Chinese Pronunciation

(Combination of Vowels, continued)

– ong is like “ong” in kong
– ou is like “ow” in low
– ua is like “ua” in guava
– uan like one
– uang like “oo” + ang
– ui is like way
– un is like “wou” in would and ending in “n” sound (woon)
– uo sounds like “wo” as in wall
– uai is like why
– ua is like “wa”
– üan like yuan and written without two dots
– üe is like “yue” (“we” in “wet”)

You may be overwhelmed at this moment by all those sounds. But that is all you’ll be learning. We’ll cover this one by one, this is just to give you a head up. Nothing to panic.

Comparing with English pronunciation (think about it for a minute, you may forget and get amazed about how much you have learned in English language), Chinese phonology is much simpler, right?

I’ll cover tones in a separate topic.

3. Vowel Combinations in Chinese pronunciation

Basic vowels form vowel combinations with each other or with a nasal consonant, a.k.a final.

Learn Chinese pronunciation of Vowel Combinations

– ai like eye
– an sounds like “ah” with an emphatic “n” at the end (NOT like “an” in man)
– ang sounds like “ah” with a soft “ng” (NOT like “ang” in gang)
– ao is like “ao” in Tao
– ei is like “ay” in pay
– en is like “un” in sun
– eng is like “ung” in sung
– er like “ur” in purse

– ia is like ya
– iang is like young
– ie is like yeah
– iu is like the “ou” in you
– ian like yen
– iao is like “eow” in meow
– in as in “in” in sin
– ing as in “ing” in sing
– iong is like pinyin “yong”

2. Simple Vowels

There are 6 simple vowels In Chinese pronunciation. They form all vowel combinations in Chinese pronunciation.
a, o, e, i, u, ü Learn Chinese pronunciation of Vowels

– a as in papa
– o as in shop
– e as in
– I as in sit
– U as in look
– ü like the u in the French rue

“I wanted to learn Chinese, but it is just too hard” is often what I heard when I started to teach beginners. The following is for you guys.

It is not that difficult to speak Chinese if you know the basics. Here are some tips.

1. Consonants (initials)
There are 24 consonants but only 23 initials as shown in Chinese Pinyin system which are pronounced similar to English language.

They are:

b, p, m, f: (Bi)labial. This group of sounds were pronounced using your lips.
d, t, n, ng, l: Coronal/lateral
g, k, h velar
j, q, x,

z, c, s, sibilant

zh, ch, sh, r,

y, w
Note, ng can not be used at beginning of a syllabus, unless it’s used to transcribe a Chinese dialect.

Remember y, w are not really separate sounds. They are “designed’ for Pinyin. BTW, it’s bad to have a group of linguists to design a system, it’s worse to have a committee to come up with a writing system, and it’s a disaster to design a system to “revoluntionalize” Chinese writing by a committee of linguists. Pinyin may be not that bad, but the simplified Chinese character reforms, especially the second one, are disastrous to Chinese culture and Chinese learning. Chinese characters are not easy, let alone to learn two systems, both simplified and traditional! We’ll cover this later in my blog.
Learn Chinese pronunciation of Consonants

b as in bay
p as in pay
m as in may
f as in faith
d as in day
t as in th in Thailand
n as in nay
l as in lay
g as in gay
k as in kate
ng as in say
h as in hay
j as in jade
q like “ch” in cheap
x like a sound between the “s” in see and the “sh” in she
zh like “dg” in sludge (like, not is)
ch like in children
sh like in shake
r as in ray
z like “ds” in woods
c like “ts” in cats
s as in son
y as in Yao Ming
w as in we

Tip: Pronounce pinyin “x” halfway between English “s” and “sh”. Pronounce pinyin “q” halfway between English “ch” and “ts”. Pronounce pinyin “c” (when immediately followed by a vowel) as English “ts”. Say “zhi”, “chi”, “shi” and “ri” as “jrrr”, “chrrr”, “shrrr”, “rrr”, respectively . Note those “r” sounds just buzzed, not really rolled. Say “zi”, “ci”, and “si”, as “dzzz” , “tsszz” and “sszz”, respectively. This is not a precise description, buy you get the point..