A Quick Guide to Chinese Phonetic System Pinyin

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Pinyin System

Chinese sound system, known as pinyin, officially adopted by Chinese Government in 1958, is a set of Roman letters with some modifications, used to present, write or transliterate the sound of Chinese language. Pinyin, now commonly used worldwide, in industry, in business and trade as well as in telecommunication, serves a particularly important breakpoint for systematic learning of Chinese among non-native Chinese speakers.

Chinese is one of the few one-syllable languages in the world, and each written form ( called hanzi or character ) uses just one syllable in sound, for instance, A¨¬, for  "to love", is made up of  a pinyin vowel( called final ), "ai " plus a tone as indicated by "  ̀ ".  R¨¦n for human, on the other hand, is made up of "R" a pinyin consonant ( called initial ) and "en", a pinyin vowel with a tone " ΄ " on the top. This is what pinyin is all about, as suggested by its name Pinyin, which literally means to "combine sounds" or  "to assemble sounds" or "to Romanize sounds".

Chinese putong hua, or the Chinese national common speech uses a total of 21 initials and 38 finals including three variations in presentation. 

1. A Guide to Pronouncing Pinyin Consonants or Pinyin Initials

Pinyin Consonant

 A Pronunciation Note
b is pronounced like b as in "baseball".
c is pronounced like ts as in "tsunami".
ch is pronounced like ch as in "chat", with the tongue curled up back somewhat.
d is pronounced like d as in "date".
f is pronounced like f as in "fork".
g is pronounced like g as in "gate".
h is pronounced like h as in "hello", but slightly further back in the throat, and with a significant puff of on the end.  
j is pronounced like j as in "Japan". 
k is pronounced like k as in "coke".
l is pronounced like l as in "love".
m is pronounced like m as in "mom".
n is pronounced like n as in "note".
 p is pronounced like p as in "pop".
q is pronounced like ch as in "check", but with tongue slightly fattened out and puff of air going along two sides of it.
r is pronounced with the tongue curled back as for l in "love", but with the tip of the tongue raised a bit but not so much to touch the roof of the mouth.
s is pronounced like s as in "sand".
sh is pronounced like sh as in "Shanghai", with the tongue curled up back somewhat.
t is pronounced like t as in "tea".
x is pronounced like sh as in "sheep", with the tongue flattened out and puff of air going along two sides of it.
z is pronounced like z as in "zoo".
zh is pronounced like j as in "jet", with the tongue curled back up slightly.
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2. A Guide to Pronouncing Pinyin Vowels or Pinyin Finals
Pinyin Vowel

A Pronunciation Note

a is pronounced like a as in "far".
ai is pronounced like ai as in "Kaiser".
an is pronounced like an as in "tan".
ang is pronounced like ong as in "tang".
ao is pronounced like ao as in "Lao".
e is pronounced like e as in "bet".
ei is pronounced like a as in "May".
en is pronounced somewhat like en as in "den".
eng is pronounced like ung as in "sung".
 i  is pronounced like a real vowel i as in "bee" when it is proceeded by b, d, j, l, m, n, p, q, t and x. However, after c, ch, r, s, sh, z and zh,  the letter i is more of a voiced sound hold or pause. When standing as a syllable by itself, "i" is written as "yi".
ia is pronounced like ya as in "ya". When standing as a syllable by itself, "ia" is written as"ya".
ian is pronounced like "yen". When standing as a syllable by itself, "ian" is written as "yan".
iang is pronounced like y as in "yes", followed by ang as in "mango".  When standing as a syllable by itself, "iang" is written as "yang".
iao is pronounced like yow as in "yowl". When standing alone as a syllable, "iao" is written as "yao".
ie is pronounced like ye as in "yeti". When standing as a syllable by itself, "ie" is written as "ye".
in is pronounced like "in"
ing is pronounced like ing as in "ding". When standing as a syllable by itself, "ing" is written as "ying".
iong is pronounced like y as in "yes", followed by o as in "note", followed by ng as in "ring". When standing as a syllable by itself, "iong" is written as "yong".
iou is pronounced like yo as in "yodel". "iou" is taken as "iu" and written as "iu" when it is proceeded by a pinyin consonant.
o is pronounced somewhat like o as in "dot", but with the mouth not as open.
ong is pronounced like o as in "dot", followed by ng as in "ring".
ou is pronounced like oa as in "boat".
u is pronounced like u as in "Zulu" but slightly lengthened. When standing as a syllable by itself, u is written as "wu".
ua is pronounced like wa as in "watch". When standing as a syllable by itself, "ua" is written as "wa".
uai is pronounced like "why". When standing as a syllable by itself, "uai" is written as "wai".
uan is pronounced like wan as in "want", except after j, q, x and y, where it is pronounced with the tongue slightly withdrawn and lips slightly narrowed. When standing as a syllable by itself, "uan" is written as "wan".
uang is pronounced with w at the onset as in "when", followed by ong as in "song". When standing as a syllable by itself, "uang" is written as "wang".
uei is pronounced like "hey". "uei" is written and taken as "ui" when it is proceeded by a pinyin consonant. When standing by itself as a syllable, uei is written as "wei".
uen is pronounced with u at the onset as in "tut-tut", followed by un as in "uncle", except after j, q, x and y, where it is pronounced like "when". "uen" is written and taken as "un" when it is proceeded by a pinyin consonant. When standing by itself as a syllable, uen is written as "wen".
ueng is pronounced like uen but with ng sound at the end. When standing by itself as a syllable, ueng is written as "weng".
uo is pronounced like wo as in "wobble". When standing by itself as a syllable, uo is written as "wo".
¨¹ is pronounced with lips at "u" position but significantly rounded and protruded as when a whistle is produced. "¨¹ " is written but NOT TAKEN as "u" with the umlaut dropped when it is proceeded by j ( ju ), q ( qu ), x ( xu ). " " remains "¨¹" when proceeded by "n" ( n¨· ) and "l" ( l¨· ).
¨¹e is pronounced in a whistling way, with lips rounded and protruded at u position before rolling over quickly to e as "ye" in yet. " ¨¹e" is written as "yue" with the umlaut dropped when standing as a syllable by itself.
¨¹an is pronounced like "¨¹" before rolling over quickly to an as "an" in "tan"
¨¹n is pronounced like "¨¹" before rolling over quickly to "n" as in "in". "¨¹n" is written but NOT TAKEN as "u" with umlaut dropped when it is proceeded by j ( ju ), q ( qu ), x ( xu ).