Pinyin Tutorial I – Initials

Introduction

• Pinyin, or more formally Hanyu Pinyin (汉语拼音), is an alphabet (romanization) system developed in China back in the 50’s.
• Hanyu means the Chinese Language, and Pinyin means “phonetics”.
• Pinyin is quite close to the English pronunciation system where a Chinese syllable can be composed of an initial(声母)(consonant) and final(韵母)(vowel).
• Pinyin is generally used in dictionaries and Chinese language textbooks. In addition, the mastery of the Pinyin system makes Chinese word-processing (IME) much easier.
• In short, mastering the Pinyin is the foundation for successful learning of the Chinese language.
• Let’s start with initial

Initials

1. An Initial is a consonant (excluding y and w)
2. Always at the beginning of a syllable, it cannot exists by itself
3. In total there are 21 Initials in Chinese:

b	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	p	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	m	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	f	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
d	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	t	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	n	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	l	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
g	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	k	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	h	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
j	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	q	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	x	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
z	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	c	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	s	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required
zh	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	ch	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	sh	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required	r	Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required

4. m, f, n, l, h and sh are pronounced as in English.

d like “d” in “bed” (unaspirated)
j like “g” in “genius” (unaspirated)
z like “ds” in “beds”
zh like “j” in “job”
b like “p” in “spin” (unaspirated)
g a soft unaspirated “k” sound
x like “sh” in “sheep” but with the corners of the lips drawn back
r somewhat like “r” in “rain”

Particular attention should be paid to the pronunciation of the so-called “aspirated” consonants. It is necessary to breath heavily after the consonant is pronounced.
p like “p” in “pope”
t like “t” in “tap”
k like “k” in “kangaroo”
q harder than “ch” in “cheap”
c like “ts” in “cats”
ch (tongue curled back, aspirated)

Distinction between certain initials:
b/p    d/t   g/k    j/q    z/c   zh/ch

All initials:

Audio clip: view full post to listen. Adobe Flash is required

More references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin