Pinyin vowels are pronounced similarly to vowels in Romance languages, and most consonants are similar to English. A pitfall for English-speaking novices is, however, the unusual pronunciation of x, q, j, c, zh, ch, sh and z (and sometimes -i) and the unvoiced pronunciation of d, b, and g. More information on the pronunciation of all pinyin letters in terms of English approximations is given further below.
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The pronunciation of Chinese is generally given in terms of initials and finals, which represent the segmental phonemic portion of the language. Initials are initial consonants, while finals are all possible combinations of medials (semivowels coming before the vowel), the nucleus vowel, and coda (final vowel or consonant).
Bilabial Labio-
dental Co-
articulated Alveolar Retroflex Alveolo-
palatal Palatal Velar
Plosive [p]
b [pʰ]
p [t]
d [tʰ]
t [k]
g [kʰ]
k
Nasal [m]
m [n]
n
Lateral approximant [l]
l
Affricate [ts]
z [tsʰ]
c [ʈʂ]
zh [ʈʂʰ]
ch [tɕ]
j [tɕʰ]
q
Fricative [f]
f [s]
s [ʂ]
sh [ʐ] 1
r [ɕ]
x [x]
h
Approximant [w]2
w [ɻ] 1
r [j] 3
y
1 /ɻ/ may phonetically be /ʐ/ (a voiced retroflex fricative). This pronunciation varies among different speakers, and is not two different phonemes.
2 the letter "w" may be considered as an initial or a final, and may be pronounced as /w/ or /u/
3 the letter "y" may be considered as an initial or a final, and may be pronounced as /j/ or /i/
Conventional order (excluding w and y), derived from the Zhuyin system, is:
b p m f d t n l g k h j q x zh ch sh r z c s
