How to Pinyin
In the simplest explanation, Pinyin (拼音) is to spell out how Chinese characters are pronounced.
拼 means to spell or piece together while 音 means sound. I feel that pinyin is a good starting point to learn Chinese. For most of us, we use conversational Chinese more often than written Chinese, so knowing how to pronounce words is useful. Secondly, when faced with an unknown word, knowing the pinyin allows us to translate it e.g. via Google Translate. Similarly, if you remember how a word is pronounced but can't quite remember how it is written, you can type the pinyin into your mobile device to get the written form (provided you then know how to identify it).
It is therefore important to understand how pinyin works. There are 4 tones* to take note. Depending on which textbook or reference materials you read, the tones may have varying names but they essentially mean the same:
Tone 1 or 第一声 : "flat” or “high"
Tone 2 or 第二声 : "rising"
Tone 3 or 第三声 : "falling-rising" or "down-up"
Tone 4 or 第四声 : "falling"
You can use a memory aid to visualise how the tones change. I find this one interesting:
Image from 121chineselessons
Or you can take a particular sound and run it through the 4 tones to feel the difference. In the example below, the 4 tones for the word wen are shown, each forming a distinct word with its individual meaning.
If your preferred mode of learning is through listening, here's a clip to hear how the 4 tones are pronounced.
* There is a "silent or neutral tone" or 轻声 to take note. Some websites even call this the 5th tone which I feel is not correct. You can tell a particular word has the silent tone if you see it without any of the 4 tonal annotations.
The Pinyin Rules
There are 3 rules to follow:
3-3 -> 2-3
Rule of the "不"
Rule of the "一"
(a) 3-3 will become a 2-3
Nope, this isn’t soccer tactics for changing formation. What this rule means is that when there are 2 words together and both have the third tone, the 1st word will be pronounced as if it has the second tone. You won’t see it being reflected in the tonal annotations so the change comes about when you have to pronounce the words.
(b) Rule of the "不"
On its own, 不 is pronounced with the fourth tone (imagine yourself forcefully saying “No”!)
However, if it is used in front of another word with the fourth tone, it changes to have the second tone. Again, this is not reflected in the tonal annotations so you’ll have to adjust verbally when you come across such situations. Here are a few examples:
(c) Rule of the "一"
By now, you should get the hang of the pinyin rules. The so-called Rule of the “一” is similarly about combination of words and tonal changes. 一 carries the first tone when used alone; it becomes second tone when it precedes a fourth tone. But if the next word is any other tone, it is pronounced as having the fourth tone. Confused already? You should be.. here's a visual summary to make the headache go away:
The KT Perspective
Pinyin is essentially a form of Chinese pronunciation. As it uses the alphabetical system, I feel that it may be easier for us to pick up. The pinyin rules may seem onerous at first but you do not have to memorise them. In fact the best way to learn and practise them is by listening to Channel 8 news or Mediacorp Chinese dramas or Mandarin radio stations. I'm not giving free publicity or generating referral website traffic to them but if you recall my earlier post, immersion is an effective route to learn Chinese, especially pronunciation in this context.
Learning pinyin is fun too when you get to appreciate "mispronounced words". There are loads of creativity on display when words get deliberately mispronounced or replaced with similar-sounding substitutions to create dramatic, comical or satirical effect. To suffer from 气管炎 (qì guǎn yán) is to have bronchitis. But to have 妻管严 (qī guǎn yán; just 1 tonal difference) means one is henpecked. Direct translation of 妻管严 = Wife Control Strictly :P The talented and well-travelled TV host Belinda Lee once hosted a show called "Find Me A Singaporean". In it, she searches for Singaporeans in far-flung places (think South America or Iceland) and showcases their lives and how they adjust to foreign cultures. The title of the show is 稀游记 (xī yóu jì), a wonderful wordplay on the classical tale Journey to the West 西游记 (xī yóu jì). 稀, meaning rare or uncommon, fits the show's theme perfectly and has the same pinyin as the original novel title.
Have fun using pinyin. Let it be the key to unlock fun and interesting insights for you!
Learn pinyin and its interesting rules like a Pro. Then, as what Picasso says,
break the rules like an artist. Image from Pinterest
Kommentare