Pinyin Chinese phonetic alphabet. Chinese alphabet with transcription and pronunciation. Chinese national alphabet

With the advent of writing in the Celestial Empire, the hieroglyphic system of inscription of the text was firmly established, because such a system does not exist. Usually, the pinyin method, created in the last century for transcribing characters into the Latin alphabet, falls under this concept.

Why doesn't the Chinese alphabet exist?

To answer this question, we must turn to the definition. It says that the alphabet is a collection of symbols of the writing system. It would seem, what's the catch?

Chinese writing is based on hieroglyphs, which have a semantic meaning separate from other characters in the text and, in turn, consist of keys. With the latter, the situation is exactly the same. Moreover, the key can be used as an independent hieroglyph, i.e. a word.

The alphabet, on the other hand, implies the meaninglessness of a single character of writing and a small number of established, unchanging letters. The Chinese language, or Putonghua, has more than 50 thousand characters, taking into account various modifications, while their number is not known for certain and tends to increase.

What is pinyin

Simply put, "pinyin" is a romanization system for the Chinese language or a way to write hieroglyphs by syllables. With its help, any word can be represented in Latin, which makes it easier to understand the phonetic component.

Thus, it turns out that the Chinese alphabet does not exist, and the application of this term to this set of characters is nothing more than a common mistake. Nevertheless, due to the frequency of its use, it sometimes has to be reckoned with.

However, the question of how many letters are in the Chinese alphabet does not have an answer for all the reasons described above.

Pinyin initials

As mentioned earlier, this system (hereinafter "Chinese alphabet") consists of syllables, mainly forming consonants, vowels and their combinations. The pronunciation of initials, as well as finals, has a lot of nuances:

• For example, "m", "f", "s", "h" is similar to Russian "m", "f", "s" and "x".
• There are aspirated consonants ("p", "t", "k", "c", "sh", "ch"), which require a strong exhalation when pronounced.
• The "n" in "pinyin" is more alveolar, while the "l" and "j" are similar to English pronunciation.
• "q" is read as "ts", "x" is like "s", and "z" and "zh" - like "tsz" and "zh".
• The consonants "b", "d", "g" are extremely difficult to pronounce correctly, because they are a cross between the Russian counterparts of these voiced and unvoiced sounds.
• "r" at the beginning of a word replaces "g".

Finals

The Chinese alphabet (which does not include hieroglyphs) also contains vowels called "finals". They often consist of diphthongs and follow the following pronunciation rules:

• "an", "en", "ao", "uo", "ou", "ei", "ai", "a" are transcribed as "an", "en", "ao", "uo", " oh", "hey", "ay" and "a" respectively.
• Complex finals "ia", "ian", "iao", "iang", "ie", "iu", "in" are read as "i", "yang", "yao", "yang", "e" , "yu", "yin".
• "i" is similar to Russian "and", but does not soften consonants. If it is the only vowel in a syllable, then it is written as "yi".
• "y" is pronounced like "y" or "wu" (identical to the previous case).
• "er" replaces "er".

When is the romanization system used?

As a rule, "pinyin", also known as the Chinese alphabet (hieroglyphs in it are replaced by syllables in Latin), is used as an auxiliary element for tourists in the form of signatures on various signs or if there is a rare sign in the text.

Romanization is also used to write messages on the English keyboard. As a rule, this is an automated process, and the typed transcription of "pinyin" is independently converted into a hieroglyph.

The last, most popular option is intended for structuring information in lists and databases: in them it is much more expedient to break words into first syllables using transliteration into Latin. This will facilitate the search not only for foreigners, but also for the Chinese.

"Pinyin" as a language learning tool

The system of romanization into Latin contains 29 syllables and is used as an auxiliary step in learning Chinese. It allows you to get acquainted with the correct reading and pronunciation of vowel tones, thanks to the presence of diacritical marks. In China, the study of "pinyin" is mandatory for foreign students and is included in the curriculum of all modern schools.

Often, under the alphabet with translation "mean the transcription of syllables for ease of pronunciation. They are present for the same purpose.

tone

In Putonghua, each vowel has its own specific intonation.

The same syllables with a different manner of pronunciation can form words that are radically different in meaning from each other. To do this, it is extremely important to master the tones - without them, language skills are impossible. Often, no one understands a foreigner with an incorrect intonation, and his speech is mistaken for some unknown dialect.

To avoid this problem, you should learn pronunciation directly with the teacher. Naturally, the Chinese alphabet with Russian translation will not help here (transcription does not convey diacritical marks) and you will have to refer directly to the pinyin system.

There are four tones in total:

1. High level.
2. Rising from medium to high.
3. Low with a further decrease and subsequent increase to a medium tone.
4. High down.

Video tutorials or a teacher will help to understand them, but the latter, as mentioned earlier, is preferable.

