For those of you who don't speak Chinese and sometimes struggle to figure out the correct pronunciations for Chinese words here's a handy Wade-Giles/Pinyin conversion chart that also gives phonetic pronunciations.

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~kaplan/eas201/111ftmtr.pdf

Obviously this chart is very limited since it doesn't give any dialect pronunciations, but it's a good place to start if Chinese is new to you. At least this will help you to stop confusing your Chinese friends by pronouncing "quan" as "kwan" and "cao" as "cow."

So it's not pronounced "Cow Cow"? DANG JOO DYNASTY WARRIORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DANG JOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't feel bad. With all the dialects out there I'm sure there's at least one that pronounces it Cow cow.

So, how is it pronounced?

Roughly like Tsao Tsao (which is the Wade-Giles romanisation for it). I seem to recall that in Cantonese it's Tsiu Tsiu - always found that rather comical.

God, man, no offence but, the Chinese are WEIRD.

Hey man, you think Chinese don't have a problem figuring out names like Hugh, Doug, and Michael?

Good link (very helpful, I've been saying Dong Zhuo wrong for a long time.), but I couldn't find "Xuande" anywhere, which is always hard for me to pronounce, even in my head. I assume it's something with an "S" since that's what all the other "X"s represent...

S'uande? I dunno...

Close. X's are pronounced (roughly) like the "sh" sound in English. So Xuande would sound like "Shwenduh".

In that pronunciation chart he uses a "sy" sound for X's, but if you hear the words pronounced they sound more like "sh".

Wait hold on..so Cao Cao from 3k is Tsao Tsao?

I know. English and Chinese are so different that I have enormous respect for any Chinese person who can speak english and any westerner who can speak Chinese.

thanx for share with us..i'm a newbie here..from Turkey..just interested in chinese culture..i think i'm in right place..will this pdf document be useful even for me a turkish..?could you recommend any English-Pingyin Translator for me if possible..or any other thing..i do have verly little info about Chinese culture..so i will be a good reader here..i feel i can't argue in any topics..to read also will satisfy me..anyway..thanks for opening such this a forum..wish you happiness..Kind Regards

we're global sp how about Ciao Ciao
;-)

Cao Cao (English)
Tsao Tsao (mandarin)
Cho'u Cho'u (cantonese)

Zhang Fei
Tier Hui (in teochew)

I think in japanese they also have different name..

Interesting text. Thank you very much.

Thanks!

Very interesting, but I still have a problem pronouncing my friend's name, Rui.... I feel as if the "R" in Chinese is a cross between an "L" and an "R" in English... my tongue just doesn't move that way!!! So that's why I call him ANDY!!!!



-K

Based on experience from teaching in China and Japan, both have difficulty pronouncing the ® sound at the beginning of a word, though it seems that it's easier at the end of a word. In Chinese it's a kind of y,r,l mix, which relies on the tongue, though our r can be pronounced without moving the tongue. Laina Ho published an essay, "Pronunciation Problems of PRC Students", which is in chapter 9 of "Teaching English to Students from China." It is a good overview concerning differences in English/Chinese pronunciations.

Unfortunately, Chinese pronunciation doesn't coincide with the English alphabet, so pinyin is only useful if you know the Chinese sounds they represent. It's difficult...which is why this is such a good thread.

What sound does Zh (in Zhou & Zong) make?

Wade-Giles is better for reading but Pinyin is better for writing

First time poster here...

I come from a non-Chinese speaking background and have put together some links on a personal page of mine that some of you may find handy.

Links to pinyin/dictionaries etc:
http://allfreightaustralia.com/cana5ta/chinese.html

I also have some basic conversational Mandarin:
http://allfreightaustralia.com/cana5ta/con...al-chinese.html


Cheers,

Gan Mo Long

Is there also something like this for Fookien? I am studying Fookien now and it would be a big help if there is also something like this for Fookien.

Thanks.