David Chiang (dchiang@nd.edu) April 2012, last updated May 2019
This sheet describes how to pronounce Mandarin Chinese names and words when they are written using the standard Pinyin system and when you are speaking American English.
- Easy consonants. The letters b p m f d t n l s j ch sh r g k h ng y w should be pronounced as in English.
- Note that j should be pronounced exactly as in English: /dʒ/ as in Jack, never /ʒ/ as in Jacques!
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Tricky consonants. These are the most important ones to remember.
letter sound zh /dʒ/ as in Jack, never /ʒ/ as in Jacques! q /tʃ/, exactly like ch x /ʃ/, exactly like sh z /dz/ c /ts/
- If you can't pronounce z as /dz/, then the next best thing is probably to pronounce it as /z/.
- If you can't pronounce c as /ts/, then the next best thing is probably to pronounce it as /s/ (never as a hard /k/).
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The following letters can occur between a consonant and the "main" vowel. When they do, try to pronounce them smoothly, not as an extra syllable.
letter sound i /j/, same as y u /w/, same as w
a. When u is preceded by j q x or y, it is pronounced /ɥ/, which is similar to the French/German ü sound. If you can't make this sound, the next best thing is probably to pronounce it /w/, same as u.
b. If a word has an apostrophe in it, like Xi'an, that means it should be pronounced as two syllables.
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The letter a is pronounced /a/, the same as in many languages, like Spanish or French. But in English, this sound usually becomes /ɑ/ or /æ/ in open or closed syllables, respectively:
letter(s) sound -a /ɑ/ ah -an /æn/ Anne -ang /æŋ/ as in bang -ai /aɪ/ aye -ao /aʊ/ ow
a. Exception: -an preceded by i y or ü changes to /ɛ/; this interacts with rule 8b below, so it's easier to write out all the possibilities:
| letters | sound |
|---|---|
| yan | yen |
| -ian | yen |
| juan | jwen |
| quan | chwen |
| xuan | shwen |
| yuan | ywen |
- The letter e has two sounds.
a. Usually it's pronounced /ɤ/, but this sound does not exist in English. The closest approximations are probably /ʌ/ and /ɛ/ in open and closed syllables, respectively:
| letter(s) | sound |
|---|---|
| -e | /ʌ/ as in huh, never /i/ as in he |
| -en | /ɛn/ en |
| -eng | /ɛŋ/ eng |
b. When preceded by i y or ü, it's pronounced /ɛ/.
| letters | sound |
|---|---|
| ye -ie | /jɛ/ as in yet |
| -ue | /wɛ/ as in wet |
| -üe | /ɥɛ/ as in wet |
| -ei | /eɪ/ as in hey |
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The letter o is pronounced like /o/. In English, ong tends to become /ɑŋ/.
letter(s) sound -ong /ɑŋ/ as in long -ou /oʊ/ oh, not oo
a. When -o is used by itself, it's actually shorthand for -uo.
| letters | sound |
|---|---|
| bo | bwo |
| po | pwo |
| mo | mwo |
| fo | fwo |
However, these are hard to pronounce in English, and the mispronunciations beau, poe, etc., are so common that they seem to be stuck.
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The letter i is pronounced /i/, as in beet. But in English, /in/ is lengthened too much, so I think it's more common to say /ɪn/ instead.
letters sound jin /dʒɪn/ djinn (not jean) qin /tʃɪn/ chin (not cheen) xin /ʃɪn/ shin (not sheen) yin /yɪn/ yin (not yeen)
a. But in the following cases, it is silent (that is, the consonant becomes syllabic):
| letters | sound |
|---|---|
| zhi | jjj, never jee |
| chi | chhh, never chee |
| shi | shhh, never she |
| ri | rrr, never ree |
| zi | dzzz, never zee |
| ci | tsss, never as in tsetse |
| si | sss, never see |
- The letter u is usually pronounced /u/, as in boot.
a. But in certain combinations, it is actually shorthand:
| letters | short for | sound |
|---|---|---|
| -ui | -uei | /weɪ/ way |
| -un | -uen | /wɛn/ as in Owen |
| -iu | -iou | /yoʊ/ yo |
b. In ju qu xu or yu, the u is pronounced /y/, like the French/German ü. If you can't make this sound, the next best thing is to say /u/, like oo.
c. In nu or lu, the u is sometimes pronounced /y/, like the French/German ü. In these cases, it should properly be written as nü or lü, or sometimes as nv or lv, but is not always.