How

to Pronounce Mandarin Chinese

One of the first steps in learning Mandarin
Chinese is becoming accustomed to
Mandarin pronunciation. Learning how to
pronounce Mandarin helps with speaking
and listening skills.

The Mandarin language has 21
consonants and 16 vowels. They can be
combined together to create more than
400 mono-syllabic sounds.

similar to English, you should try to hear
the differences and work on learning how
to pronounce Mandarin sounds.

Here is a chart of the 37 sounds of
Mandarin with a sound clip of each (in
next lesson). Practice these as much as
you can - they will provide the foundation
learning how to pronounce Mandarin.

 b <-> similar to 'b' in the English 'boat'

- softened to approach a 'p' sound
p <-> similar to 'p' in the English 'top' -
with more aspiration
m <-> same as 'm' in the English 'mat'
f <-> same as 'f' in the English 'fat'
d <-> similar to 'd' in the English
'down' - softened to approach a 't'
sound
t <-> similar to 't' in the English 'top' -
with more aspiration
n <-> similar to 'n' in the English
'name'
l <-> similar to 'l' in the English 'look'
g <-> similar to 'g' in the English 'go' -
softened to approach a 'k' sound
k <-> similar to 'k' in the English 'kiss'
- with more aspiration
h <-> similar to 'h' in the English
'hope' - with a slight rasp as in 'loch'

 j <-> similar to 'j' in the English 'jeep' -

tongue is positioned below lower
teeth
q <-> similar to 'ch' in the English
'cheap' - tongue is positioned below
lower teeth
x <-> similar to 'sh' in the English
'sheep' - tongue is positioned below
lower teeth
zh <-> similar to 'j' in the English 'jam'
ch <-> similar to 'ch' in the English
'cheap'
sh <-> similar to 'sh' in the English
'ship'
r <-> similar to 'z' in the English
'azure'
z <-> same as 'ds' in the English
'woods'
c <-> similar to 'ts' in the English 'bits'
s <-> similar to 's' in the English 'see'
(y)i <-> similar to 'ee' in the English
'bee'

 (w)u <-> similar to 'oo' in the English

'room'
yu <-> purse your lips and position the
tongue high and forwards
a <-> similar to 'ah' in the English 'Ah-
hah!'
(w)o <-> similar to 'or' in the English
'bore'
e <-> similar to 'er' in the English
'hers'
(y)e <-> similar to the English 'Yay!'
ai <-> similar to the English 'eye'
ei <-> similar to 'ei' in the English
'weigh'
ao <-> similar to 'au' in the English
'sauerkraut'
ou <-> similar to 'ou' in the English
'dough'
an <-> similar to 'an' in the English
'fan'
en <-> similar to 'un' in the English
'under'

 ang <-> a Mandarin 'a' followed by the

'ng' sound like in the English 'sing'
eng <-> a Mandarin 'e' followed by the
'ng' sound like in the English 'sing'
er <-> a Mandarin 'e' with the tongue
curled back

Pinyin Romanization to Learn
Mandarin

Pinyin is a Romanization system used to
learn Mandarin. It transcribes the sounds
of Mandarin using the western (Roman)
alphabet. Pinyin is most commonly used
in Mainland China for teaching school
children to read and it is also widely used
in teaching materials designed for
Westerners who wish to learn Mandarin.

Pinyin was developed in the 1950s in
Mainland China and is now the official
Romanization system of China, Singapore,

the US Library of Congress, and the

American Library Association. Library
standards allow for easier access to
documents by making it easier to locate
Chinese language materials. A worldwide
standard also facilitates the exchange of
data between institutions in various
countries.

Learning Pinyin is important. It provides
a way to read and write Chinese without
using Chinese characters - a major hurdle
for most people who want to learn
Mandarin.

Pinyin Perils

Pinyin provides a comfortable base for
anyone trying to learn Mandarin: it looks
familiar. Be careful though! The individual
sounds of Pinyin are not always the same
as English. For example, c in Pinyin is
pronounced like the ts in bits.


Heres an example of Pinyin: Ni hao. This
means hello and is the sound of these
two Chinese characters:

It is essential to learn all the sounds of
Pinyin. This will provide the foundation
for proper Mandarin pronunciation and
will allow you to learn Mandarin more
easily.

Tones

The four Mandarin tones are used for
clarifying the meaning of words. They are
indicated in Pinyin with either numbers
or tone marks:

ma1 or m (high level tone)
ma2 or m (rising tone)
ma3 or m (falling rising tone)
ma4 or m (falling tone)

Tones are important in Mandarin because

there are many words with the same
sound. Pinyin should be written with tone
marks to make the meaning of the words
clear. Unfortunately, when Pinyin is used
in public places (like on street signs or
store displays) it usually does not include
the tone marks.

Here is the Mandarin version of hello
written with tones marks: n ho or ni3
hao3.

Standard Romanization

Pinyin is not perfect. It uses many letter
combinations which are unknown in
English and other Western languages.
Anyone who has not studied Pinyin is
likely to mispronounce the spellings.

Despite its shortcomings, its best to have
a single system of Romanization for the

Mandarin language. Before the official

adoption of Pinyin, the differing
Romanization systems created confusion
about the pronunciation of Chinese
words.

Note: Please check next lesson for audio
files. (In Class 1 - Basics)