In conclusion about the Chinese alphabet

Returning to the topic of the Celestial Empire, it is worth noting that Chinese, like other languages ​​that have hieroglyphic writing, is too unlike European.

Its features preclude the existence of a standard alphabet. Moreover, early attempts to replace the familiar way of writing text with letter combinations quickly failed. Simply put, such methods fell out of use in a short time and are unlikely to be revived again.

Home page » China » Chinese language » Chinese characters from antiquity to the present day

Chinese writing is hieroglyphic. Thanks to her, the various peoples inhabiting China and speaking different dialects can understand each other. Chinese characters are an integral part of Chinese culture. In addition to China, Chinese hieroglyphic writing was widespread in the Asian region.

What is the relationship between Chinese and hieroglyphics?

On the basis of a historical and geographical feature, linguists distinguish seven main dialect groups in China: Northern dialects, Gan, Hakka, Wu, Xiang, Yue, Min. Sometimes Anhui dialects, Jin and Pinghua are added to them. In turn, separate dialects are distinguished within dialect groups.

♦ Read more: The population of China and the dialects of the Chinese language

Sometimes dialects differ so much that their representatives do not understand each other at all. Oral Chinese putonghua普通话 (lit. "common language"), created on the basis of the northern dialects and, in particular, the Beijing dialect, is the official language, but not all Chinese are fully proficient in it and, accordingly, not all Chinese understand it.

Therefore, the only means of interethnic communication is the written language, not tied to phonetic reading. If you have watched Chinese TV, seen Chinese films or video clips, you may have noticed that hieroglyphic text often appears at the bottom of the screen.

Hieroglyphics also allows you to read texts written several centuries ago quite freely. In addition, written Chinese wenyan文言 was widely used throughout the Asian region: Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other countries. And although now their own script is used there, nevertheless, knowing wenyan one can read and understand ancient texts. And the texts in Japanese are understandable to some extent even now.

• Is it worth learning Chinese? Advice for doubters
• The structure of the hieroglyph: features, graphemes, complex signs. How to remember hieroglyphs

History of Chinese character writing

All Chinese characters are collectively called 文 wen. In modern Chinese, there is a division proper into 文 wen- simple signs, the most ancient, and 字 tzu- composite signs.

♦ Read more: Wen - pattern, writing, culture

Legendary Cang Jie

In Chinese traditional historiography, it is believed that the oldest form of Chinese writing was knot writing, which was later replaced by hieroglyphics. Its founder was Cang Jie仓颉, who, "observing the outlines of mountains and seas, traces of dragons and snakes, birds and animals, as well as the shadows cast by objects", created 540 simple signs - wen文. They have become the oldest system of classification of objects and phenomena in the world.

According to tradition, Cang Jie was the court historiographer of the legendary emperor Huangdi (XXVII-XXVI centuries BC). He is usually depicted with four eyes, which symbolize his special insight. In the treatise "Xun Tzu" (3rd century BC) it is said about him: "There were numerous experiments on the creation of writing, but only the signs created by Cang Jie were accepted and exist to this day."

Neolithic signs and Yin pictograms

Hieroglyphs go back to images - pictograms, which over time became more and more complicated and formalized, gradually transforming into a system of signs. However, even with minimal knowledge, the hieroglyph can be “read” and see various meanings in it.

The earliest pictograms in China were discovered at the Jiahu settlement of the Peiligang Neolithic culture, located on the Yellow River (Henan Province). 16 artifacts date back to the 6th millennium BC. It turns out that the Jiahu script is older than the Sumerian cuneiform. However, now most researchers believe that although some signs from Jiahu outwardly resemble the modern Chinese characters for “eye” and “sun”, however, this similarity is deceptive, and the signs found cannot be considered the ancestor of Chinese writing.

Other examples of early Chinese writing have been found at the Neolithic settlements of Banpo (east of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province) and Jiangzhai (Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province). However, they also do not seem to have a genetic connection with Chinese hieroglyphic writing.

The first examples of proper Chinese hieroglyphic writing date back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest are from the 17th century. BC. These are Yin* divinatory inscriptions on the bones of animals (often buffaloes) and turtle shells. They are called 甲骨文 jiaguwen(lit. "inscriptions on shells and bones"), "divine inscriptions from the capital of Yin" 殷契卜辭 yinqi butci and "inscriptions from the Yin ruins" 殷墟文字 yinxu wenzi.

The symbols, which were applied with pointed sticks, turned out to be angular. Basically, these were simple pictograms - schematic representations of the most universal concepts: parts of the human body, natural phenomena, household items, etc. A single, standard spelling of hieroglyphs did not yet exist, several variants of writing the same sign were in circulation. However, due to the small number of people who were literate, this did not cause any particular problems. To date, out of more than 5,000 signs, about 1.5 thousand have been identified.

* Yin (Shang-Yin dynasty) XVII century. BC. 1045 BC The earliest confirmed dynasty in Chinese history.

