rising) "ma" can mean "numb"
or "hemp."
The third tone (falling-rising) "ma" the voice falls
and then rises, means "horse."
The fourth tone (falling) "ma" starts high and falls
abruptly, means "to scold."
The light tone "ma" pronounces lightly, and is often
used as an interrogative at the end of a sentence.
Tools:
Translate
Chinese into Pinyin
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