PINYIN Vowels and vowel combinations a – like a in bath ai – like ie in pie, or eye ao – like ow in cow e – like ur in fur (without rolling the r) ei – like ay in May er – similar to ‘are’ when said in an Irish accent i – like ee in bee after most letters, BUT i – after s, z, r, c, sh, ch, zh, it sounds more like ‘uh’, and serves to lengthen the sound of those consonant preceding it. ia / ya – combine i and a, like ya in Yahoo iao / yao – combine i and ao, like yow in yowl ie / ye – like ye in yellow iu / yu – like yo in yo-yo ian / yan – like yen, the Japanese currency iang / yang – combine i and ang, like yan in yank iong yong – combine i and ong o – like o in more ou – like oa in boat ong – like ong in song u – like u in flute, BUT when after j, q, x or y it sounds like the u sound in French tu ü - like the u sound in French tu ua / wa – combine u and a uo / wo – combine u and o uai / wai – combine u and ai uan /wan – combine u and an un – like oon in spoon, but said faster uang / wang – combine u and ang, like wang in wangle
Posted on: Thu, 08 Aug 2013 02:27:34 +0000