Pronunciation - The Rhyme

There is a rhyme to learn the initials and vowels. This is usually one of the first thing Chinese-speaking kids memorize when starting to learn pinyin, and so you should do this too!

The sequence of the initials in the rhyme are:

b, p, m, f
d, t, n, l
g, k, h
j, q, x
zh, ch, sh, r
z, c, s

The rhyme completed with initials & finals is as below. All use Tone (1).

bo, po, mo, fo
de, te, ne, le
ge, ke, he
ji, qi, xi,
zhi, chi, shi, ri
zi, ci, si

When you memorize this rhyme, not only you will know how the initials are pronounced, but also how the tricky sounds of ji, qi xi, zhi, chi, shi, ri, zi, ci, si are pronounced.

For the initials, I think they can be divided into 2 groups, in term of how to pronounce them more accurately, base on whether you “release the breath” or not when pronouncing it.

“Release the breath” here means that when you pronounce the sound, just place your palm in front of your mouth. If your palm can feel your breath out, then it is called “release the breath”. If your palm can’t feel your breath out, then it is NOT ‘release the breath”.

From the rhyme above, those sounds that you should & should NOT feel your breath when pronounce are:

Should NOT feel:  bo, mo, de, ne, le, ge, ji, zhi, ri, zi

Should feel: po, fo, te, ke, he, qi, xi, chi, shi, ci, si

It’s important to differentiate between:

·         bo & po (release the breath or not)

·         de & te (release the breath or not)

·         ge & ke (release the breath or not)

·         ji & qi (release the breath or not)

·         xi & si  (difference in sound)

·         zhi & chi & shi (difference in sound)

·         le & ri  (difference in sound)

Congratulations! If you follow the lessons of Chinese language pronunciation here, you should be able to read most Chinese characters through pinyin by now. I apologize for not able to provide you with the audio files. What you need to do is keep on practicing and familiarize yourself with it.