The first inscriptions on bones and shells were discovered in 1899 near the city of Anyang (Henan Province). However, as it turned out, the locals had known them for a long time and called them "dragon bones". They handed over the "bones" to pharmacies, where they were ground into powder, supposedly having medicinal properties. It is difficult to calculate how many Yin inscriptions were thus destroyed.

♦ Read more: The origin of the dragon concept

The Yin people believed that hieroglyphs provide a link between people and their ancestors who have gone to Heaven, primarily between the ruler and the supreme ancestor of Shang-di 上帝. Three people took part in the divination ritual: the ruler himself, a priest and a scribe. The ruler asked questions that the scribe carved on the bones with a chisel: would the hunt be successful, would the harvest be rich, would they start a war, would they marry, would an heir be born, etc. Then the bone was burned with sticks heated in the fire and the answer was guessed from the cracks that appeared.

♦ Read more: The Cult of Heaven in Chinese Culture: Heaven, Son of Heaven, Mandate of Heaven

Thus, in the Shang-Yin era, writing had a sacred character. The ritual-magical attitude to the text was preserved in later epochs: a century ago in China one could meet people who collected paper written with hieroglyphs in order to burn it in ovens specially designed for this purpose.

Hieroglyphic writing in the Zhou era

During the Zhou era (1045-221 BC), Chinese hieroglyphic writing was already quite developed. With the advent of bronze casting technology, "letter on metal" appeared 金文 jinwen- inscriptions on ritual bronze vessels. Sometimes they are called "tripod and bell writing" 鐘鼎文 zhongdingwen. Zhou writing is found on tripods for meat, grain vessels, bells, bronze vessels for wine and water, as well as steles, stone drums, slabs and ceramics.

The hieroglyphs of the Zhou era became much more complicated compared to the Yin script. Phonoideograms appeared - hieroglyphs, consisting of two parts: phonetics, conveying an approximate reading, and a key, indicating belonging to a certain class of objects, phenomena or properties. Now more than 90% of all Chinese characters are ideograms.

At the beginning of the 8th century BC. court historiographer Shi Zhou compiled a list of hieroglyphs. The style in which these characters were written is called 大篆 yes zhuan- The Great Seal.

During the Zhan-guo period (475-221 BC), China was divided into various kingdoms. Xu Shen in the preface to the hieroglyphic dictionary "Shuo wen jie zi" 說文解字 ("Explanation of simple signs and interpretation of complex ones", turn of the 1st-2nd centuries) noted: "Statements and speeches began to sound differently." Several regional variants of writing were formed, among which the three largest ones stood out:

• the writing of the Qin kingdom based on the Zhou script yes zhuan;
• script of the six major kingdoms "ancient writing" 古文 gouwen based on Yin and Zhou letters;
• writing of the southern Chinese kingdom of Chu.

Reform of Chinese writing in the Qin era

With the coming to power of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who united the country under the rule of a single centralized empire of Qin (221-206 BC), a writing reform began: “all chariots with an axis of the same length, all hieroglyphs of standard writing.” Based on the Qin script yes zhuan the letter 小篆 appeared xiao zhuan("small seal"). The "official letter" 隸書 also became widespread. li shu, which with some changes formed the basis of modern writing.

Xu Shen in the preface to the dictionary "Sho wen ze zi" describes this time as follows:

At that time in Qin […] subjects and soldiers were raised on a large scale and developed military service and forced labor. Official duties in departments and courts became more complex, and for the first time the style of "official writing" appeared, as they strived for standardity and simplicity.

In the Qin era, the official list included 3,300 characters. At the same time there was a process of unification of pronunciation.

Chinese characters in the Han to Song period

During the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), a list of 540 keys was formed. Since ancient times, the text was written on bamboo tablets. This is probably part of the explanation for the fact that until the 20th century, the Chinese wrote in columns from top to bottom and from right to left.

In the first centuries of our era, paper appeared, which replaced the silk and bamboo strips on which texts were previously written. Now, for writing hieroglyphs, they began to actively use a brush, which has been known since the era of the Yin Dynasty. The "Four Treasures of the Cabinet" appeared 文房四宝 wen fan si bao: brush bi, ink mo, paper zhi and ink pot 砚 yang.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, Liu Deshan based on the "official letter" li shu created the semi-cursive "running letter" 行書 xing shu, in which the features of the hieroglyph were partially written without taking the brush off the paper.

Liu Deshan's students created a "charter letter" 楷書 kai shu, which was distinguished by the absence of characteristic thickenings inherent in the Han official writing. Around the same time, the cursive "grass script" 草書 appears. cao shu which is widely used in Chinese calligraphy.

♦ Related: Modern Museum of Calligraphy in Moscow (Sokolniki Park)

In the Song era (960-1279), with the advent of woodcut printing, further standardization of writing took place.

