1. Initials
A Chinese character has only one syllable, which consists of two parts: an initial (consonant) and a final (vowel). The consonants always appear initially in a syllable. There are 21 initials for the standard Chinese pronunciation and they fall into six groups as follows:
Pronunciation Hint:
The initials of 'm', 'f', 'n', 'l', 'h', 's', and 'sh' are pronounced the same as their
corresponding ones in English.
'b' is analogous to the sound of 'p' in the English word 'spin'. (unaspirated)
'd' is analogous to the sound of 't' in the English word 'straight'.(unaspirated)
'j' is analogous to the sound of 'g' in the English word 'genius'. (unaspirated)
'z' is analogous to the sound of 'ds' in the English word 'beds'.
'zh' is analogous to the sound of 'j' in the English word 'job'.
'g' is analogous to the unaspirated sound 'g' in the English word 'get'.
'x' is analogous to the sound of 'sh' in the English word 'sheep', but with the lip
corners tightened up backwards.
'r' is analogous to the sound of 'dge' in the English word 'lodge'.
Please pay attention to the six aspirated 'p', 't', 'k', 'q', 'q', 'c', and 'ch' sounds.
Attentions must be paid to the differences between unaspirated sounds
and aspirated sounds.
b/p d/t g/k j/q z/c zh/ch
2. Finals
There are two kinds of finals in the Chinese phonetic alphabet, single finals and compound finals. Their positions are in the rear of a syllable.
'ie' is analogous to the pronunciation of 'ye' in the English word 'yes'.
'ai' is analogous to the sound of 'y' in the English word 'by'.
'e' is analogous to the sound of 'e' in the English word 'her'.
'er' is analogous to the sound of 'er' in the English word 'sister'.
'ei' is analogous to the sound of 'ay' in the English word 'bay'.
'ou' is analogous to the sound of 'o' in the English word 'go'.
'an' is analogous to the sound of 'an' in the English word 'can'.
Please pay attention to the differences between front nasal sounds
and rear nasal sounds of the following three groups:
in / ing an / ang en / eng
