Chinese
is not a phonetic language. When students see a new character,
they do not know how to pronounce it. Pinyin is a very useful
tool to help students pronounce the Chinese characters correctly. The
table
below
compares and contrasts English letters and Pinyin.
English
Pinyin
Consonant
b c
d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x y z (21)
b p
m f d t n l g k h j q x h zh ch sh r z c s y w
(23)
There is no
“V” sound in pinyin, but have"zh".
Sound differently:
j q x c
Vowel
a e
i o u
a o
e i u ü
ai ei ui ao ou iu ie üe er
an en in un ün
ang eng ing ong
Note
1.The names and sounds of the
letters are different. 2. No tones 3. Multiple syllables
1.
The names and sounds of the letters are
the same.
2. Four tones and a light tone.
3. One syllable.
