Floors in basement and cellar
Chinese audio alphabet for beginners. Chinese alphabet with transcription and pronunciation

Chinese audio alphabet for beginners. Chinese alphabet with transcription and pronunciation

Many people who are interested in Chinese ask what the Chinese alphabet is, or even look for the Chinese alphabet with translation. Let's dot the I's right away: Chinese has no alphabet. Let's figure out why this happened and try to look for a black cat in a dark room.

What is the alphabet

First, let's define what an alphabet is. Definition from Ozhegov's dictionary: "ALPHABET - a set of letters or other signs of a given writing system."

Why does the Chinese alphabet not exist?

Because the alphabet is a collection of letters or other characters of the writing system, let's see what characters are in Chinese, and if there are letters in it.

Chinese characters

The Chinese writing system does not have letters, it is based on hieroglyphs. Can a set of Chinese characters be an alphabet, by analogy, for example, with the letters of the Russian alphabet? To answer this question, you need to understand the difference between Chinese and other languages.

Chinese, like Russian and other European languages, has words. This is where the similarity ends. Further differences. In Russian and other European languages, the word consists of letters. A single letter of the European alphabet has no semantic meaning. In Chinese, the word consists of hieroglyphs. A single Chinese character can have a semantic meaning, i.e. speak in one complete word. In modern Chinese, there are about 30% of such words consisting of one character, and most words consist of only 2 characters (in ancient Chinese, most words consisted of one character). There are also words from 3 or more hieroglyphs, but there are much fewer of them, as a rule, these are complex terms or transcribed borrowings from other languages (for example, Russian names transcribed into Chinese).

Those. a character in Chinese is not like a letter in Russian. If we draw an analogy, then in sound terms it is a syllable, and in semantic terms it is more like the root of a word in Russian. After all, the root of a word, unlike a letter, is already a unit that has a semantic meaning. And the hieroglyph in Chinese, as indicated above, just has such a meaning. Therefore, hieroglyphs cannot be called the Chinese alphabet. Plus, the alphabets have an exact small number of letters (Russian 33, English 26). The exact number of characters in Chinese is unknown. It is approximately estimated at 50,000. Of these, about 5,000 are commonly used, and about 1,500 are the most popular. This is another explanation why Chinese characters cannot be an alphabet.

Chinese character keys

Chinese characters consist of smaller graphic units - keys. Can the keys be the Chinese alphabet? Also no. As in the case of hieroglyphs, unlike the letters of the European alphabet, a separate key has its own semantic meaning (therefore, many keys can be used as independent hieroglyphs).

Pinyin

Pinyin is a romanization system for Chinese. In simple terms, this is a system for writing Chinese syllables in Latin letters. Because in Chinese, a character is a syllable, then with the help of pinyin, any Chinese word can be written in Latin letters.

Can pinyin be the Chinese alphabet? Can not. Yes, as in European alphabets, in pinyin there is an exact number of elements, each of them separately does not carry a semantic meaning and is part of words. But pinyin is just a way of writing Chinese syllables in Latin letters. And pinyin consists not of letters, like the alphabet, but of whole syllables. Pinyin is, roughly speaking, an auxiliary tool invented quite recently (pinyin was adopted in 1958, while Chinese originated in the 2nd-3rd centuries BC). Pinyin was invented so that a person who does not know how to pronounce a hieroglyph, but who knows the Latin alphabet, can pronounce this hieroglyph. Those. pinyin is not an alphabet as the basis of writing, but simply a means of recording Chinese sounds.

This is also confirmed by the Chinese Wikipedia in the article "alphabet":字拉丁化体系都只是一套用字母来标音的符号，而不是字母。 Translation: "It is important to understand that there is absolutely no concept of an alphabet in Chinese. Pinyin, Zhuyin and other similar systems of romanization of Chinese writing are just character sets for sounds, not an alphabet."

When are characters used and when is pinyin

To understand the place of hieroglyphs and pinyin in Chinese, we will give examples of the use of both. Basically, in modern China, hieroglyphs are used. Document flow, press, laws, etc. in China - all this is in hieroglyphs. Pinyin is used as an aid, for example, in cities, on street signs, their names are written in hieroglyphs and are accompanied by pinyin. This is done to make life easier for foreigners who do not know Chinese. Also, it happens that the Chinese themselves may not know some too rare character, so pinyin can help the Chinese themselves.