Reforms to simplify hieroglyphs in the 20th century

Over time, the writing of hieroglyphs became much more complicated. Some signs consisted of several dozen features, which made it difficult to memorize them. At the end of the 19th century, it was proposed to simplify hieroglyphic writing. It was believed that the complex writing of hieroglyphs hindered the acquisition of literacy and, as a result, exacerbated China's economic and social lag behind Western powers. In the 1930s, the first list of simplified hieroglyphs appeared, numbering 2400 characters. However, he did not take root.

The problem of simplifying hieroglyphs returned again after the formation of the PRC. In 1956, the "Chinese Simplification Program" 汉字简化方案 was adopted. hanzi jianhua fang'an. In 1964, the "Summary Table of Simplified Characters" 简化字总表 was published. jianhua zi zongbiao, which consisted of 2238 simplified characters. An additional list of simplified characters was adopted in 1977, but it was canceled in 1986.

Simplified character writing 简化字 jianhua zi was based on the following principles: following the customs and simplicity; standardization: elimination of diverse variants of hieroglyphs; highlighting phonetic properties; if possible, the preservation of ideogram properties; stability; practicality; proper artistry. Hieroglyphs were simplified according to the following scheme: reducing the number of character features, cutting off part of the hieroglyph, using cursive styles, replacing a complex character with a simpler one.

At present, simplified hieroglyphs have become widespread in China, Singapore and Malaysia. A number of regions have preserved traditional characters: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Chinese diasporas in the USA and Canada. They are called "complex characters" 繁體字 (繁体字) fancizi, "complete characters" 全體字 (全体字) quanzi, or "old characters" 老字 Lao Tzu. Their simplified hieroglyphs exist in Japan, which in the Middle Ages borrowed Chinese writing. In Korea, hieroglyphs are almost completely replaced by phonemic writing. hangul.

Pinyin phonetic alphabet

In 1958, the Chinese phonetic alphabet Pinyin 拼音字母 was adopted. pinyin zimu which is widely used for educational purposes. It consists of letters of the Latin alphabet with diacritics to indicate tones. However, due to the wide distribution of homophones, the transition from hieroglyphic to phonetic writing is impossible. Therefore, pinyin plays only a supporting role, indicating the reading of syllables in accordance with the normative spoken language of Mandarin, adopted as the official language.

Learn Chinese from scratch!
第一课 - Lesson 1

Note: there are no capital letters in the table i, u, ü , because they are not used at the beginning of a word.

The phonetic alphabet is intended to describe sounds and is used as a transcription, however, there is no connection between the transcription and the hieroglyph. Do not focus on it for now, but proceed to the lesson below. Sounds will be clear after passing 12 lessons! Don't panic, but be patient.

Make sure you have Adobe Kaiti Std R (softer, used in tutorials) and SimSun (rougher but more precise) fonts installed on your system. If you have both fonts installed, Kaiti will be used.

Text

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How to memorize hieroglyphs?

We disassemble the hieroglyphs in parts. The meaning of the parts will not always coincide with the overall meaning. Your task is to memorize smaller parts in order to memorize more complex ones in the future.

Comments

"你好!" - “Hello (those)!”, “Good morning!”, “Good afternoon (evening)!”

"你好" is a widely used universal greeting (morning, afternoon, evening), always addressed personally (i.e., to one person). The answer to it is exactly the same greeting "你好".

Phonetic exercises and conversational practice

Chinese tone configuration

Distinguishing sounds

Distinguishing tones (first and fourth tones)

Changing tones

Third tone plus another third tone → second tone plus third tone:

nǐ hǎo → níhǎo

Read the following sentences

Nǐ hǎo.
Baba, nǐ hǎo.
Masha, nǐ hǎo.

Exchange of greetings

Have a dialogue with the pictures

Two friends greet each other.

A: Nǐ hǎo!
!

Greet each other.

Phonetics

Initials and finals

The Chinese syllable is characterized by a certain structure. The number of sounds in a Chinese syllable does not exceed four, and their sequence is strictly regular. In modern normative language putonghua There are about 400 basic syllables that differ in sound composition.

The Chinese syllable consists of two main structural elements: the consonant part - at the beginning of the syllable, which is called the initial, the vowel part - the rest of the syllable, which is called the final.

The consonant part, or initial, can be expressed with only one consonant sound. There are 21 initials in Chinese. The initial may be absent, then the syllable consists only of the final.

The vowel part of a syllable, or final, can be expressed as a monophthong or descending diphthong (simple final), ascending diphthong or triphthong (complex final). The combination of vowels in diphthongs and triphthongs occurs according to certain rules. There are also seventeen finals containing a terminal nasal. There are thirty-five finals in Chinese. The compatibility of initials with certain finals is regulated by certain rules.

Basic requirements for the pronunciation of sounds

Initials b [p] ≈ b, g [k] ≈ g And p [p'] ≈ p, k ≈ k

In putonghua does not exist comparisons voiced and deaf consonant sounds. The corresponding stop consonants form pairs, different by presence / absence aspiration.

