Pinyin Pronunciation

Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Latin alphabet. It is used to teach Chinese to foreigners and enter Chinese characters into computers and cellphones. Pinyin pronunciation is not the same as English pronunciation. Below is a guide to pronouncing Pinyin.

b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, s are pronounced in a similar way to those letters in English.

ji       like jee in jeep
qi      like chee in cheese
xi      like shee in sheep
z       like ds in cards
c       like ts in cats
zh     like j in jelly
ch     like ch in march
r       like r in road

a       like a in father
o       like o in or
e       like e in her
i        like ee in see
u       like oe in shoe
ü       like eu in pneumonia
ia      like yah
ie      like ye in yes
er      like er in sister
ai      like y in sky
ei      like ay in day
ou     like owe
an     like an in man


*most of the above is taken from Chinese Express Talk Chinese by Moon Tan and Haitong Wang.


Mandarin Chinese has five tones. Different tones on the same word will completely change its meaning.
For instance, mā, má, mǎ, mà, 吗ma all have different meanings and tones. They mean "mother", "hemp", "horse", "scold" and a question particle, respectively. 
1st tone: mā; high and flat sound
2nd tone: má; rising sound
3rd tone: mǎ; dropping then rising sound
4th tone: mà; sharp/staccato dropping sound
5th tone: 吗ma neutral/no tone


My friend, Jessica told me that the tones sound as follows:
1st tone: robot
2nd tone: valley girl
3rd tone: punch in the gut
4th tone: stub your toe

Use your imagination.


Wikipedia's page on pinyin