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Mandarin Pronunciation Guide

Tones: Think about English if it is your mother tongue. How would you pronounce “man” in these four sentences:

(1) “Māān ooh màn, is it hot!” (2) “What did you see, mán?” (3) “Come on, mǎn, you can do it!” (4) “Màn! That’s hot.”

These instances of ‘man’ are spoken with different tones. In English, tones change the ‘mood.’ In Chinese, tones change the meaning.

There are four tones in Chinese: 1st high, 2nd rising, 3rd dipping, and 4th falling.

You can pay attention to them while you are learning at first, but don’t expect to master them. That will take about a year. No tones in Chinese music; listeners figure it out meaning by context. So, most of the time, you will be understood in context. The tones of the words in lesson one are:

1st	2nd	3rd	4th	neutral
Mā (mother)	má (hemp)	mǎ (horse)	mà (scold)	ma (question marker)
yī (one)	huí (return)	wǔ (five)	èr (two)	ge (measure word)
sān (three)	ná (pick up)	wǒ (me)	sì (four)
tā (he)	lái (come)	hǎo (good)	shì (is)
		gěi (give)	zài (at)
		nǐ (you)	jiàn (meet)
		hěn (very)	xiè (thanks)

For more Mandarin Click by Click tone practice, to go to:

Here are some more good links if you want more practice distinguishing tones. To do well, do not just listen. First repeat the sound as exactly as you can and THEN choose which tone you believe you heard. Have fun.

http://www.shufawest.us/language/tonedrill.html

http://shufawes.ipower.com/language/dual-tonedrill.html

http://www.chinesepronunciationonline.com

Introduction to Hanyu Pinyin, the Chinese Alphabetic-Phonetic System

Below are the sounds in Hanyu Pinyin. Native speakers of English should focus on those marked in red because they are the ones that are especially difficult to say or recognize easily when reading the new writing system. The Chinese examples have sound files.

Initial Consonants		Medial and Final Vowels and Consonants		Medial and Final Vowels and Consonants
English Approximation	Chinese Example	English Approximation	Chinese Example	English Approximation	Chinese Example
b spy	bái (white)	a father	wán (play)	ua waft	huà (picture)
p papa	pà (afraid)	o haul	wǒ (i, me)	uo woman	muō (touch)
m man	mā (mother)	e honey	wén (smell)	uai wife	kuài (fast)
f food	fù (pay)	i machine	nǐ (you)	uan poo on	duǎn (short)
d better	dà (big)	u rude; shoe ü retrieve	shū (book) yǔ ** (rain)	un went	dùn (stew)
t tot	tā (he/her)	er error	èr (two)	uang poo ahng	huáng (yellow)
n knee	nǐ (you)	ai i	tài (too)	ue ü +eh	Yuè (month)
l lou	lù (road)	ao now	nǎo (brain)	uan ü+an	yuǎn (far)
g sky risqué	gěi (give)	an fan	fàn (rice)	un ü + n	Yún (cloud)
k Kit Kat	kàn (look)	ang gong	tāng (soup)
h honey	hěn (very)	ei eight bay	bēi (cup)
j jeep*	jī (chicken)	en omen	mén (door)
q cheap*	qì (angry)	eng sung	děng (wait)
x sheep*	xǐ (wash)	ou dough	dōu (all)
z reads	zài (again)	ong ou+ng	tòng (pain)
c it’s	cài (veggy)	ia yah	jiā (home)
s sand	sān (three)	ie yeah	xiè (thanks)
ch church	che (car)	iao yowl	piào (ticket)
zh large	zhè (here)	iu you'll	xiū (rest)
sh shrub	shū (book)	ian yen	nián (year)
r leisure	rén (person)	in in	nín (you)
y you eat	yán (salt) yī (one)	iang yuk + wrong	xiǎng (think)
w way	wǔ (five)	ing sing	tīng (listen)
		iong jung***	qióng (poor)

* After y, j, q, and x, i is pronounced like machine and u is pronounced ü After z, c, and s, i is pronounced as in sit. After zh, ch, sh, and r , the i is pronounced -r as in the r in hamburger. These three instances of i are pronounced differently: ji, zi, and zhi. The same is true of xi, si, and shi.

**While you are saying you, round your lips like you are whistling or blowing through a straw. You will get the ü sound. It is written with u only in pinyin and only comes after y, j, q, and x.

***Pronounced the same way you pronounce the name of the famous psychologist, Jung.

****In Beijing w and v are in linguistic free variation, meaning that to the people there the two are the same sound. Therefore, if you hear a v, just interpret it as w.

*****The pronunciation of a changes quite a bit. When it follows i, ü, x, q, j, or y, it may sound more like e. If it follows u not ü, it may sound more like ah.

Here is a great link to an American professor, Eric Shepherd, who not only speaks great Mandarin but performs it with a Shandong accent as well.