Listen to the Audio on How to Speak Chinese
(aka the “PinYin System”)
If you want to know how to learn Chinese quickly, then take it from me that spending a few minutes daily will soon be worth its weight in gold! Focus on the essentials! Learn Chinese PinYin online and soon you will find that you know how to learn Chinese in five minutes a day without breaking a sweat!
“Sing” yourself to the mastery and freedom of the language by practicing each of the four tones for every PinYin sound! It may sound strange to you—it may even seem ridiculous, but let me tell you that focusing on the few simple basics will help you to achieve the result you are looking for! Take it from someone who has walked this journey before—this is the pathway to success!
Notes on Initials and Finals
- INITIAL + FINAL = one sound in Chinese (or one character)
- But, I’ll teach you the FINALS first because they are most like our VOWELS!
- INITIALS never truly come by themselves! They are always accompanied by a FINAL, so you will see that the FINAL is written for your convenience in parentheses.
- Usually, it takes two or more characters to form a WORD or a COMPLETE THOUGHT, but only one character is needed for an IDEA or an abbreviation of a word.
Listen to the audio of the finals with both male and female voices
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
.
Finals
|
||||
|
a “ah” as in a-hah! |
o “aw” as in awful (mouth forms half long o sound) |
e “ehhhh” OR “uhhhhh” (the sound you make when something is really gross!) |
i “ee” as glee |
u “oo” as in spoon |
|
ü *** (see below)
|
ai “ai” as in aisle |
ei “ei” as in eight |
ui “wei” as in weight |
ao “ow” as in owl |
|
ou “oa” as in boat |
iu “you” as in you |
ie “ye” as in yet |
ue “you+e” as in you + “e” as in egg |
er “ar” as in art |
|
un “won” as in wonderful |
ün “you+in” as in you + “in” as in inside |
an “on” as in on |
en “un” as in under |
in “een” as in seen |
|
ang* “ong” as in song *(nasal) |
eng* “ung” as in sung *(nasal) |
ing* “eing” as in seing *(nasal) |
ong* “own” as in owner *(nasal)
|
|
***The HARDEST sound! Say “ee” as in seek, but make your lips form an “oa” sound as in boat. The combination of the two give you a sound close to “ye” in English, but very nasal and for a sustained period of time.
To listen to the initials, follow this
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
.
Initials
|
||||
|
b (o)
|
p (o) |
m (o) |
f (o) |
d (e) |
|
t (e)
|
n (e) |
l (e) |
g (e) |
k (e) |
|
h (e) |
j (i) “jee” as in jeep |
q (i) “chee” as in cheap |
x (i) “shee” as in sheep |
zh (i) “jer” as in jerk |
|
ch (i) “chir” as in chirp |
sh (i) “shir” as in shirt |
r (i) “r+ir” as in “r” as in red + “ir” as in dirt |
z (i) “ds” as in hands |
c (i) “ts” as in hurts |
|
s (i) “s” as in serve |
y (i) “ee” as in seek |
w (u) “w” as in womb |
||
As mentioned above, INITIALS never truly come by themselves! They are always accompanied by a FINAL, so you will see that the FINAL is written for your convenience in parentheses. You will find that the two first rows are VERY similar to the English consonants.
PinYin,