Chinese Character a Day Practice Pad Volume 1. Philip Yungkin Lee

of tone:

      When 2 third tones come in succession. a change of tone occurs and the first third tone is to be pronounced in the second tone.

      Just as English is spoken with different accents, so is Chinese; learners of Chinese must therefore develop an ear for the language.

      CONSONANTS

      The following offers a guide to the pronunciation of the standard Hanyu Pinyin system of romanization, which is used almost all over the world.

      Most consonants are pronounced as in English.

Chinese	English
c	its
ci	its (silent ‘‘i”)
q	cheat (said with a puff of air)
qi	chip (silent “i")
r	urn
si	swing
x	sea
z	bits
zi	bits (silent “i")
ch	church (said with one’s tongue rolled back and with a puff of air)
sh	she (said with one’s tongue rolled back)
zh	jerk (said with one’s tongue rolled back)

      VOWELS

Pinyin	English
a	father
e	hen
i	pin (single “i" is pronounced “e" as in he).
o	go
u	July
ü	feud (said with rounded lips)
ao	how
ei	hay
ou	no (said with a slight pull)
ui	wait

      Alphabetical Index