Help:IPA for Mandarin

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Standard Mandarin pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. See Standard Mandarin phonology for more detail on the sounds of the language.

Note that English equivalents given in this page may represent only loose approximations to the original pronunciations.

Consonants IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese Example English approximation p b p ㄅ 幫 (帮) span pʰ p p' ㄆ 滂 pan m m ㄇ 明 moon f f ㄈ 非 fan t d t ㄉ 端 stop tʰ t t' ㄊ 透 top n n- ㄋ 泥 noon -n ㄣ, ㄢ 金, 尖 l l ㄌ 來 (来) leaf k g k ㄍ 干 skin kʰ k k' ㄎ 口 kin ŋ -ng ㄥ, ㄤ 井, 江 song x h ㄏ 火 Scottish English: loch; often weakened to [h] (as in English hat) t͡ɕ j ch ㄐ 叫 like itchy, pronounced further forward toward the teeth (palatalized). t͡ɕʰ q ch' ㄑ 去 like cheap, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized). ɕ x hs ㄒ 曉 (晓) like sheep, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized). ʈ͡ʂ zh ch ㄓ 之 roughly like jaw, with a flat tongue (retroflex). ʈ͡ʂʰ ch ch' ㄔ 吃 like church, with a flat tongue (retroflex). ʂ sh ㄕ 矢 like show, with a flat tongue (retroflex). ɻ~ʐ r- j ㄖ 日 like red, with a flat tongue (retroflex); sometimes pronounced as [ʐ] like vision. ts z ts ㄗ 子 roughly like seats tsʰ c ts' ㄘ 此 cats hissing s s ㄙ 私 same Semivowels j y-/-i- ㄧ 牙 yes w w-/-u- ㄨ 我 water ɥ yu-/-ü- yü-/-ü- ㄩ 月 French: nuit Syllabic consonants ɻ̩ zhi, chi, shi, ri ih ㄭ 之, 吃, 師 (师), 日 roughly like glasses ɹ̩ zi, ci, si û 子, 次, 私

Vowels IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese Example English approximation a a ㄚ, ㄢ, ㄤ 阿, 安, 盎 father er êrh ㄦ 二 ɛ yan/-ian yen/-ien ㄧㄢ 言 Varies between [e] and [a] yuan/-üan ㄩㄢ 元 e ye/-ie, yue/-üe eh ㄝ 也, 月 yes ə en, eng ên, êng ㄣ, ㄥ 本, 冷 about ɤ e ê / o ㄜ 厄 Varies between [ə] and [ɯ̯ɤ] o wo/-uo o ㄛ 末 war in British English i yi/-i ㄧ 一 see ʊ -ong -ung ㄨㄥ, ㄩㄥ 冬, 用 Varies between [o] and [u] u wu/-u ㄨ 土 shoe y yu/-ü yü/-ü ㄩ 雨 German: ü; French: tu Diphthongs ai ai ㄞ 艾 time au ao ㄠ 凹 out ei ei ㄟ 杯 face ou ou ㄡ 歐 (欧) show Rhotic vowel ɚ er êrh ㄦ 二 sir (American English) Tones IPA Pinyin Wade–Giles Bopomofo Chinese Example Description á ā a1 ㄚ 巴 tone 1: high: ˥ ǎ á a2 ㄚˊ 拔 tone 2: mid rising: ˧˥ à ǎ a3 ㄚˇ 把 tone 3: medially, low: ˩ initially, mid falling: ˧˩ finally, low rising: ˩˧ in isolation, dipping: ˧˩˧ â à a4 ㄚˋ 爸 tone 4: high falling: ˥˩ a a a0 ˙ㄚ 吧 "toneless": low after the high falling tone ˥˩; mid after other tones Note: Pinyin uses the same diacritics as IPA but with different values.

References

• Duanmu, San (2007). The Phonology of Standard Chinese (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
• Lee, Wai-Sum; Zee, Eric (2003). "Standard Chinese (Beijing)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 33 (1): 109–112. doi:10.1017/S0025100303001208. 
• Lin, Yen-Hwei (2007). The Sounds of Chinese. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Chinese Phonetic Transcription Converter—Free Online Tool to convert Chinese Text to IPA Phonetic Transcription