By the time you're finished with this
video you'll be able to recognize and say every single letter in the Chinese
alphabet. Ready to get started? Then let's do this. Hey everyone welcome to Sing and
Learn Chinese. In today's lesson, we're not going to be singing, but we're
definitely going to be learning Chinese, specifically, the Chinese alphabet.
What is the Chinese alphabet? Well, unlike English, the Chinese alphabet helps people with pronunciation only, So, it's really more of a Chinese phonetic system than a Chinese alphabet. Because actual written Chinese doesn't use an alphabet at all. Instead it's made up of radicals and other complex stuff that we won't go
into right now. Topic for another video. But if you want to speak Chinese you
need to learn the Chinese alphabet. The Chinese alphabet is also known
colloquially as "Bopomofo," after the first four letters of the alphabet: bo, po, mo, and fo, just like in English we sometimes call
the alphabet the ABCs. There are two main systems of writing the Chinese alphabet: the pinyin system used by mainland China and the Zhuyin system used by
Taiwan. The pinyin system uses the same ABCs that English speakers use, and the
Zhuyin system uses its own symbols. So you're probably wondering which one
should you learn? Well pinyin is more common. After all, there are more people
in China, and if you're watching this you probably already know your ABCs, so you
don't have to learn a whole new set of symbols to learn pinyin. However, many
English learners struggle to pronounce Chinese accurately exactly BECAUSE they're trying to pronounce pinyin the way they pronounce English. They do this
subconsciously, out of habit, and habit is hard to change. There are a lot of
similarities between pinyin and English phonetics, of course, but a lot of
differences as well, so it can be confusing for some people to learn two pronunciation systems for the same written alphabet. My recommendation? Go ahead and learn pinyin because it's easy. But if you
have the interest and bandwidth to learn Zhuyin as well, that might help you
avoid some common pronunciation mistakes. And if you ever want to impress a
Taiwanese person, you might decide to brush up on your Zhuyin too. In this video we're going to cover both, so either way, you'll be prepared. All right, let's take a look at the letters of the Chinese alphabet: Ta-da! Okay I know what you're thinking: This is insane! How am I going to learn all this? Well don't worry, I got your back :) We're gonna go through all these letters
one at a time, and by the time you're finished with this video, you'll be able
to recognize and say every single letter in the Chinese alphabet. Ready to get
started? Then let's do this! Chinese letters are split into initials, medials, and finals. Initials start the word medials are in the middle, and finals end
the word. Proper Chinese pronunciation also involves four, sometimes five tones. But we're gonna save that topic for another time. So let's take a look at the
alphabet, starting with the initials. First, we have the labial initials.
They're called labials because they use your lips: ㄅ B, ㄆ P, ㄇ M, ㄈ F. So the first one ㄅ, think of a burger. Now get rid of the -urger, and you get ㄅ. In pinyin, it's
just a B and the Zhuyin looks a bit like a mouth facing left about to eat a
burger. Now we have ㄆ. For this letter, think of a purring cat, get rid of the “-ring cat,” and you have ㄆ. In pinyin, it’s a “p,” and the zhuyin looks a bit like a cat’s face...maybe a one-eared cat with whiskers? Then ㄇ is the same as “money” without the “-oney.” ㄇ. The pinyin is “m” and the zhuyin looks a bit like an upside down wallet shaking out money. The last labial initial is ㄈ, as in a “fun game” without the “-un game.” So, ㄈ. As you can see, ㄈ is represented by an “f” in pinyin, and in zhuyin, imagine a gameboy controller on its side. Like this. That’s it for the labial initials. Now we move on to the