Consonants "b" and "g" are non-aspirated semi-voiced stops. When pronouncing these sounds, a bow is first formed, and only then, at the very end, the vocal cords begin to vibrate weakly.

Consonants "p" and "k" are aspirated deaf stops, i.e., they are pronounced with a strong exhalation and with an additional x-shaped noise at the end of a consonant. When pronouncing, the vocal cords should not vibrate. Without this x-shaped noise, "p" becomes "b" and "k" becomes "g", so be careful (English also has this feature, but it's not as important as Chinese).

The sign ≈ denotes approximate Russian sounds.

simple final ao ≈ ao

The Chinese diphthong "ao" is descending. This means that its initial vowel is strong (syllabic), pronounced briefly, but distinctly, and the final element - not syllabic - is pronounced weakly. In the diphthong “ao”, under the influence of the final back vowel, the articulation of the syllabic “a” shifts to the back of the oral cavity: the tongue is pulled back and the back of the back of the tongue rises slightly, while the lips are slightly rounded. Thus, the "a" in the diphthong "ao" is articulated in the back of the mouth and is called a back vowel, in contrast to the "a" sound in the simple final, which is a middle sound.

Anterior-lingual nasal final an ≈ an

First, “a” of the front row is pronounced, that is, under the influence of the final nasal element, the articulation of the vowel is shifted to the front of the oral cavity (unlike the “a” of the middle row in a simple final). Then the tip of the tongue adjoins the alveoli (this is the difference from the Russian "n", in which the tongue adjoins the upper teeth), and the middle part of the tongue lies flat. The air stream passes through the nasal cavity.

tones

Chinese is one of the tonal languages. The syllable of the Chinese language is characterized not only by a certain sound composition, but also by one tone or another, which is called the etymological tone of the given syllable. Tone- This is a melodic voice pattern, characterized by a certain change in pitch. Tones perform a meaningful function. Syllables that have the same sound composition but are pronounced in different tones have different meanings. Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua) has four basic tones, which are indicated by tone marks (diacritics): "" (first tone), "" (second tone), "" (third tone) and "" (fourth tone). (See above for the melodic pattern of tones.)

The tone mark is placed only above the vowel. If the syllable has one vowel, then the tone sign is placed over the given vowel (in this case, the dot over the vowel "i" is not placed, for example "nǐ"). If the syllable has a diphthong or triphthong, then the tone sign is placed over the letter denoting the syllabic vowel, for example "hǎo".

Changing tones

If two syllables, each of which is separately pronounced in the third tone, follow each other without a pause, the tone of the initial syllable changes to the second. This change is not reflected in the alphabetical entry. For example, "nǐ hǎo" is read as "níhǎo".

Listen and write down the following monosyllables in pinyin transcription, indicate the tones:

安；高；破；皮；脑；比；波；故；干；拿; 篮；哈；考；包；跑；哭；南；路；办。

If the key disappears quickly, catch it with your finger, or move the mouse inside the key ...

Do you know?

Chinese

The Chinese language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family and is the national language of the Han people (hànzú, 汉族, that is, the Chinese themselves, who make up 94% of the population of China. One of the names of the Chinese language comes from the name of the ethnic group - Hànyǔ, 汉语 ( lit., "Han language"). Chinese is the official language and the lingua franca of the peoples of China. In addition, Chinese is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world and one of the official languages ​​of the United Nations.

Written monuments testify that the Chinese language is one of the most ancient in the world. The written language has been one of the most important factors that ensured the continuity of the cultural tradition and the continuity of the development of Chinese civilization throughout its long history. The language itself also developed, but its main features - grammatical norms, basic vocabulary, structure and functions of hieroglyphic writing - did not undergo fundamental changes.

Modern Chinese Putonghua (pǔtōnghuà, 普通话, letters., "common language") is an actively developing normative Chinese language. The pronunciation base of Putonghua is the Beijing dialect, the northern dialects are taken as the basis, and the grammatical norms are focused on the living modern Chinese language and works of new Chinese fiction. Putonghua is actively spreading in all spheres of life in the PRC, and primarily in the education system at all levels, as well as in the media - on television, radio broadcasting, the Internet (website names), and mobile phones (a set of SMS messages).

Chinese alphabet

So what is the Chinese alphabet? First of all, it should be said that the Chinese language does not have an alphabet in the strict sense of the word. The alphabet is a system of signs that do not have independent meaning, but convey the sound. Alphabets can be syllabic (like Japanese katakana and hiragana) or divided into vowels and consonants (like Latin and Cyrillic). All this has nothing to do with the Chinese language, where one hieroglyph has a semantic meaning. Often, one Chinese character is a whole word, although in modern language most words consist of two characters.