Another example of the use of pinyin is the typing of characters on a keyboard. With pinyin, Chinese characters can be typed on a regular English keyboard. For this, pinyin is typed in English keys, and a hieroglyph is obtained. This is exactly how the Chinese type hieroglyphs, on ordinary English-language keyboards.

Another example of using pinyin is when you need to order a list of words written in Chinese characters. In this case, they are ordered according to the Latin alphabet of the first syllables of pinyin. This is useful, for example, when filling out forms, when there is a long list of possible options, and you need to find yours. You just search for it in the pinyin alphabet.

Finally

As Confucius said, "It is very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there."

There is no Chinese alphabet as such. Chinese is too unlike European languages, because of its features, it simply does not need an alphabet. In the past, there were attempts to create an alphabet for the Chinese language and translate Chinese writing from hieroglyphs into words from the letters of this alphabet, but these alphabets quickly fell out of use (for example, the Chinese romanized alphabet 拉丁化新文字). Now many people mistake pinyin for the Chinese alphabet, but pinyin is not an alphabet, but a set of Latin syllables (not letters!), For the sound transmission of Chinese characters.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Everyone knows that the study of any language begins with the alphabet. Almost every Russian kid has a primer or its more modern "brother", and all schoolchildren who begin learning English learn 26 letters of the English alphabet.
It is quite logical that often, students who begin to learn Chinese expect that the Chinese alphabet is the stage that must be learned first. And here comes the first surprise. The fact is that there is no alphabet as such.
After all, in fact, the letters in the alphabet denote the sounds of the language (although the direct connection between the sound and the letter often undergoes changes in oral speech). In China, from ancient times, another type of writing developed - lolographic, where written signs do not denote sounds at all, certain morphemes of the language, each of which has its own meaning.
For example, a grapheme denotes the concept of “person”, but does not convey a sound at all. And the connection between written Chinese and oral is rather arbitrary and often not traced at all.
For a long time it was not clear how to write down the pronunciation of Chinese characters, and in 1958 the Chinese pinyin transcription system was officially adopted. At present, Chinese first-graders begin their studies with the study of pinyin, knowledge of pinyin is one of the basic skills required for foreign students studying Chinese.
All pinyin sounds can be broken down into initials (the first part of a syllable), very roughly initials can be called “consonants”. There are 21 initials in total. And the finals (the final part of the syllable), we can very roughly call it the “vowel” part. There are 35 finals in total.
Despite the fact that pinyin uses letters of the Latin alphabet, which are quite familiar to us, reading them is slightly different from reading letters in English.
In the Lesson 1 chapter, we already met with the pronunciation of initials:
b p g k h l n
and finals:
a i o u ao an

Consider how to pronounce the initials and finals that we have left. initial

d (de)
t (te)
f (fo)
m (mo)
z (zi)
x (ci)
s (sy)
ch (chi)
sh (shi)
zh (zhi)
r (er)
j (ji)
q (qi)
And the final:
ai (ah)
e (e)
I(s)
ou (oh)
er (ar)
ei (hey)
en (en)
iou (yo)
ong (he)
ang (en)
eng (en)

You should pay attention to those finals that end with the letter g, such as ang, eng, ong. They are pronounced "on the nose", in the manner of the ending "ing" in English. The sound g (g) does not need to be pronounced, but it is worth remembering the feeling when you have a cold, your nose is breathing badly. You can practice pronunciation of these finals by covering your nose with two fingers.

In all finals ending in (ng), n is pronounced firmly. And for those that end in n, for example: an, en, the final sound n is pronounced softly, as if after n there is a soft sign (an, en).

The final r (er) conveys perhaps the most complex sound of the entire "Chinese alphabet". This sound is something between the Russian "r" and "zh". If you pronounce the sound “r” and at the same time bend your tongue up to the alvioli (roughly speaking, the gums behind the front teeth), then you should get just r (er).
Now you can safely say that you have learned the “Chinese alphabet”. It is interesting that it is impossible to arbitrarily combine initials and finals as you like in Chinese, there is a certain set of possible combinations of initials and finals:

The combination of initials and finals in Chinese is limited, with a total of 411 possible combinations. Such a small number would impose strict limits on spoken Chinese. And here the tones of the Chinese language come to the rescue. A way to diversify the sound composition of a language with the help of tones seems to modern specialists a rather logical idea. But that brings us to a new chapter, “Chinese Tones.”

