Pinyin Guide

Lets put Grandpa away for this week. Lets look at the pronunciation guidde for the words. You may have wondered why do I spell it the way it sounds when the correct spelling looks nothing like it sounds. That is because our alphabet is not used. It is the Greek alphabet. We would have a hard time reading the Chinese characters so someone converted them to the Greek alphabet. I have heard that even school children in China learn to read this way.

Lets go over Pinyin. It is the way letters are pronounced. pinyin sounds like

a o as in dot b b as in big c ts as in hats d d as in radar e no English word. French "oe" like oevre f f as in feather g g as in good h h as in hot i (after n) i as in pin i (after sh) ur as in purr i (after other consonates) ee as in sweet j j as in jar k k as in kite l l as in limp m m as in moan n n as in nut o o as in frog p p as in pig q ch as in chest r j as in jug s s as in same t t as in toy u oo as in moon w w as in wand x sh as in she y y as in young z dz as in words ai y as in buy ao ou as in proud ei ay as in lay ia ya as in yard iao eow as in meow iu yo as in yo-yo uo way as in sway uo aw as in saw ng ng as in hang sh shr as in shrimp zh no equivilent halway between dr as in drop and dz as in words

Now, lets go over tones again.

First tone is represented by a - above the letter. It is a flat tone. Second tone is represented by a / above the letter. It is a rising tone. Third tone is represented by a v or u looking symbol above the letter. It is a falling and rising tone. Fourth tone is represented by a \ above the letter. It is a falling tone.

This may seem odd to have tones. It completly changes the meaning of a word though. Take the word ba. With the first tone (-) it means the number 8. In the second tone (/) it means "to uproot". In the third tone (v or u) it means "to hold". In the fourth tone (\) it means "tyrant" or "despot". So you may be intending to count to 8 and go from seven to tyrant! It sounds difficult to understand the differences but with practice you can get it. You will be able to hear it too.

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