Learn the Chinese Alphabet in Less Than 20 min Pinyin Zhuyin Bopomofo

By the time you're finished with this video, you'll be able to recognize and say every single letter in the Chinese alphabet. Ready to get started? Then let's do this! Hey everyone, welcome to Sing and Learn Chinese. In today's lesson, we're not going to be singing, but we're definitely going to be learning Chinese. Specifically, the Chinese alphabet. What is the Chinese alphabet? Well, unlike English, the Chinese alphabet helps people with pronunciation only, so it's really more of a Chinese phonetic system than a Chinese alphabet. Because actual written Chinese doesn't use an alphabet at all. Instead, it's made up of radicals and other complex stuff that we won't go into right now. Topic for another video. But if you want to speak Chinese, you need to learn the Chinese alphabet. The Chinese alphabet is also known colloquially as bě pě mě fē, after the first four letters of the alphabet, bě, pě, mě, and fē. Just like in English, we sometimes call the alphabet the ABCs. There are two main systems of writing the Chinese alphabet. The pinyin system used by mainland China, and the zhùyín system used by Taiwan. The pinyin system uses the same ABCs that English speakers use, and the zhùyín system uses its own symbols. So you're probably wondering, which one should you learn? Well, pinyin is more common. After all, there are more people in China, and if you're watching this, you probably already know your ABCs. So you don't have to learn a whole new set of symbols to learn pinyin. However, many English learners struggle to pronounce Chinese accurately exactly because they're trying to pronounce pinyin the way they pronounce English. They do this subconsciously, out of habit, and habit is hard to change. There are a lot of similarities between pinyin and English phonetics, of course, but a lot of differences as well. So it can be confusing for some people to learn two pronunciation systems for the same written alphabet. My recommendation? Go ahead and learn pinyin because it's easy. But if you have the interest and bandwidth to learn zhùyín as well, might help you avoid some common pronunciation mistakes. And if you ever want to impress a Taiwanese person, you might decide to brush up on your zhùyín too. In this video, we're going to cover both. So either way, you'll be prepared. All right, let's take a look at the letters of the Chinese alphabet. Ta-da! Okay, I know what you're thinking. This is insane. How am I going to learn all this? Well, don't worry. I got your back. We're going to go through all these letters one at a time. And by the time you're finished with this video, you'll be able to recognize and say every single letter in the Chinese alphabet. Ready to get started? Then let's do this. Chinese letters are split into initials, medials, and finals. Initials start the word. Medials are in the middle. And finals end the word. Proper Chinese pronunciation also involves four, sometimes five tones. But we're going to save that topic for another time. So let's take a look at the alphabet starting with the initials. First, we have the labial initials. They're called labials because they use your lips. b p m f So the first one, b, think of a burger. Now, get rid of the erger, and you get b. In pinyin, it's just a b, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a mouth facing left, about to eat a burger. Now we have p. For this letter, think of a purring cat. Get rid of the ring cat, and you have p. In pinyin, it's a p, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a cat's face. Maybe a one-eared cat with whiskers? Then m is the same as money without the unny. m The pinyin is m, and the zhuyin looks a bit like an upside-down wallet shaking out money. The last labial initial is f, as in fun game without the ungame. So f, as you can see, f is represented by an f in pinyin. And in zhuyin, imagine a Game Boy controller on its side, like this. That's it for the labial initials. Now we move on to the second type of initials, the dental initials, so named because in order to create these sounds, you have to touch the tip of your tongue to the back of your teeth. And they are d, t, n, l. So d is a duck without the uck. d The pinyin is d, which makes sense, and the zhuyin looks a bit like the duck's profile with a wing. Then t is like when you say tough guy and get rid of the uff guy. t The pinyin is simply a t. And as for the zhuyin, imagine a tough guy flexing his arm, and maybe even holding a dumbbell. Now for n, we have the pinyin n, as in nut, of course, without the ut. Just n. To remember the zhuyin, think of a nut hanging off a branch. The last dental initial is l, as in lucky four-leaf clover without the ucky four-leaf clover. So just l. And no surprise, the pinyin is l. And the zhuyin looks a bit like a four-leaf clover, or at least the intersection of four leaves. Yes? No? Eh, you can use your imagination. That brings us to the end of the dental initials. But we're not done with initials as a group yet. Next we have the guttural initials. g, k, and h. g is pronounced like gut punch without the ut punch. So g. The pinyin is g, and for the