Current
revision (unreviewed)
| 'Pinyin |
IPA |
Explanation |
Examples |
| b |
[b] |
b, as in bit |
Beijing (capital of China) |
| p |
[p] |
as in English |
pianyi (cheap), piaoliang
(beautiful) |
| m |
[m] |
as in English |
miantiao (noodles) |
| f |
[f] |
as in English |
facai (get rich) |
| d |
[d] |
d, as in dark |
da (big) |
| t |
[t] |
as in English |
taiping (peace) |
| n |
[n] |
as in English |
nanren (man) |
| l |
[l] |
as in English |
laoren (old man) |
| g |
[g] |
g, as in gill, never as
large |
guojia (country) |
| k |
[k] |
as in English |
keren (guest) |
| h |
[x] |
like the English h if followed by "a";
otherwise it is pronounced more roughly (not unlike the Scots ch) |
heshui (drink water) |
| j |
[tɕ] |
like q, but unaspirated. .^ In retroflexion, the tip of the tongue is curled backward, that is, the ``point of contact'' between the tongue and the hard palate remains to be the tip of the tongue as it is in pronouncing the ``normal'' (non-retroflexed and non-palatized) consonant, only this point of contact is shifted bacward in the mouth.- RUBINGHSCIENCE.ORG -- Language/Pinyin 12 January 2010 2:44 UTC www.rubinghscience.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
^ Keep saying the ǖ sound, then touch the front of your hard palate with the tip of your tongue.
^ In palatization, the ``point of contact'' between the tongue and the hard palate is also backward in the mouth from the ``point of contact'' in the normal (non-retroflexed and non-palatized) consonant, only in this case this point of contact is formed not by the tip of the tongue but by the forward portion of the tongue back of the tip.- RUBINGHSCIENCE.ORG -- Language/Pinyin 12 January 2010 2:44 UTC www.rubinghscience.org [Source type: FILTERED WITH BAYES]
) While this
exact sound is not used in English, the closest match is the
j in ajar, not the
s in Asia; this means that
"Beijing" is pronounced like "bay-jing", not like
"beige-ing". |
jiaotang (church), jia (home
or family) |
| q |
[tɕʰ] |
like church, but with less of the "ch"/"h"
sound; pass it backwards along the tongue until it is free of the
tongue tip |
shengqi (get angry) |
| x |
[ɕ] |
like sh, but with less of the "s" sound. Take
the sound and pass it backwards along the tongue until it is clear
of the tongue tip; very similar to the final sound in German
ich, Portuguese enxada,
luxo, xícara,
puxa, and to huge or
Hugh in some English dialects |
xiaohai (child), Xizang
(Tibet) |
| zh |
[tʂ] |
ch with no aspiration (take the sound halfway
between joke and church and curl
it upwards); very similar to merger in American
English, but not voiced |
Zhongguo (China), zhaohuo (be
on fire) |
| ch |
[tʂʰ] |
as in chin, but with the tongue curled
upwards; very similar to nurture in American
English, but strongly aspirated |
chifan (have a meal), chaojia
(quarrel) |
| sh |
[ʂ] |
as in shinbone, but with the tongue curled
upwards; very similar to undershirt in American
English |
shamo (desert), Shanghai (a
big city in China) |
| r |
[ɻ] |
similar to the English r in
rank, but with the lips spread and with the tongue
curled upwards |
re (hot), reqing
(passion) |
| z |
[ts] |
unaspirated c (halfway between
beds and bets), (more common
example is suds) |
zaoshanghao (good morning!),
qizi (wife), Zhang Ziyi (name of
a Chinese actress) |
| c |
[tsʰ] |
like ts, aspirated (more common example is
cats) |
cao (grass), ci, time |
| s |
[s] |
as in sun |
Lhasa (capital of Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous
Region), Suzhou (capital of the province of
Jiansu, near Shanghai) |
| y |
[y] |
as in English |
yueliang (moon) |
| w |
[j] |
as in English |
waiguoren (foreigner) |
| ng |
[ŋ] |
as in English |
ng (What?, Huh?) |
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Search
