2 Chinese alphabets posted here for you
Posted: Fri May 17, 2002 7:18 pm
Since so many of you are asking for alphabets, I might as well post two Chinese alphabets for you and give you a guide to pronunciation. But I'm warning you, western language phonology is completely different than Chinese and writing western names in Chinese characters involves writing characters that have a lot of extra sounds and makes them end up sounding completely different than your real name. But anyhow, I'll post the alphabets below.
Warning, if you write your names using these Chinese alphabets, Chinese people won't necessarily understand what you've written because they don't use the language like this. This information is just offered for fun and not meant for real use. Name translation into Chinese is done in a very special way. Our website, www.glossika.com, will be providing more information about this in the future.
You need to view this page in BIG5 for it to be of use. If you view it in GB it will be garbled and inaccurate.
The first column below is the Zhuyin alphabet, and the second column is the Pinyin alphabet, followed by the English pronunciation.
ㄅ b like English b, or like p in spot
ㄆ p like English p in pot
ㄇ m like English m
ㄈ f like English f
ㄉ d like English d, or like t in stop
ㄊ t like English t in top
ㄋ n like English n
ㄌ l like English L
ㄍ g like English g, or like k in skill
ㄎ k like English k in key
ㄏ h like English h, sometimes stronger like German ch
ㄐ j like English j in jew, this sound is only before ee and yew sounds
ㄑ q like English tr in true, this sound is only before ee and yew sounds
ㄒ x like sr in Sri Lanka, this sound is only before ee and yew sounds, sometimes similar to central German ch
ㄓ zh like English j or dr in draw, this sound is before more open sounds like ah, oh, uh, and ooh
ㄔ ch like English ch or tr in truck, this sound is before more open sounds like ah, oh, uh, and ooh
尸 sh like English sh or s in sure, this sound is before more open sounds like ah, oh, uh, and ooh
ㄖ r like English r in car, this sound is not hard like the r in run, but softer like the California-accent r in car
ㄗ z like English ds in dads, this sound does not occur before ee and yew
ㄘ c like English ts in cats, this sound does not occur before ee and yew
ㄙ s like English s in sit, this sound does not occur before ee and yew
ㄧ yi/y/i like English ee or y-
ㄨ wu/u like English oo or w-
ㄩ yu/u like English ew in jew, or stew
ㄚ a like English ah
ㄛ o/wo like English oh or woh, usually rounded first
ㄜ e like English uh
ㄝ e like English eh
ㄞ ai like English eye or Spanish ai
ㄟ ei/i like English ay
ㄠ ao like English ow in cow
ㄡ ou like English oh or ow in low
ㄢ an like English Ann
ㄣ en/n like English un in nun, or just as a final -n (like -in /een/)
ㄤ ang like English ong in long
ㄥ eng/n like English ung in stung, or just as a final -ng (like -ing)
ㄦ er/r like English er in baker
So for example since my name is James, notice the 'j' is followed by an 'ay' sound which is 'ei' in pinyin. It's an open sound, so the 'j' should be written 'zh'. Then followed by 'm' and 's'. So in pinyin and zhuyin it would be like this:
zheims
ㄓㄟㄇㄙ
However, the Chinese translation into Chinese characters spells it like this:
jie-mu-si (three characters)
A Chinese person has a hard time pronouncing James correctly, and often mispronounces it as 'jiems' with an 'eh' sound and not an 'ay' sound. It sounds like jyems (or gems?). But this might have to do with the translation they're used to.
Warning, if you write your names using these Chinese alphabets, Chinese people won't necessarily understand what you've written because they don't use the language like this. This information is just offered for fun and not meant for real use. Name translation into Chinese is done in a very special way. Our website, www.glossika.com, will be providing more information about this in the future.
You need to view this page in BIG5 for it to be of use. If you view it in GB it will be garbled and inaccurate.
The first column below is the Zhuyin alphabet, and the second column is the Pinyin alphabet, followed by the English pronunciation.
ㄅ b like English b, or like p in spot
ㄆ p like English p in pot
ㄇ m like English m
ㄈ f like English f
ㄉ d like English d, or like t in stop
ㄊ t like English t in top
ㄋ n like English n
ㄌ l like English L
ㄍ g like English g, or like k in skill
ㄎ k like English k in key
ㄏ h like English h, sometimes stronger like German ch
ㄐ j like English j in jew, this sound is only before ee and yew sounds
ㄑ q like English tr in true, this sound is only before ee and yew sounds
ㄒ x like sr in Sri Lanka, this sound is only before ee and yew sounds, sometimes similar to central German ch
ㄓ zh like English j or dr in draw, this sound is before more open sounds like ah, oh, uh, and ooh
ㄔ ch like English ch or tr in truck, this sound is before more open sounds like ah, oh, uh, and ooh
尸 sh like English sh or s in sure, this sound is before more open sounds like ah, oh, uh, and ooh
ㄖ r like English r in car, this sound is not hard like the r in run, but softer like the California-accent r in car
ㄗ z like English ds in dads, this sound does not occur before ee and yew
ㄘ c like English ts in cats, this sound does not occur before ee and yew
ㄙ s like English s in sit, this sound does not occur before ee and yew
ㄧ yi/y/i like English ee or y-
ㄨ wu/u like English oo or w-
ㄩ yu/u like English ew in jew, or stew
ㄚ a like English ah
ㄛ o/wo like English oh or woh, usually rounded first
ㄜ e like English uh
ㄝ e like English eh
ㄞ ai like English eye or Spanish ai
ㄟ ei/i like English ay
ㄠ ao like English ow in cow
ㄡ ou like English oh or ow in low
ㄢ an like English Ann
ㄣ en/n like English un in nun, or just as a final -n (like -in /een/)
ㄤ ang like English ong in long
ㄥ eng/n like English ung in stung, or just as a final -ng (like -ing)
ㄦ er/r like English er in baker
So for example since my name is James, notice the 'j' is followed by an 'ay' sound which is 'ei' in pinyin. It's an open sound, so the 'j' should be written 'zh'. Then followed by 'm' and 's'. So in pinyin and zhuyin it would be like this:
zheims
ㄓㄟㄇㄙ
However, the Chinese translation into Chinese characters spells it like this:
jie-mu-si (three characters)
A Chinese person has a hard time pronouncing James correctly, and often mispronounces it as 'jiems' with an 'eh' sound and not an 'ay' sound. It sounds like jyems (or gems?). But this might have to do with the translation they're used to.