second kind of initials, the dental initials. So named because in order to create these sounds, you have to touch the tip of your tongue to the back of your teeth. And they are: ㄉ D, ㄊ T, ㄋ N, ㄌ L So ㄉ is a “duck” without the “-uck.” ㄉ. The pinyin is d, which makes sense, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a duck’s profile, with a wing. Then ㄊ is like when you say “tough guy,” and get rid of the “-ough guy.” ㄊ. The pinyin is simply a “t.” And as for the zhuyin, Imagine a tough guy flexing his arm. And maybe even holding a dumbbell. Now, for ㄋ, we have the pinyin “n” as in “nut.” (of course, without the -ut. Just ㄋ) To remember the zhuyin, think of a nut hanging off a branch. The last dental initial is ㄌ. As in, “lucky 4 leaf clover” without the “-ucky 4 leaf clover” So just ㄌ. And no surprise, the pinyin is L. And the zhuyin, looks a bit like a 4-leaf clover, or at least the intersection of 4 leaves? Yes? No? Eh, you can use your imagination. That brings us to the end of the dental initials. But we’re not done with initials as a group yet. Next we have the guttural initials: ㄍ G, ㄎ K, and ㄏ H ㄍis pronounced like “gut punch” without the “-ut punch.” So, ㄍ. The pinyin is “g” and for the zhuyin, imagine two people getting gut punched, and doubling over in pain. That’s kind of what it looks like. For ㄎ think of a cross person saying “c’mere!” Then get rid of the “-ome here” and you get ㄎ. In pinyin, ㄎ is represented by a K. And the zhuyin looks like an angry face with an open yelling mouth. Now ㄏ is like honey without the “-oney.” ㄏ. In pinyin, it’s an H. And in zhuyin, imagine a wand dripping honey. Like this. Okay, we’ve come to the the palatal initials: ㄐ J, ㄑ Q, ㄒ X. ㄐ is like a genie, without the “-nie.” ㄐ. The pinyin is J and the zhuyin looks a little bit like a genie with a smokey tail or something along those lines...eh, use your imagination! Then ㄑ is like the sound of a cheeping bird. ㄑㄑㄑ! The pinyin is unusual here. It’s a Q. It’s not CH because that represents a different sound that we will get into soon. So whoever invented pinyin decided to use the letter Q instead. And we finish the palatal initials with ㄒ, as in “she went to the restroom.” ㄒ. The zhuyin is another unusual one. It's an X instead of an SH because, again, SH represents a different sound that we will cover in a few seconds. So remember X = T. As for the zhuyin, it looks exactly like the English capital letter T, or perhaps part of the female bathroom sign. Like so. Now the retroflex initials are ㄓ ZH, ㄔ CH, ㄕ SH, ㄖ R. In Chinese, they’re called 捲舌音 (Juǎn shé yīn) literally translated, “rolled tongue sounds,” because you kinda have to roll up the edges of your tongue to pronounce them. But here is where different accents can come into play. Just like British and American English speakers don’t pronounce everything the same, Chinese speakers don’t all pronounce things the same way either. Some people like to really emphasize the tongue rolling: ㄓ ㄔㄕ. Others have more “flat tongues” and say ㄓ ㄔ ㄕ . Which can confuse some people because that’s basically how you pronounce the dental sibilant initials, which we’re going to cover next. But first! ㄓ is a bit tricky to say. Here’s one way to think about it. First, try to say “drummer.” Then get rid of “-ummer” and just say ㄓ. Notice you don’t say d-rummer, you say drummer. So, drummer. So. Drummer. ㄓ-ummer. ㄓ. The pinyin is “zh,” and the zhuyin (Ha! Notice, zhuyin uses ㄓ as its initial sound) ZHuyin. Anyhow. The zhuyin looks a bit like a snare drum on a stand. Now ㄔ is like when you say “truck” and get rid of the “-uck.” ㄔ. ㄔ-uck. ㄔ. The pinyin is CH, and the zhuyin looks a little like the windshield wipers of a truck. That’s how you can remember it. Next we have ㄕ which is like when you say “mushroom,” and get rid of the “mu-” and the “-oom.” So Muㄕroom. ㄕoom, ㄕ. Shroom. ㄕ. The pinyin is SH, which makes sense, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a