In addition, the alphabet has a clear and limited number of characters. All this, again, does not apply in any way to Hanzi (this is the name of the Chinese letter, in Chinese 汉字), where the exact number of characters is unknown. So what is this article about then? - you ask. What's the point of writing about something that doesn't exist? In fact, there is still something that can be conditionally called the “Chinese alphabet” - this is a pinyin phonetic letter(拼音, pīnyīn), which was developed in 1958 and officially approved in February, during the fifth session of the National People's Congress.

With the help of pinyin, you can learn how to pronounce Chinese sounds correctly, learn the features of Chinese articulation. The pinyin alphabet consists of Latin letters and diacritics indicating the tone of a particular vowel sound. Pinyin does not replace Chinese hieroglyphic writing, but only serves as an addition. It was created solely to convey the phonetics of the standard Chinese language (Putonghua, 普通话) and is completely unsuitable for the transmission of dialect words and regionalisms. The alphabet is taught in all modern Chinese schools. Knowledge of pinyin is mandatory for all international students in China, without which it is impossible to advance further in learning the language.

Chinese letters

Chinese letters, just like in most European alphabets, consist of vowels and consonants. The number of characters here is almost the same as in the Latin alphabet. Below is the Chinese alphabet with translation into Russian:

A a	A
Bb	ba
c c	tskha
CH ch	cha
D d	Yes
e e	uh
F f	F
G g	ha
H h	Ha
-i	And
Jj	chi
Kk	kha
l l	la
M m	m
N n	n
O o	O
Pp	pha
Q q	qi
R r	jan
S s	sa
SH sh	sha
T t	tha
- u	at
— ü	Yu
W w	wa
X x	si
Y y	I
Zz	za
ZHzh	zha

In addition, the pinyin Chinese alphabet uses a large number of special diacritics. This is due to the fact that Chinese is a tonal language. That is, each vowel sound has a certain intonation and a certain pronunciation. For the Chinese language learner it is very important to master the tones because the meaning of the word depends on them. The same syllable can have different meanings depending on how you pronounce it. It often happens that a foreigner who has mastered the Chinese language, but has not learned the correct pronunciation, finds that none of the Chinese people understand him when he speaks their language. This is by no means accidental. Learning the correct pronunciation is better with a teacher, because on your own there is a risk of putting it wrong. It will be very difficult to relearn later.

Usually, the tone mark is placed above the vowel. In the case of diphthongs, the marks are placed above the syllable-forming vowel. Let's give an example of these signs using the sound ba as an example:

1. Bā - high even tone
2. Bá - rising from medium to high
3. Bǎ - low falling, and then rising to the average level
4. Bà - falling to low from high

Here are some examples of words, phrases and sentences:

• Wǒ xué xí Hànyǔ - I am learning Chinese
• Nǐ hǎo! - Hello!
• Nǐ - you
• Wǒ - I
• Hǎo - good
• Shì - to be, to be
• Pengyou - friend
• Nǐmen - you (when referring to several people)
• Māma - mother
• Baba - father

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Hello dear friends! It's time to expand our horizons and therefore, I suggest you get acquainted with the Chinese language 🙂

I think it makes no sense to describe in detail all the charms and benefits that you will get by learning Chinese. But even if you do not intend to seriously study Chinese, then knowing its base will still not hurt you.

How to start learning Chinese?

If you thought that you need to start learning Chinese with hieroglyphs, then you are not quite right. The fact is that in our time an integral part of the Chinese language is pinyin- Romanization system for Chinese. In other words, pinyin is like an alphabet. We need pinyin in order to read hieroglyphs with it. You can learn more about pinyin from my video:

After you got acquainted with the basic initials and finals of pinyin, you can move on to tones 🙂

Tones in Chinese

Tones are one of the "chips" of the Chinese language. Chances are you've heard of them. So, remember that in Chinese tones pronounced. To verify this, search the Internet for colloquial Chinese, Korean and Japanese speech and “feel the difference” between them 🙂

In no case should you be afraid of tones, just a little practice and you can use them in speech.

Chinese characters

After you have mastered pinyin and got to know the tones, it's time to get to know the hieroglyphs better. After all, even if you know pinyin perfectly, you cannot do without hieroglyphs. After all, pinyin serves only as a “bridge” to hieroglyphs, while hieroglyphs are the main form of Chinese writing.

So, after you have learned what graphemes are, simple and complex characters, you can safely start learning Chinese on your own 🙂

If you have any questions, feel free to

The total number of all existing hieroglyphs is about 80 thousand. However, not all of them are used in modern Chinese. For free reading of literature, the press in Chinese, it is enough to know about 3 thousand hieroglyphs. An average Chinese with a higher education can easily recognize about 5-6 thousand characters.

Each character corresponds to one syllable. For example, the word MAMA (which sounds the same in Chinese as in Russian) will consist of two syllables or two characters. In Chinese, most words consist of two syllable characters, but this is not a mandatory rule. There are words that consist of one character, just as there are words that consist of three or more characters.