zhuyin, imagine two people getting gut punched and doubling over in pain. That's kind of what it looks like. For k, think of a cross person saying, come here! Then get rid of the amir, and you get k. In pinyin, k is represented by a k. And the zhuyin looks like an angry face with an open yelling mouth. Now, h is like honey without the unny. H. In pinyin, it's an h. And in zhuyin, imagine a wand dripping honey, like this. Okay, we've come to the palatal initials. ji, qi, xi. Qi is like a genie without the ni. Ji. The pinyin is j, and the zhuyin looks a little bit like a genie with a smoky tail, or something along those lines. Eh, use your imagination. Then qi is like the sound of a chipping bird. Qiqiqi. The pinyin is unusual here. It's a q. It's not ch, because that represents a different sound that we will get into soon. So whoever invented pinyin decided to use the letter q instead. And we finish the palatal initials with xi, as in she went to the restroom. Xi. The zhuyin is another unusual one. It's an x instead of an sh, because again, sh represents a different sound that we will cover in a few seconds. So remember, x equals xi. As for the zhuyin, it looks exactly like the English capital letter T, or perhaps part of the female bathroom sign, like so. Now the retroflex initials are zh ch sh zh. In Chinese, they're called zhuan she yin, literally translated, rolled tongue sounds, because you kinda have to roll up the edges of your tongue to pronounce them. But here is where different accents can come into play. Just like British and American English speakers don't pronounce everything the same, Chinese speakers don't all pronounce things the same way either. Some people like to really emphasize the tongue rolling, zh ch sh. Others have more flat tongues, and they say zh ch sh, which can confuse some people, because that's basically how you pronounce the dental sibilant initials, which we're going to cover next. But first, zh is a bit tricky to say. Here's one way to think about it. First, try to say drummer. Then get rid of ummer, and just say zh. Notice you don't say der-rummer, you say drummer. So drummer, zh ummer, zh. The pinyin is zh, and the zhu yin, ha, notice, zhu yin uses ch as its initial sound, zhu yin. Anyhow, the zhu yin looks a bit like a snare drum on a stand. Now, ch is like when you say truck, and get rid of the uck, ch, ch uck, ch. The pinyin is ch, and the zhu yin looks a little like the windshield wipers of a truck. That's how you can remember it. Next, we have sh, which is like when you say mushroom, and get rid of the ma and the um. So ma, sh, um, sh, um, sh, shroom, sh. The pinyin is sh, which makes sense, and the zhu yin looks a bit like a leaning mushroom. Then we have zh, which is like all of the previous retroflex initials without the first part of the sound. So try shushing someone, sh. Now vocalize the sound you get, sh, like the mushroom example earlier. Now get rid of the sh, and you get zh. Here's a good example of how pinyin is not the same as English. In pinyin, zh is represented by r, but you don't pronounce it r or er or anything like that. You pronounce it zh. Actually, er is a different sound entirely in the Chinese alphabet. We'll get to it, don't worry. Alrighty, dental sibilant initials. These are like the skinny cousins of the retroflex initials. Here, listen to the difference. Retroflex equals zh, ch, sh. Dental sibilant equals zh, c, s. Hear it? If not, don't worry. It'll take a little time at first. Okay, zh is like when a mosquito gets too close to an electric flyswatter or a lamp and it goes zap. It's not just zh, it's zh, like with a d-ish sound at the beginning. The pinyin is z, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a lamppost, don't you think? For c, think of a putz without the p. Putz is another word for a stupid guy, by the way. So I know clowns aren't that stupid, but they like to act stupid. So here's a clown for you. And the zhuyin looks a bit like a clown squatting or something and holding his arms out like he's juggling. See? Then there's si as in snake without the nake. Si. The pinyin is s, of course. And the zhuyin looks a bit like a coiled snake rearing its head. Those are the initials. Now, let's take a look at the medials. There are three of them, yi, wu, and yu. Yi is like someone screaming, eek, I've seen a ghost! And running away as far as their legs can take them. The pinyin is yi, if yi is standing alone or starting a word. Oh, yes, by the way, yi can also act as an initial sound sometimes. But if the yi is serving as a medial in the middle of a word, it's just written as an i. And here's a way to remember the zhuyin, the dashed lines of somebody zooming away. Now, wu is like when you see someone trip and fall on their face, and you're like, oh, that's gotta hurt. Wu. The pinyin is yu, when the wu is in the middle of the word, or wu, when the wu is standing alone. The zhuyin wu looks kind of like an x, like the emoticon version of the face that you make when you see someone trip and fall. Now, yu is one of the most difficult sounds for monolingual English speakers to grasp. I hear there's a similar sound in French, but not English. But