What is Pinyin?

Most pages of your child's Chinese Reader will have Pinyin written next to, or beneath the characters. In an effort to provide a tool for you to help your children with their homework and other needs, I thought it might be helpful to write some information about Pinyin, what is it and how to use it.

Pinyin literally means "spelled out sounds", and is used to transcribe Chinese Characters into Latin script. I copied this chart from Wikipedia. As the pinyin doesn't correspond to all English sounds, use this chart to convert the sounds.

For an example of how to use this chart, here are some words that you may hear your child using this week:

Xie Xie - X = "sh", i as in "ee" and e and in "yet"
Zai - Z = Z, ai as in "eye"
Ni - N = N, i as in "ee"

Pinyin		Form withzero initial	Explanation
-i	[ɨ]	(n/a)	-i is a buzzed continuation of the consonant following z-, c-, s-, zh-, ch-, sh- or r-. (In all other cases, -i has the sound of bee; this is listed below.)
a	[ɑ]	a	as in "father"
e	[ɯ̯ʌ], [ə]	e	a diphthong consisting first of a back, unrounded semivowel (which can be formed by first pronouncing "w" and then spreading the lips without changing the position of the tongue) followed by a vowel similar to English "duh". Many unstressed syllables in Chinese use the schwa [ə] (idea), and this is also written as e.
ai	[aɪ̯]	ai	like English "eye", but a bit lighter
ei	[eɪ̯]	ei	as in "hey"
ao	[ɑʊ̯]	ao	approximately as in "cow"; the a is much more audible than the o
ou	[ɤʊ̯]	ou	as in "so"
an	[an]	an	as in "ban" in British English (a more open fronted a)
en	[ən]	en	as in "taken"
ang	[ɑŋ]	ang	as in German Angst (starts with the vowel sound in father and ends in the velar nasal; like song in some dialects of American English)
eng	[əŋ]	eng	like e in en above but with ng added to it at the back
er	[ɑɻ]	er	similar to the sound in "bar" in American English
Finals beginning with i- (y-)
i	[i]	yi	like English bee.
ia	[i̯ɑ]	ya	as i + a; like English "yard"
ie	[i̯ɛ]	ye	as i + ê; but is very short; e (pronounced like ê) is pronounced longer and carries the main stress (similar to the initial sound ye in yet)
iao	[i̯ɑʊ̯]	yao	as i + ao
iu	[i̯ɤʊ̯]	you	as i + ou
ian	[i̯ɛn]	yan	as i + ê + n; like English yen
in	[in]	yin	as i + n
iang	[i̯ɑŋ]	yang	as i + ang
ing	[iŋ]	ying	as i + ng
Finals beginning with u- (w-)
u	[u]	wu	like English "oo"
ua	[u̯ɑ]	wa	as u + a
uo, o	[u̯ɔ]	wo	as u + o where the o (compare with the o interjection) is pronounced shorter and lighter (spelled as o after b, p, m or f).
uai	[u̯aɪ̯]	wai	as u + ai like as in why
ui	[u̯eɪ̯]	wei	as u + ei;
uan	[u̯an]	wan	as u + an;
un	[u̯ən]	wen	as u + en; like the on in the English won;
uang	[u̯ɑŋ]	wang	as u + ang;
ong	[ʊŋ], [u̯əŋ]	weng	starts with the vowel sound in book and ends with the velar nasal sound in sing; as u + eng in zero initial.
Finals beginning with ü- (yu-)
u, ü	[y] ( listen)	yu	as in German "über" or French "lune" (To pronounce this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips)
ue, üe	[y̯œ]	yue	as ü + ê; the ü is short and light
uan	[y̯ɛn]	yuan	as ü + ê + n;
un	[yn]	yun	as ü + n;
iong	[i̯ʊŋ]	yong	as i + ong
Interjections
ê	[ɛ]	(n/a)	as in "bet".
o	[ɔ]	(n/a)	Approximately as in "office" in British accent; the lips are much more rounded.
io	[i̯ɔ]	yo	as i + plain continental[clarification needed] "o".