Chinese Language Sound: Pinyin and Tones
This week I am starting a new ‘Chinese Language for Beginners’ course.
I plan to introduce the Chinese Pinyin and tones in the very first class. In a Western language, such as English,
French, or Spanish, a word is spelled with a group of letters from an alphabet. Generally, based on its spelling, once you
learn the alphabet, you know how to pronounce the word. Unlike an alphabetic language, Chinese writing
and pronunciation are two different systems.
Chinese writing consists of “characters” which are visual symbols, each
a work of art in itself. Mandarin Chinese sounds are represented with Hanyu Pinyin and four tones. To learn to
understand and speak Chinese, the biggest challenge is to master the pinyin sounds.
Chinese Pinyin uses the Roman alphabet, but the actual sounds can be very
different.
This morning when I was checking my Beijing high school friends’ group
chat online, a few friends from around the world were chatting about the 2024 Australian Open on their local TV stations,
specifically on the new Chinese tennis star – Qinwen Zheng. One post from a friend who lives in Melbourne states:
“All the commentators can't pronounce Zheng Qinwen. They called her Zhong
Qinwen, Zhang Qinwen, or the worst one, Zhong Queenwin [Chuckle].”
There are a few things to mention on this post:
- The Chinese tennis player’s name is: Zheng Qinwen (Chinese: 郑钦文; pinyin: Zhèng Qīnwén).
- In a Chinese name, family name or surname comes first, followed by given name which can be one or two characters.
- The tennis player’s family name is: Zheng. But some of the Australian tennis commentators pronounce it as Zhang (Chinese: 张；pinyin: zhāng), or Zhong (Chinese: 仲；pinyin: zhòng).
- The tennis player’s given name is: Qinwen (Chinese: 钦文; pinyin: qīn wén). The pinyin Q is pronounced more like the Ch sound in Chimney, not Qu as in Queen.
When speaking Chinese, one needs to pay attention to the pronunciation
- pinyin and tones, otherwise no one will understand what you are saying;
they’ll get confused or laugh about it:-)
I am not discouraging anyone to learn Chinese, but just want to raise the awareness.
Happy Learning
Chinese😊
