print | closeAn Introductory Guide to Pronouncing Chinese |
 |
Several different systems of romanization have been developed over the years for rendering the sounds of Chinese characters with the Roman alphabet. Until the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the Wade-Giles system was the preferred system. It is still used as the official romanization system on Taiwan. In its attempt to simplify the Chinese language, the PRC leadership developed a new system, known as the pinyin system, which was formally adopted by the State Council as the official system of romanization in China in 1979. The pinyin system was adopted thereafter by U.S. newspapers, the U.S. Department of State, and most book publishers.
Following are a few tricks to pronouncing Chinese words which are romanized using pinyin:
| c is pronounced "ts" (its) | cai (pronounced "ts-eye"; n. vegetable) |
| q is pronounced "ch" (check) | Qing Dynasty (pronounced "Ching" Dynasty) |
| x is pronounced "sh" (she) | Deng Xiaoping (pronounced "Deng Shiaoping") |
| zh is pronounced "j" | Zhou Enlai (pronounced "Joe Enlai") and Zhou Dynasty (pronounced "Joe Dynasty") |
The standard romanization system used in China: A Teaching Workbook is the pinyin system. Since students and teachers are liable to encounter the Wade-Giles system of romanization in other books on China, we have often provided the Wade-Giles spelling in parentheses ( ) following the pinyin version of Chinese place names and proper names.
In certain units so noted in the text, where the original translations of primary source texts use the Wade-Giles system, we have maintained the Wade-Giles spellings in deference to the originals.
We apologize to readers for the unavoidable inconsistency that results from the use of the two romanization systems.
Guide to Pronouncing the Chinese Language
| Wade-Giles | Pinyin | English Equivalent |
| ch' (aspirated) | q | ch (Thus, the name of Mao's widow is written "Chiang Ch'ing in wade-Giles, "Jiang Qing" in Pinyin and would be pronounced "Jiang Ching.") |
| ch (unaspirated) | j or zh | j (Chou Enlai in Wade-Giles is spelled Zhou Enlai in Pinyin and would be pronounced "Joe Unlie.") |
| k' (aspirated) | g | k (Thus, "Hua Kuofeng" in Wade-Giles system has become Hua Guofeng in Pinyin) |
| k (unaspirated) | g | g |
| p' (aspirated) | p | p |
| p (unaspirated) | b | b (Thus, the capital of Taiwan is no longer written Taipei but Taibei.) |
| t' (aspirated) | t | t |
| t (unaspirated) | d | d (Thus, the t in Mao's name changes to d: Mao Zedong.) |
| ts' and tz' (aspirated) | c | ts |
| ts and tz (unaspirated) | z | a or ds (ds as in "woods".) |
| hs | x | sh (Thus, the first part of Deng Xiaoping changes from Hsiao to Xiao.) |
| j | r | French j plus r (no exact English equivalent.) |
| a | a | a (as in star) |
| e | e | e (as in set) |
| i | i | e (as in he) or i (as in machine) |
| ou | ou | o (as in over) |
| u | u | oo (as in too) |
| en | en | un (as in under) |
| ih | i | ir (as in bird - no exact English equivalent.) |
| u | u | German u (no exact English equivalent) |
| ai | ai | ie (as in lie) or i ( as in i) |
| ei | ei | ay (as in day) |
| ao | ao | ow (as in now) |
| uo | uo | oo ( as in too) plus ou (as in ought) |
| ui, uei | ui | oo (as in too) plus ay (as in day) |
| ung | ong | oo (as in book) plus ng (as in thing) |
Chart courtesy of TEXPERA (Texas Program for Educational Resources on Asia.)
Recommended Website
• Audio
Tutorial of Basic Chinese
(www.wku.edu/~yuanh/AudioChinese/teachers.htm)
Hear short, basic phrases for the classroom spoken by a native speaker.
|
China: A Teaching Workbook
| © Columbia
University, East Asian Curriculum
Project
|
|
Asia for
Educators | afe.easia.columbia.edu
|