leaning mushroom. Then we have ㄖ which is like all of the previous retroflex initials, without the first part of the sound. So try shushing someone: Shh! Now, vocalize the sound you get: ㄕ (like the mushroom example earlier). Now get rid of the SH, and you get ㄖ. Here’s a good example of how pinyin is not the same as English. In pinyin, ㄖ is represented by R, but you don’t pronounce it “r” or “er” or anything like that. You pronounce it ㄖ. Actually, “er” is a different sound entirely in the Chinese alphabet. We’ll get to it, don’t worry. Alrighty. Dental sibilant initials. ㄗ Z, ㄘ C, ㄙ S. These are like the skinny cousins of the retroflex initials. Here, listen to the difference: Retroflex = ㄓ ㄔㄕ. Dental sibilant = ㄗ ㄘ ㄙ . ㄓ ㄔㄕ / ㄗ ㄘ ㄙ. ㄓ ㄔㄕ / ㄗ ㄘ ㄙ. ㄓ ㄔㄕ / ㄗ ㄘ ㄙ. Hear it? If not, don’t worry, it’ll take a little time at first. Okay. ㄗ is like when a mosquito gets too close to an electric fly swatter or a lamp and it goes DZZZAP! It’s not just zzzz, it’s dzzzzz, like with a d-ish sound at the beginning. ㄗ. The pinyin is Z, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a lamppost, don’t you think? For ㄘ think of a putz without the “pu-.” ㄘ. Putz is another word for “a stupid guy,” by the way. So, I know clowns aren’t stupid, but they like to act stupid, so. Here’s a clown for you. And the zhuyin looks a bit like a clown squatting or something and holding his arms out like he’s juggling. See? Then there’s ㄙ, as in “snake without the -nake.” ㄙ. The pinyin is S, of course, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a coiled snake rearing its head. Whew! Those are the initials. Now let’s take a look at the medials. There are 3 of them. 一 I/YI, ㄨ U/WU, and ㄩ Ü/YU. 一 is like someone screaming “eek! I’ve seen a ghost!” and running away as far as their legs can take ‘em. The pinyin is YI if 一 is standing alone or starting a word. Oh yes, by the way, 一 can also act as an initial sound sometimes. But if the 一 is serving as a medial, in the middle of a word, it’s just written as an “I.” And here’s a way to remember the zhuyin: The dash lines of somebody zooming away. Now, ㄨ is like when you see someone trip and fall on their face and you’re like, “ooh! That’s gotta hurt.” ㄨ. The pinyin is U when the ㄨ is in the middle of the word, or WU when the ㄨ is standing alone. The zhuyin ㄨ looks kind of like an X. Like the emoticon version of the face you make when you watch someone trip and fall. Now ㄩ is one of the most difficult sounds for monolingual English speakers to grasp. I hear there’s a similar sound in French, but not English. But it’s not really that hard once you get the hang of it. Here’s how to make this sound. Think of the word “sweet.” Now say it slowly: “soo-weeet.” Now, when you are saying the “ee” part, don’t draw your lips back. In other words, don’t stop saying “oo.” “soo-eeet.” “oo-ee” "ooee" “ㄩ” There you go. You got it. ㄩ. ㄩ is like a combination of ㄨ and 一 from before. Oo-ee... ㄩ. Like that. ㄩ. The pinyin is YU which is why so many Chinese names get completely mangled. It’s not pronounced “you,” as in “you and I” but ㄩ as in the vowels of the word “sweet,” mushed together. ㄩ For the zhuyin, think of a sweet cupcake in a cupcake tin. Like so. And that’s it for medials! Now we get to the finals, and there are quite a few of these. So get ready! Everybody buckled in? Okay. First one. ㄚ. ㄚ. Think of a kid who’s just been let out for summer break, going “YAAAAA!” then get rid of the y, and you have AAAA! ㄚ. The pinyin is A and the zhuyin looks exactly like a newly-freed student raising his fists in victory. Now, ㄛ is a sound that doesn’t exist in English. Think of someone yawning and not being able to form their vowels properly. *yawn* ㄛ. Like that. The pinyin is just an O, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a face yawning, eyes scrunched into a line. ㄛ. Here’s a tip. ㄛ is not the same thing as “oh.” That’s actually a separate letter that we’ll learn in a few seconds. That’s why the Chinese word for “me or I” is 我, 我 not “woe,” but 我. Even though it’s spelled WO in pinyin. 