it's not really that hard once you get the hang of it. Here's how to make the sound. Think of the word sweet. Now, say it slowly. Sweet. Now, when you are saying the yi part, don't draw your lips back. In other words, don't stop saying yu. Sweet. Yui. There you go. Yu is like a combination of wu and yi from before. Like that. The pinyin is yu, which is why so many Chinese names get completely mangled. It's not pronounced yu, as in you and I, but yu, as in the vowels of the word sweet, mushed together. For the zhuyin, think of a sweet cupcake in a cupcake tin, like so. And that's it for the medials. Now, we get to the finals, and there are quite a few of these. So, get ready. Everybody buckled in? Okay, first one. Think of a kid who's just been let out for the summer break going, ya! Then get rid of the y, and you have ah. The pinyin is a, and the zhuyin looks exactly like a newly freed student raising his fists in victory. Now, o is a sound that doesn't exist in English. Think of someone yawning and not being able to form their vowels properly. Like that. The pinyin is just an o, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a face yawning, eyes scrunched into a line. Here's a tip. O is not the same thing as oh. That's actually a separate letter that we'll learn in a few seconds. That's why the Chinese word for me, or I, is wo. Not wo, but wo. Even though it's spelled w-o in pinyin. Wo, wo, wo, wo. Hear the difference? Okay, moving on. The next letter, uh, looks and sounds similar to oh, but it's different. Think of someone who sees a dead rat and goes, uh, what's that doing there? Uh. That's how you say that sound. The pinyin is yi, not yu, because that may make people confuse it with the earlier vowel yu, which is spelled y-u, or sometimes just yu. So to remember the zhuyin, think of a face with an eyebrow cocked up in disgust. Uh, a dead rat. Uh. Next we have e, which is also an e in pinyin, sometimes distinguished by italicizing it or adding a caret on top. So for this sound, think of Homer Simpson saying meh. The zhuyin looks a little bit like a guy crossing his arms and going meh, don't you think? The next final is ai, as in ice skaters without the skaters. Ai. The pinyin is ai, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a male skater raising a female skater into the air, like this. Now we have ei, as in waving flag without the wing flag. Ei. The pinyin is ei, and the zhuyin looks like a flag waving in the wind. Now ao is like when you skin your knees and you're saying ao. Ao. Its pinyin is ao, and the zhuyin looks just like the two bent knees of somebody who's just fallen. Then here is ou, as in the vowel you use to say bow tie. Ou. The pinyin is ou, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a bow tie in the process of being tied. Now for an, there isn't a very good English equivalent. It's not an, and it's not on. It's somewhere in between. The best example I could think of is the Spanish word for bread. As in panaderia, bakery. So an. The pinyin is an, and the zhuyin looks a bit like a baker's hat. Maybe? Yeah? Okay, next one. An spelled en in pinyin. Think of an old person saying of a child, look at that cute little young'un. And then keep the an part, young'un. An. Not an, but an. And here's a picture to help you remember the zhuyin, the face of a cute little young'un. Next, ang in pinyin, a-n-g. It's kind of close to the word wrong without the w-r. And the vowel is a little flatter. So it's not wrong with an o-n-g, but closer to a-h-n-g. Like somebody going, ah, and then adding an n-g at the end. Ang. Here's a picture to help you remember the zhuyin. A figure tapping his foot angrily and going, you're wrong. But feel free to come up with your own mnemonics as well. Okay. Ng is close to deng without the d. Ng. It's not really u-n-g, deng, but ng. In pinyin, that's e-n-g. And the zhuyin looks kind of like a nose sniffing deng. I know, not a pretty picture. And now, here is the last letter of the bunch. This letter is r. In pinyin, that's e-r. So imagine an uncertain person stuttering over his words. I don't know what to say. Now for the zhuyin, here's a picture of a person standing with very little confidence going, And guess what? You did it. You made it through the letters of the Chinese alphabet. Huzzah. You deserve a chocolate milkshake or whatever your favorite treat is. As a disclaimer, don't worry if you don't get or remember all of this right away. You'll want to hear this lesson several times and go over the letters repeatedly for it all to sink in. That's also why it helps to sing Chinese, because then you get used to hearing these sounds repeated in a non-annoying way. So if you haven't done so already, make sure you check out the Sing & Learn Chinese Song Teaching Videos or listen to some covers of popular songs in Chinese. Just click on the playlist on your screen or check the description box below. You can also download a free PDF Chinese pronunciation chart from singandlearnchinese.com. Link in the description box below. So that's the Chinese alphabet. Remember to impress your friends with your new knowledge, and I'll see you in the next video. Until we sing again, 再见!