Learning to Pronounce Mandarin
Name ______________________________________
Period ______
How to Pronounce Chinese Words:
Consonants
z: "ds" as in zoo, but zh is pronounced "j" as in job
j: "g" as in get
q: "ch" as in cheek
x: "sh" as in shy
The following letters and combinations of letters are pronounced the same as they are in
English.
b d f g j k l m n p s t w y ch sh
The following are different. We have included words to demonstrate the sound.
c = ts as in 'lets'
h = ch as in Scottish 'loch'
q = ch as in 'chick'
x = sh as in 'ship'
zh = j as in 'jam'
a = ah as in 'hurrah'
ai = ie as in 'tie'
an = ahn as in 'yon'
ao = ow as in 'how'
e = oo as in 'look'
ei = ay as in 'hay'
en = un as in 'bun'
i = ee as in 'fee'
o = aw as in 'jaw'
ou = oe as in 'toe'
u = oo as in 'coo
For each word, write the phonetic (sound) translation using the key provided above.
Chinese Name
Phonetic Translation
Zhongguo – “Middle Kingdom”
____________________________
Xinjiang – province in northwest China
____________________________
Qin – a ruling dynasty in Chinese history
____________________________
Guangzhou – City in southern China
____________________________
Shi Huangde – ruler of the Qin dynasty
____________________________
Zhu Yuanzhang – founder of the Ming
dynasty
____________________________
Xi Jiang – Major river in China, located
in the south
____________________________
Zhou – Chinese ruling dynasty
____________________________
Lao Zi – founded the religion of Daoism
____________________________
Li Bo – poet during the Tang dynasty
____________________________
Chinese Numbers
English
one
two
three
four
five
Chinese
yi
er, liang
san
si
wu
English
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
Write down the following in Chinese number-characters:
 The current year ________________________
 The year of your birth _______________________
 Your age in years ______________________
Chinese
liu
qi
ba
jiu
shi