This page is for you, my bali friend. It is about a brif(having ignored a lot details) description of chinese pinyin based on wikipedia. Hoping this could be a start for you.
I wish chinese is easy for you to start. So I just try to explain the basic stuff for you. Honestly, I could’t remember every thing about pinyin. And I don’t think knowing every detail is necessary at first. I’m not a professional chinese teacher. This page maybe not that helpful. Tell me if this is helping so I can do better.
To make chinese universal, the gov erected a system based on latin alphabet which called Chinese alphabet in 1955. It look like latin alphabet, but sounds different.
Letters of chinese alphabet
| Letter | IPA | English approximation | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | [a] | father | like English father, but a bit more fronted |
| b | [pʰ] | spit | unaspirated p, as in spit |
| c | [tsʰ] | hats | like the English ts in cats, but strongly aspirated, very similar to the Czech, Polish, and Slovak c. |
| d | [t] | stop | unaspirated t, as in stop |
| e | [ɤ] ( listen) | English | a back, unrounded vowel (similar to English duh, but not as open). Varies from [ɤ] to [ɯ̯ʌ], depend on the speaker. |
| f | [f] | fair | as in English fun |
| g | [k] | skill | unaspirated k, as in skill |
| h | [x] | loch | roughly like the Scots ch. English h as in hay or, more closely in some American dialects, hero is an acceptable approximation. The best way to produce this sound is by very slowly making a “k” sound, pausing at the point where there is just restricted air flowing over the back of your tongue (after the release at the beginning of a “k”) |
| i | [i] | bee | like English b**ee** |
| j | [tɕ] | churchyard | No equivalent in English, but similar to an unaspirated “-chy-“ sound when said quickly. Like q, but unaspirated. Is similar to the English name of the letter G. Not the s in Asia, despite the common English pronunciation of “Beijing”. The sequence “ji” word-initially is the same as the Japanese pronunciation of じ(ジ) ji. |
| k | [kʰ] | kay | strongly aspirated k, as in kill |
| l | [l] | lay | as in English love |
| m | [m] | may | as in English mummy |
| n | [n] | nay | as in English nit |
| o | [ɔ̝] | office | approximately as in British English office ; the lips are much more rounded |
| p | [pʰ] | pay | strongly aspirated p, as in pit |
| q | [tɕʰ] | punch yourself | No equivalent in English. Like punch yourself, with the lips spread wide with ee. Curl the tip of the tongue downwards to stick it at the back of the teeth and strongly aspirate. The sequence “qi” word-initially is the same as the Japanese pronunciation of ち(チ) chi. |
| r | [ʐ]/[ɻ] | ray | Similar to the English r in reduce, but with a flat tongue and lightly fricated, the lips are not rounded unless it before a rounded vowel. |
| s | [s] | say | as in sun |
| t | [tʰ] | take | strongly aspirated t, as in top |
| u | [y] ( listen) | uber | as in German ü*ber or French lune.(Pronounced as English *ee with rounded lips) |
| v(ü) | [y] ( listen) | yu | sounds like combination of two letters of chinese alphabet, which is y and u |
| w | [w] | way | as in water. |
| x | [ɕ] | push yourself | No equivalent in English. Like -sh y-, with the lips spread and the tip of your tongue curled downwards and stuck to the back of teeth when you say ee. The sequence “xi” is the same as the Japanese pronunciation of し(シ) shi. |
| y | [j], [ɥ] | yea | as in yes. Before a u, pronounce it with rounded lips. |
| z | [ts] | reads | unaspirated c, similar to something between suds and cats; as in suds in a toneless syllable |
Pinyin
Generally, there are three element to describe how to pronounce a chinese word with pinyin.
- initial consonant
- compound vowel
- tone
For example.
# initial consonant
| b | p | m | f |
|---|---|---|---|
| d | t | n | l |
| g | k | h | |
| j | q | x | |
| zh | ch | sh | r |
| z | c | s |
# compound vowel
| a | o | e | i | u | (v)ü |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ai | ei | ui | ao | ou | iu |
| ie | üe | er | an | en | in |
| un | (v)ün | ang | eng | ing | ong |
# tone
| Example | Tone Type |
|---|---|
| ā | Flat or High Level Tone |
| á | Rising or High-Rising Ton |
| ǎ | Falling-Rising or Low Tone |
| à | Falling or High-Falling Tone |
| a | Neutral Tone |
App
I found a app called Chinaskill whick may can help.