Chinese has been using hieroglyphs for centuries. In the previous century, for the purpose of teaching phonetics, the pinyin system was developed, which uses Latin letters to convey the transcription of Chinese characters. At the same time, combinations of the letters “sh”, “ch”, “zh”, etc. are used to designate sounds that are absent in the Latin alphabet.

Many are interested in the question of whether there is a Chinese alphabet. Actually, no. There are no letters in the Chinese language and, as already mentioned, hieroglyphs consisting of individual strokes are used for writing. But since the pinyin system consists of Latin letters, in this publication we will allow ourselves to call it the Chinese alphabet.

Most Chinese syllables are a combination of initials and finals. The beginning of syllables is formed by initials (consonants), the rest of them are formed by finals (vowels or a combination of vowels and consonants). Sometimes a syllable consists only of a final, or only of an initial.

The pronunciation of "m", "f", "s", "h" is almost identical to the Russian "m", "f", "s", "x". "n" also has a different pronunciation and, unlike the Russian "n", the Chinese "n" is alveolar. "l" is not similar to hard Russian "l" and soft "l" and is rather identical to the English sound "l". "p", "t", "k" are transcribed as "p", "t", "k". These sounds are breathed. The consonants "b", "d", "g", which, unlike the previous three sounds, are pronounced without aspiration, are something in between the voiced sounds in Russian "b", "d", "g" and deaf "p", "t", "k". Usually, to learn how to pronounce these sounds correctly, you should make a lot of effort. "q" - the average between the Russian "c" and "ch" (can be compared with the sound "ts") "x" - something between the Russian "s" and "u" (similar to the sound "s", pronounced with a “hissing”) Consonants “j”, “q”, “x” - there are no similar sounds in Russian. The sound "j" is similar to the Russian "dz" or "dzh" and resembles the English "j", but pronounced somewhat softer. "z" and "zh" are transcribed as "tsz" and "zh". The consonants "c", "sh", "ch" are aspirated. "ch" is a hard "h". The sound of the latter is similar to "tsh". And the sounds "sh" and "s" are similar to the Russian "sh" and "c", but pronounced aspirated. Pay attention to the aspirated consonants: it is important to exhale with force when pronouncing them. The consonant "r", if it is at the beginning of a syllable, is transcribed as "g".

The finals "a", "an", "en" are transcribed as "a", "an", "en". The Chinese diphthongs “ao”, “uo” resemble the Russian “ao” and “uo”, although when they are pronounced, one sound is heard rather than two, that is, the sound “o” dominates. For example, when pronouncing "ao", open your mouth as if you were thinking of making the sound "a", but say "o". Same with "woo". A little practice will help you master the correct pronunciation. The vowel "i" bears a resemblance to the Russian "i", although it does not soften the consonant that precedes it. Diphthongs (sounds with two vowels) and finals "ou", "ei", "ai" correspond to the Russian "ou", "ey", "ay", they are pronounced briefly and distinctly. There is no nasal sound "ng" in Russian. In the finals "ang" and "eng" it is pronounced like the English "ng" (η) - "аη" and "еη". Complex finals "ia", "iao", "ian", "iang", "in", "ie", "iu", are transcribed as follows: "I", "yao", "yang", "yang", " yin, e, yu. If "i" is the only vowel in a syllable, then it is written as "yi", if there are other vowels, then as "i". In syllables that begin with the vowel "i", the "i" changes to "y". For example, the word "Yin" (from Yin and Yang) is written as "yin" in the Chinese alphabet. The Chinese "u" is pronounced like the Russian "y". A syllable expressed with one vowel "u" is written as "wu", which in Russian is transcribed as "u" (but not "wu"). For example, the word "wushu" is written "wushu" using the Chinese alphabet. The syllable "wo" is a diphthong "uo", in Russian it is transcribed as "vo". There is no "ü" sound in Russian. It is present in German, French and some others. This sound combines the sounds "i" and "u", as if pronounced by one sound, together. "e" in Chinese is not exactly the same as "e". When pronouncing it, it can be compared with the vowels "ye", pronounced together. The syllable "er" is similar to the "r" sound in American English. It is transcribed as "er".

The Chinese language is unique in that there are many dialects in it, which is not always possible even for residents of different regions to understand each other. However, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the alphabet in order to understand the basics of the culture of the Middle Kingdom.

Letter or hieroglyph?

