Alphabet in Chinese | HSK Chinese Tones | Mandarin Chinese Language | How to pronounce z, c & s
Our next group is retroflexes or curled tongue initials, i.e. tip of the tongue is curled back to the upper hard palate and then the
tongue is thrown forward. as in zh, ch, sh, r.
We can also call them bold initials or thick initials.
It is important to note that sound of j, q and x i.e. ji, qi, xi is also similar but they are flat tongue initials
Tongue remains flat while pronouncing them.
Z h is pronounced as ch as in chicken in English like zhong, zhai, zhi, zhao
Similarly C h is like chh as in chi, chang, chao, chou
In the same ways s h is sh like shu, shao, shou, shuai
and r is like ri as in rang, ren, ruan, rang
Pinyin tones are usually represented by tone symbol on pinyin final. This symbol is unique for every tone.
However pinyin tone can also be represented by writing tone number after the final.
like 1 for 1st tone 2 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd and 4 for 4th tone.
First tone is high and flat like ah1, ba1, ma1
2nd one is rising tone like what, ba2, ma2
3rd tone is falling and rising tone like well, ba3, ma3
4th tone is falling or angry tone and is pronounced with a jerk in sound as no, ba4, ma4.
And there is no mark or symbol upon pinyin of neutral tone. It is pronounced without any ups and
downs in sound, simply and lightly like ba, li, ma, na
Chinese language is basically composed of a lot of syllables and sounds. There is one
character to write every sound. These characters are called wen2 zi4 in Chinese language.
Like wen2 is a character and zi4 is another character. In the same ways, You must have heard ni3 hao3.
ni3 is one sound having a unique character. It means you. ni3 means you
and hao3 is a sound also having a unique Chinese characters for it. It means good.
So, ni3 hao3 means you good, Are you good, Hello!
And you would be amazed to know how easy it is to memorize Hanzi Chinese characters. Because these
characters are pretty much similar to their meaning and shape of the object they mean.
For example, ren2 is used for man in Chinese language, and 2 strokes are drawn to write it in
such a way as a walking man. Friends! traditional Chinese was so difficult as to write ren2,
one had to draw full shape of a man. Now, the language has become very easy. And every sound
and object has simple characters, which are very easy to memorize.
In the same ways, kou3 word is used for mouth in Chinese language. And to write that a character
is used that shows an open mouth. This is called as simplified Chinese which is normally written
and understood these days.
Similarly shan1 is used for mountain in Mandarin Chinese and three big and small separate hilltops are drawn
to write its character. And men2 is used for door in Chinese language and its character is drawn
as if it were a half open door.
Let us discuss one more example of alphabet in Chinese,. Shang4 and xia4 are the two words used for up or above and
down or below respectively. Shang4 character seems like something is placed upon the floor
and xia4 character is drawn such as something is hanging from the ceiling.
Learning how to write Chinese is directly related to repeatedly write and practice these characters.
For speaking, listening and understanding Chinese, we need to understand a language in between English and
Chinese. The pinyin language. This language helps in correctly speaking and understanding Chinese
characters.
Friends! For every single Chinese character there is a unique sound and a unique pinyin word
is linked with every Chinese sound. And every pinyin word has three parts in it. Initial,
Final and tone.
If we use one initial with a final and pronounce it with some specific tone, it would be one
pinyin word i.e. one sound or one character.
Tone represents the ups and downs of sound. We can speak fast, slow, loud or faint and the tone
changes. When the tone changes, sound changes, the associated character changes and so does the
meaning.
Pinyin initials and finals are very similar to consonants and vowels in English with some differences.
We can have more than one consonants in an English word while in one Pinyin syllable there can only
be one initial character.
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