Reading Standard Chinese Pinyin

Hànyǔ Pīnyīn

This is the official Romanisation system of Standard Chinese, 普通話 : 普通话 Pǔtōnghuà, which is based on the Mandarin dialect of Northeastern China. The Pinyin system is used in mainland China and was endorsed by the government in 1958.

​Here follows a very, very rough guide to pronouncing pinyin. If you want to learn properly, please consult a teacher!

Single consonants

The easiest of all the consonants is 'v​' - because it is not used!

The next easiest are the ones pronounced as in English:​

b as in bed

d as in dad

f as in fun

g as in golf (but not as in gym)

h ​as in hand

k ​as in kind

l ​as in love 

m ​as in mum

n as in no

p as in pet

s as in sun

 t as in tan

 w as in win

 y as in yes

The remaining consonants are pronounced as below:​

c like the 'ts' sound in 'cats'

q ​like combining the 'ts' sound in 'cats' with the 'y' sound in 'yes' to make 'tsy'​

z ​like the 'dz' sound in 'adds'​

​j​ like combining the 'dz' sound in 'adds' with the 'y' sound in 'yes' to make 'dzy'

r ​like the 'r' in 'run', but keep the tongue further back in the mouth

x​ try pronouncing the 'ssie' sound harshly in the French word 'assiette'. Or try saying a normal 's' whilst holding the tongue closer to the roof of your mouth so that air has to be forced out.

Digraphs

ch ​as in church

sh ​as in shirt

zh ​like the 'j' sound in 'jam'

​Single vowels

​a is an open sound, like when you say 'Ah' for the dentist!

e ​can be approximated to the 'schwa' sound, e.g. the way 'e' is pronounced in the word 'taken'

i ​has two possible pronuncations:

• ​in si, ci, zi and ri it is pronounced like the 'i' in 'sir'

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​Standard Chinese Tones

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