So the rule. One character is one syllable. There are a limited number of syllables in Chinese. There are about 320 syllables in total, and knowing how all these syllables are pronounced, we can pronounce absolutely any word in Chinese.

In order for anyone to be able to read hieroglyphs, a pinyin transcription system (PīnYīn 拼音) was created. The system consists of a Latin written interpretation of the sound of each existing hieroglyphic syllable. There are other transcription systems, but we will not consider them here. Consider only pinyin. Everyone who learns Chinese should know pinyin. Even the Chinese themselves learn it in elementary school. Each syllable consists of the beginning - the initial (the consonant with which the syllable begins) and the end of the syllable - the final. There are 21 initials and 36 finals in Chinese. The combination of initials and finals and form all syllables. Below is the entire table of pinyin syllables. All Chinese

I gave the entire table of syllables along with a Russian translation, as close as possible to the real pronunciation. This translation does not correspond to most of the translations given on various sites, but it seems to me that it conveys the real sound as accurately as possible. To beautifully and correctly write Chinese words in Russian, use.

But make no mistake, not everything is as simple as it seems. Just knowing how to read Chinese syllables is not enough. The most difficult thing in pronunciation, which I will talk about in another article.

By this link there is a wonderful pinyin table where you can listen to the sound of each syllable of the Chinese language. You can compare with the Russian transcription in the table below.

A	er - ar	L	pin	tu - thu
a - a	F	la - la	ping - ping	tuan - thuan
ai - ai	fa - fa	lai - barking	po - pho	tui - thui
an - an	fan - fan	lan - doe	pou - phou	tun - thun
ang	fan	lang - lan	pu - phu	tuo - thuo
ao - ao	fei - fay	lao - lao	Q	W
B	fen - fen	le - le	qi - chi	wa
ba	feng - fan	lei - lay	qia - chia	wai - wai
bai - bai	fo	leng	qian - chien	wan - wan
ban - baths	fou - fou	li - whether	qiang	wang
bang - ban	fu - fu	lia - la	qiao - chiao	wei - wei
bao - bao	G	lian - linen	qie - whose	wen - wen
bei - bay	ga - ha	liang - liang	qin - chin	weng - wen
ben	gai - guy	liao - liao	qing - rank	wo - in
beng - ben	gan - gan	lie - lie	qiong - chion	wu
bi - bi	gang - gang	lin - line	qiu - chiu	X
bian - beat	gao - gao	ling	qu - chu	xi - si
biao - biao	ge - ge	liu - liu	quan - chuan	xia
bie - beat	gei - gay	long - lon	que - chue	xian - sien
bin - bin	gen - gen	lou - low	qun - chun	xiang
bing - bin	geng	lu - lu	R	xiao - xiao
bo - bo	gong	lü - lü	ran - jan	xie - sie
bu - boo	gou - go	luan - luan	rang	xin - blue
C	gu - gu	lue - lue	rao - Zhao	xing
ca - tskha	gua - gua	lun - harrier	re - zhe	xiong
cai	guai - guay	luo - luo	ren - zhen	xiu - siu
can - can	guan - guan	M	reng - zhen	xu - shu
cang	guang - guan	ma	ri - zhy	xuan - xuan
cao - chao	gui - gui	mai - May	rong - jong	xue - xue
ce - che	gun - gun	man - man	rou - zhu	xun
cen - chen	guo - guo	mang	ru - zhu	Y
ceng	H	mao - mao	ruan - ruan	ya - I
cha - cha	ha	mei - mei	rui - chew	yan
chai - chai	hai - hai	men	run - jun	yang
chan - chan	han - han	meng - man	ruo - zhuo	yao - yao
chang	hang - khan	mi	S	ye
chao - chao	hao - hao	mian	sa	yi - and
che - che	he	miao - miao	sai - sai	yin - yin
chen - chen	hei - hey	mie - mie	san - sleigh	ying
cheng	hen - hyn	min - min	sang - san	yo - yo
chi - chshy	heng	ming - min	sao	yong
chong	hong	miu - miu	se	you - yo
chou - chou	hou - how	mo - mo	sen - sen	yu - yu
chu - chu	hu - hu	mou - mou	seng - sen	yuan - yuan
chua - chua	hua - hua	mu - mu	sha	yue - yue
chuai - chuai	huai - huai	N	shai - shay	yun - yun
chuan - chuan	huan - huan	na - on	shan	Z
chuang	huang - huang	nai - nai	shang	za - za
chui - chui	hui - huy	nan - nan	shao - shao	zai - zai
chun - chun	hun - hun	nang - nan	she - she	zan - zan
chuo - chuo	huo - huo	nao - nao	shei - shay	zang - zan
ci - tsy	J	ne - ne	shen - shen	zao - zao
cong - cheon	ji - ji	nei - nei	sheng	ze - ze
cou - chou	jia	nen - nen	shi - shi	zei - zei
cu - tshu	jian	neng - nen	shou - show	zen - zen
cuan - chuan	jiang - jian	ni - neither	shu - shu	zen - zen
cui - tshui	jiao - jiao	nian - nien	shua - shua	zha - ja
cun - zhun	jie - jie	nang - nan	shuai - shuai	zhai - jai
cuo - tshuo	jin - jin	niao - neither	shuan - shuan	zhan - jan
D	jing	nie - nie	shuang	zhang
da - yes	jiong	nin - nin	shui - shui	zhao - jao
dai - give	jiu - jiu	ning - nin	shun - shun	zhe - je
dan - tribute	ju - ju	niu - niu	shuo - shuo	zhei - jay
dang	juan - juan	nong - non	si - sy	zhen - jen
dao - dao	jue - jue	nou - know	song - sleep	zheng
de - de	jun - jun	nu - well	sou	zhi - ji
dei - day	K	nu - nu	su - su	zhong - john
den - day	ka - kha	nuan - nuan	suan - suan	zhou
deng - dan	kai - kai	nue - nue	sui - sui	zhu - ju
di - di	kan - khan	nuo - nuo	sun - sun	zhua - jua
dian - dien	kang - khan	O	suo - suo	zhuai - juai
diao - diao	kao - khao	o - about	T	zhuan - juan
die - die	ke - khe	ou - oh	ta - tha	zhuang - juan
ding - ding	ken - khen	P	tai - thai	zhui - juy
diu - diu	keng	pa - pha	tan	zhun - June
dong	kong - khon	pai - phai	tang - than	zhuo - juo
dou	kou - khou	pan - pan	tao - thao	zi - zi
du	ku - khu	pang	te - te	zong
duan	kua - khua	pao - phao	teng - ten	zou - zou
dui - blow	kuai - kuai	pei	ti - thi	zu - zu
dun - dun	kuan - khuan	pen - phen	tian - hell	zuan - zuan
duo - duo	kuang - khuang	peng - peng	tiao - thyao	zui - zui
E	kui - khui	pi - phi	tie	zun - zun
e	kun - khun	pian	ting - thin	zuo - zuo
ei - hey	kuo - khuo	piao - phiao	tong - thon
en - en		pie - pye	tou - thou

