Category: Pronunciation

The Usage of Pinyin

Pinyin is adopted and used by all over the world nowadays. It superseded older romanization systems like Wade-Giles (1859; modified 1892) and Chinese Postal Map Romanization, and replaced zhuyin as the way of Chinese phonetic instruction in mainland China. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as the standard romanization for contemporary Chinese in 1982 (ISO 7098:1982, superseded by ISO 7098:1991); the United Nations followed suit in 1986. The government of Singapore also accepted this system, as well as the United States' Library of Congress, the American Library Association, and many other international institutions.

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History of Hanyu Pinyin

Every one who have learned Chinese must know pinyin. It's a basic learning tool of Chinese pronunciation. But just a little person clearly know where it comes from. This articles will show you the mysterious history of pinyin. Then you will know how it was created and how it changes.

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Pronunciation systems of China

Why does every teacher would like to teach students pinyin in their first Chinese lesson? In general, pronunciation can't be derived from seeking at Chinese characters, even though sometimes characters with typical parts have comparable pronunciation. As opposed to other current written languages, Chinese characters will not be phonetic, and surely not alphabetic, but pictographic or ideographic (displaying combinations of images or symbols to convey meaning) like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Therefore there has required to be a strategy of representing in composing the pronunciation of every character when teaching the language. Many systems are actually used, but pinyin may be the current standard means of writing Chinese pronunciation.

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How to Read the Finals of Pinyin

Many foreigners say that Chinese pinyin is quite difficult to pronounce. There are some tips on how to pronounce the base 6 simple finals of pinyin. After your reading, you would find Chinese pinyin's pronunciation is not so hard as you thought before.

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