What is Pinyin? (Yangon)

Have you ever come up with the question of “what is pinyin?” when you first come across Chinese? Have you ever wondered how does it works or where does it come from? Let’s find out what pinyin is together here at Tutormandarin.

If you just drop by this article and want to learn some basic and useful conversations, check out our post about How to introduce yourself, How to count to 99 in Chinese, How to order food or even Chinese curse words.

What is Pinyin?
Pinyin is the alphabet in Chinese, similar to latin language but added with the tons. By learning pinyin, it’s easier to pronounce the word and to memorize it. Like your first step to learning every language is to start from the basic, don’t worry it’s the same in Chinese!
Where Does it Come From?

Pinyin is similar to a kind of system first used for foreigners to write down Chinese. Then, around Protected content , a group of linguistic created this so called system “Pinyin”. It became official around Protected content . Since the system is widely used in China as they need to improve the literacy rate in China. What’s more, it’s as well easier for foreigners to learn Chinese.
How Does it Work?

Most of the pronunciation are the same as English alphabet, but of course, there are some exceptions. Here is a short list of the pronunciation of the vowels and some combination examples.

a – like “a” in math

ai – like “ie” in eye, or tie

ao – like “ow” in cow, or bow

e – like “eh” or “er” without rolling the r

ei – like “ay” in Say

er – similar to “are” when said in an Irish accent

i – like “ee” in see after most letters

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 “young” in young

o – like “o” in “sore”

ou – like “oa” in throat

ong – like “ong” in song

u – like “u” in flute

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 “une” in french

uang / wang – combine “u” and “ang”, like wang in wangle

I guess that’s enough for one day… Now you know a little bit more about Pinyin!