Pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese

Background

PinYin is the name of the official Romanization system for Mandarin Chinese adopted by the People's Republic of China. It is not the only system in use for writing Chinese using the Roman alphabet, but it is now the most widespread. Pinyin will be used throughout this article when referring to the pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese.

Foremost, the reader needs to be completely aware that the sounds which the letters of pinyin represent do not correspond exactly to the sounds that the letters of English represent. Just as the Roman alphabet can be used to write Spanish, German, and French -- all of which contain certain sounds not present in the English language -- the Roman alphabet is also used via pinyin to represent the sounds in Mandarin Chinese which are not present in English.

What does that mean? It means you can't take for granted that you know how to pronounce pinyin just because it looks pronounceable to you as a native speaker of English.

Most notably:

• "c" is not the "c" you know
• "j" is not the "j" you know
• "q" is not the "q" you know
• "x" is not the "x" you know
• "z" is not the "z" you know

In addition, it's very important to keep in mind that while pinyin is a logical system of Romanization, it does not seem consistent to the beginner. Most notably, vowel letters do not consistently represent the same sounds in all contexts, so the learner needs to be well aware of this. Reasonable assumptions of consistency on the learner's part will often result in incorrect pronunciation. (There is actually a logic to it, and reasons for the inconsistencies, but it's not readily apparent at all to the beginner.)

Below offer you a rough guide designed mostly to help beginners avoid certain common pronunciation mistakes and to give them a starting point from which they can modify their pronunciation based on a native speaker's model. Those areas which beginners should pay special attention to are noted below in bold. Beginners: if nothing else, look at the notes in bold. Notes on pinyin's structure have been added in red.

- A -

• [The pinyin a represents three distinct vowel sounds in Mandarin]
• a [#1] - like "father"
• ai [#1 + i] - like "Thai"
• ao [#1 + o#2] - like "Tao" (the excessive American "w" sound at the end like in "wow" or "now" is absent)
• an [#2 + n] - similar to "on" (the excessive American "aw" sound like in "lawn" is absent) but there is some of the vowel sound in the English word "can" as well
• yan [i + #2 + n] - similar to "yen," the Japanese currency (not just like "yawn"!)
• ang [#3 + ng] - similar to pinyin an but nasalized with the "ng"

- E -

• [The pinyin e represents two distinct vowel sounds in Mandarin]
• e [#1] - somewhere between "put" and "uh"
• ye [i + #2] - like yes
• ei [#2 + i] - like "vein"
• en [#1 + n] - like "sun"
• eng [#1 + ng] - like "hung"

- I -

• [The pinyin i represents three distinct vowel sounds in Mandarin]
• i [#1] - like "tee"
• ci, si, zi [#2] - like "sit" but with some of the "put" sound in it
• chi, shi, zhi, ri [#3] - somewhere between "it" and "put" (A good way to learn to say the very important Chinese word shi is to start to say the English word "shirt" but stop right as the "r" sound is beginning. Once you can say shi, apply that vowel sound also to pinyin si, ci, chi, zi, zhi, ri.)
• ia [#1 + a] - like "hi-ya" of martial arts fame
• ian [#1 + an] - like "yen," the Japanese currency (not at all like "yawn"!)
• iang [#1 + ang] - like pinyin ang above, with a "y" sound on the front
• iao [#1 + ao] - like "yeow" of comic book fame (but pronounced as one syllable, not at all drawn out)
• ie [#1 + e#2] - like "yes"
• in [#1 + n] - somewhere between "in" and "seen"
• ing [#1 + ng] - like "seen" but with an "ng" sound at the end instead of "n"
• iong [#1 + ong] - like pinyin "yong"
• iu [#1 + ou] - like "yo" with just a touch of "oo" sound on the end (not just like "spew")

- O -

• [The pinyin o represents two distinct vowel sounds in Mandarin]
• o [#1] - like you started to say "war" but switched to "uh" before the "r" sound began
• ou [#2 + u] - like "oh" with a hint of "oo" sound on the end
• ong [#2 + ng] - like "lone" but with a nasalized "ng" sound on the end instead of just "n"

- U -

• [The pinyin u represents two distinct vowel sounds in Mandarin, the second being the ü sound -- the umlaut is not always written in pinyin!]
• u [#1] - like "rude"
• uai [#1 + ai] - like "why" without any airy "h" sound
• uan [#1 + an] - like the English word "wan"
• juan, quan, xuan, yuan, [#2 + an] - similar to "when" without any airy "h" sound (not like the English word "wan"!)
• uang [#1 + ang] - like pinyin ang with a "w" sound on the front
• ue [#2 + e#2] - like "wet"
• ui [#1 + ei] - like "way" (not like "we"!)
• un [#1 + en] - like "would" but substitute the "ld" sound for an "n" sound
• jun, qun, xun, yun [#2 + in] - see pinyin yun below
• uo [#1 + o#1] - same as pinyin o, above
• *ü [#2] - make the "ee" sound (as in see) and then round your lips as if saying "oo" (as in "boo")
• *yu [#2] - like ü with a faint "y" sound at the beginning (not like "you")
• *yun [#2 + in] - start out like yu above and end like "between" (not like "soon"!)
• * Expect to spend a lot of time and practice mastering these sounds.

Thanks John, this article is from here.