Chinese For Dummies (5 page)

Pīnyīn Spelling: Beijing, Not Peking

To spell the way it sounds
. . . that's the literal meaning of
pīnyīn
拼音
. For decades, Chinese had been
transliterated
(written/spelled with the characters of other languages' alphabets) in any number of ways. Finally, in 1979, the People's Republic of China (PRC) officially adopted
pīnyīn
as its official Romanization system. After the adoption, U.S. libraries and government agencies diligently changed all their prior records from other Romanization systems into
pīnyīn.

You should keep in mind the following quick facts about some of the initial sounds in Mandarin when you see them written in the relatively new
pīnyīn
system:

J:
Sounds like the
g
in
gee whiz.
An
i
often follows a
j.
Jǐ kuài qián?
几块钱
? (
幾塊錢
)? (jee kwye chyan?) means
How much money?

Q:
Sounds like the
ch
in
cheek.
In Chinese, you never see it followed by a
u
like it is in English, but an
i
always follows it, possibly before another vowel or a consonant.
Qīngdǎo
青岛
(
青島
) (cheeng-daow) beer used to be spelled
ch'ing tao
or
Tsingtao.

X:
Sounds like the
sh
in
she.
It's the third letter that's often followed by an
i.
One famous Chinese leader,
Dèng Xiǎopíng
邓小平
(
鄧小平
) (dung shyaow-peeng), boasted this letter in his name.

Zh:
Unlike
j,
which often precedes a vowel to make it sound like you're opening your mouth,
zh
is followed by vowels that make it sound like your mouth is a bit more closed — like the
ger
sound in the word
German.
Take
Zhōu Enlái
周恩来
(
周恩來
) (joe un-lye),
the great statesman of
20th-century China, for example. When you say his name, it should sound like Joe Un-lye.

Z:
Sounds like a
dz.
You see it in the name of the PRC's first leader,
Máo Zédōng
毛泽东
(
毛澤東
) (maow dzuh-doong), which used to be spelled
Mao Tse-tung.

C:
Pronounced like
ts
in such words as
cài
菜
(tsye) (
food
) or
cèsuǒ
厕所
(
廁所
) (tsuh-swaw) (
bathroom
).

B, D, and G:
In the past, the sounds made by these three letters were represented by
p, t,
and
k,
respectively. In the past, if the corresponding initial sounds were
aspirated
(had air coming out of the speaker, like in the words
pie, tie,
and
kite
), they would've been written as
p', t',
and
k'.
Today, the letters
p, t,
and
k
represent the aspirated sounds.

Sounding Off: Basic Chinese Sounds

Don't worry about sounding like a native speaker the first time you utter a Chinese syllable — after all, who can? But the longer you procrastinate about becoming familiar with the basic elements of Chinese words, the greater your fear of this unique language may become. After you begin to practice the sounds (and eventually the tones) out loud, you may wonder if you'll ever come close to sounding like Bruce Lee in a kung-fu movie or even like your local Chinatown grocer. Hearing Chinese spoken at a normal speed is definitely intimidating at the beginning, so you should enjoy taking plenty of baby steps and reveling in the praise from waiters who appreciate all your effort the next time you frequent a Chinese restaurant.

The main thing to remember about the Chinese language is that each
morpheme
(the smallest unit of meaning in a language) is represented by one syllable, which in turn consists of an initial sound and a final sound, topped off by a tone. This rule applies to each and every syllable. Without any one of these three components, your words may be incomprehensible to the average Chinese person. For example, the syllable
mā
妈
(
媽
) is comprised of the initial
m
and the final
a,
and you pronounce it with what's called a first tone. Together, the parts mean
mother.
If you substitute the first tone for a third tone, which is written as
mǎ,
马
(
馬
) you say the word
horse.
So be careful not to call your mother a horse when you practice the initials, finals, and tones. The following sections break up the three parts and give each their due.

Before you can participate in sports or play games, you must become familiar with all the rules. The same goes for practicing a new language. Do your best to understand the basic rules of pronunciation, and keep practicing over and over to begin feeling comfortable speaking the language.