The Chinese language has a huge variety of characters. Their number is in the thousands. The very appearance of the hieroglyph clearly does not tell you how to read it correctly. And some hieroglyphs in different contexts are read differently. The only way to learn to read hieroglyphs is to learn them and their pronunciation.

Therefore, it was very important to introduce the transcription of hieroglyphs - pinyin.

Pinyin is the modern international transcription system. Pinyin 拼音 - pinyin (拼 - combine, 音 - sound) is translated as "transcription". It was officially adopted in China in 1958 as a Chinese phonetic alphabet based on the Latin alphabet.

Chinese national alphabet

By the way, there is also a Chinese phonetic alphabet based on hieroglyphs. The so-called Chinese national alphabet is zhuyin zimu (注意字母 - zhùyīnzìmǔ).

The letters of this alphabet were schematized hieroglyphs or their details. Only unlike ordinary hieroglyphs, hieroglyphs-letters convey not a concept, but a sound. This alphabet has been officially used since the 1920s. This alphabet is still used in elementary school textbooks in Taiwan.

GR - obsolete transcription

predecessor pinyin was the official transcription of Kuomintang China - 国语 Romanized or GR.

It used fewer Latin letters, and some sounds that are spelled differently in pinyin were spelled the same in GR.

Pinyin

In fact, there are many rules and subtleties of how various Chinese words are written in pinyin. But it's easier to just get used to what exists, how they are written in pinyin and how they are pronounced. The dashes above some letters indicate how this syllable is read.

The Chinese language consists of a limited number of syllables. There are about 400 of them in total. Each syllable has its own entry in pinyin transcription.

If you are learning a language using audio courses, it will not be difficult for you to understand how a particular syllable is read.

There is also Russian transcription and there are pinyin and Russian transcription tables. They can be found in dictionaries (at least my dictionary that I use has such a table).

In general, we can say that the introduction of transcription made it much easier for foreigners to learn Chinese.

It is most convenient to use dictionaries in which hieroglyphs are sorted according to pinyin.

Examples

中国 - zhōng guó - zhong guo - China, Chinese, literally - the central kingdom;

汉语 - hàn yǔ - Han Yu - Chinese;

北京 - běi jīng - bei jing - Beijing, literally - the northern capital;

上海 - shàng hǎi - shang hai - Shanghai, literally - on the sea;

风水 - fēng shuǐ - feng shui - literally wind and water; geomancy - when, according to the conditions of the area, the most favorable place for a grave or for a dwelling is determined.

And don't forget to pick up a GIFT! - E-book "Introduction to Chinese" in pdf format - click on the picture