The hieroglyphic writing system has been used in China for hundreds of years. The PRC has not abandoned it even now. During this time, several thousand hieroglyphs have accumulated. Their constant modification has led to the fact that no one can name their exact number.

According to the laws of the country, residents of the PRC are required to know and be able to write:

1500 hieroglyphs if they live in the countryside;
500 more if a person lives in the city, works as an employee or worker in the villages.

To understand writing and reading, you need to know about 3 thousand hieroglyphs. How to learn so many characters for a short trip around the country? You won't need to sit down for a long time.

In 1958, the PRC government passed a law on the Chinese alphabet of 26 letters, the so-called Pinyin, which is written in Latin. A similar romanization of the language, when hieroglyphs are written "by syllables" to make writing easier to understand, is used for travel booklets, places and attractions. Wherever the guests of the country need the printed word.

Most of the letters of the Celestial alphabet are consonants, and a minority are vowels. But the Chinese nation would not be itself if it had not been able to make 23 consonants and 24 vowels from these 26 letters.

Vowels and consonants, initials and finals, or just about complex

What are initials and finals?

Initials are consonants, and finals can be either only one vowel or the neighborhood of a vowel with consonants.

Features of finals in Pinyin and pronunciation

There are only 6 vowels: a, e, i, o, u and long u.

The finals A, AN and EN sound like A, AN, EN. The diphthongs AU and UO are similar to the Russian sounds of the syllables AO, UO, although only the sound O is clearly heard during pronunciation.

The vowel I is similar to the Russian And, but does not have the property of softening the consonants in front of it.

The letter U corresponds to the sound of the Russian U, but the letter E is more like the sound of ЫЭ or the English letter R.

Chinese diphthongs, or sounds with two vowels, and the finals OU, EI, AI are quite easy to pronounce. They give clear-sounding sounds: OH, HEY, AY.

In the finals ANG and ENG, a nasal sound appears, which has no analogue in Russian speech. You can imagine it as a kind of middle sound between A and E.

There are more difficult finals in the Pinyin system:

JA [I];
JAO [YAO];
JAN [YAN];
JANG [YAN];
JN [YIN];
JE [E];
JU [YU].

When I is one in a syllable, then it is graphically indicated as UI. If the syllable begins with I itself, then the letter U is added ahead, which itself does not give a sound.

Before U, similar to Russian [U], if it is alone in a syllable, it is customary to write W, the sound of which is also reduced, as in WUSHU (wushu).

Long U is something between [J] and [U] in sound, which is easier to imagine for a Frenchman and a German, because their languages have similar sounds, but a Russian person does not.

Consonants (initials) in the Chinese alphabet

There are more consonants in Pinyin than vowels. These include:

B. Akin to the Russian sound [Б], the middle between voiced and deaf.
P. The pronunciation is similar to the Russian sound [П]. Only breath is added to it.
M. The sound is similar to the analogue of the Russian [M].
F. Sounds like a Russian sound [Ф].
W. Similar to Russian [B]. Often reduced before vowels.
D. The sound that the letter gives is something between [D] and [T].
T. Similar to Russian [Т], but with aspiration.
N. Similar to Russian [Н], but when pronouncing, the alveolar region of the mouth is used.
L. The sound is similar to English pronunciation.
G. The sound that the letter gives is a cross between [G] and [K].
K. The sound is identical to the Russian [K] with a slight breath.
NG. There is no analogue in Russian speech. You can imagine it as a kind of middle sound between [A] and [E].
H. The sound is comparable to Russian [Х].
J. Has no analogue in Russian sound, pronounced as [DZh], [DZh]. Comparable to English transcription, but softer.
Q. The letter makes a sound similar to [THE].
X. The sound is similar to [СЫ] breathed.
Y. Often reduced.
Z. Gives the sound [CH] or in combination ZH - [CH]. It is pronounced like a Russian sound [С] with aspiration. CH (H solid) - [ТШ].
S. Identical to Russian [С].
R. At the beginning of a syllable, it is pronounced like [Ж], otherwise it sounds like [Р] with a strong aspiration.

Fun fact: there is no Chinese alphabet!

Scientists argue that Pinyin cannot be considered the Chinese alphabet. There is simply no such concept. However, such a version of the letter in China for tourists helped a lot to establish ties between the hosts and guests of the country due to the fact that they acquired a common, albeit artificially created, but language. The study of Pinyin is included in the compulsory education system of all Chinese citizens.