我/woe 我/woe. Hear the difference? Okay moving on. The next letter, ㄜ looks and sounds similar to ㄛ, but it’s different. Think of someone who sees a dead rat and goes, “ugh! What’s that doing there!” Ugh. That’s how you say that sound.ㄜ. The pinyin is E. Not U because that may make people confuse it with the earlier vowel, ㄩ which is spelled YU or sometimes just U. So to remember the zhuyin, think of a face with an eyebrow cocked up in disgust. Ugh! A dead rat. ㄜ Next we have ㄝ. Which is also an E in pinyin, sometimes distinguished by italicizing it or adding a caret on top. So for this sound, think of Homer Simpson saying “meh.” The zhuyin looks a little bit like a guy crossing his arms and going "meh," don't you think? The next final is ㄞ. As in “ice skaters” without the “skaters.” ㄞ. The pinyin is AI and the zhuyin looks a bit like a male skater raising a female skater into the air. Like this. Now we have ㄟ. As in “waving flag,” without the “-ving flag.” ㄟ. The pinyin is EI, and the zhuyin looks like a flag waving in the wind. Now, ㄠ is like when you skin your knees and you’re saying “OW!” ㄠ. Its pinyin is AO, and the zhuyin looks just like the two bent knees of somebody who’s just fallen. Then here is ㄡ. As in the vowel you use to say “bow tie,” ㄡ. The pinyin is OU. And the zhuyin looks a bit like a bow tie in the process of being tied. Now for ㄢ, there isn’t a very good English equivalent. It’s not “ann” and it’s not “on.” It’s somewhere in between. The best example I could think of is the Spanish word for bread: pan. As in, “panaderia,” bakery. So ㄢ. The pinyin is AN, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a baker’s hat. Maybe? Yeah? Okay, next one. ㄣ. Spelled EN in pinyin. Think of an old person saying of a child, “Look at that cute li’l young’un.” And then keep the "-un" part. Young'un. ㄣ. Not "en," but ㄣ. And here’s a picture to help you remember the zhuyin. The face of a cute little “young’un.” Next. ㄤ. In pinyin, ANG. It’s kind of close to the word “wrong” without the wr. And the vowel is a little flatter. So it’s not wrONG with an -ong, but closer to -ahng. Like someone going -aaaaahh and then adding an ng at the end. ㄤ. Here’s a picture to help you remember the zhuyin. A figure tapping his foot angrily and going “you’re wrong!” But feel free to come up with your own mnemonics as well. Okay. ㄥ is close to “dung” without the “d.” ㄥ. It's not really -ung, dung, but ㄥ. In pinyin, that’s ENG. And the zhuyin looks kind of a like a nose sniffing dung. I know, not a pretty picture. And now...here is the last letter of the bunch! This letter is ㄦ. In pinyin, that’s ER. So imagine an uncertain person stuttering over his words: “Errr...I don’t know what to say…err...” Now for the zhuyin, here’s a picture of a person standing with very little confidence, going “eerrrr….” And guess what? You did it! You made it through the letters of the Chinese alphabet! Huzzah! You deserve a chocolate milkshake! (Or whatever your favorite treat is) As a disclaimer, don’t worry if you don’t get or remember all of this right away. You’ll want to hear this lesson several times and go over the letters repeatedly for it all to sink in. That’s also why it helps to sing Chinese, because then you get used to hearing these sounds repeated in a non-annoying way. So if you haven’t done so already, make sure you check out the Sing & Learn Chinese song teaching videos or listen to some covers of popular songs in Chinese. Just click on the playlists on your screen or check the description box below. You can also download a free PDF Chinese pronunciation chart from singandlearnchinese.com. Link in the description box below. So that’s the Chinese alphabet. Remember to impress your friends with your new knowledge, and I’ll see you in the next video! Until we sing again, 再見!
