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Pin Yin
We will be learning the pinyin transcription system in class. This is a pronunciation guide which will help you learn to pronounce Chinese words and read Chinese characters correctly. Knowledge of pinyin is also essential for doing Chinese word processing. Gradually as you memorize more characters you will be able to read without the aid of pinyin.
Tone marks are an essential part of pinyin so they must always be used. Remember, simply by changing the tone of a word you may be changing the entire meaning of the word. Embarrassing mistakes can be avoided by using the correct tones.
Where do the tone marks go? Here are the general rules:
- A and e trump all other vowels and always take the tone mark. There are no Mandarin syllables in Hanyu Pinyin that contain both a and e.
- In the combination ou, o takes the mark.
- In all other cases, the final vowel takes the mark.
To read more about the general rules of pinyin go to this site.
To listen to the sounds of pinyin go to this site.
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