To serve as a helpful and quick aid to help non-Chinese speakers pronounce Chinese names, we have created a webpage that provides a simple guide to pronunciation. Chinese is distinct in that it is a tonal language. But the allomorphic feature of tones is not usually marked in alphabetic Romanization of Chinese (called pinyin). Since the user of this guide will likely encounter such unmarked Romanization, we will dismiss tones in transcribing the sounds in pinyin.
The following begins with a simple introduction to Chinese names and the pronunciation system. It then provides clickable audio files for sounds that are more distant from those of English.
Finally, this guide will provide Romanization and audio files for 1) common Chinese surnames and 2) the names of faculty members and some graduate students of the Chinese program at SILC as examples since there are no common given names in Chinese.
Chinese Names
Most Chinese names consist of a surname (mostly single syllable) and followed by a given name (this could be one or two syllables). Many Chinese abroad nowadays choose to introduce themselves with given name first as in the western custom (for example, Yoyo Ma rather than Ma Yoyo).
Chinese Pronunciation/Spelling System
Pinyin or Hanyu pinyin, invented in the 1950s and officially adopted in China in 1958, is a system that uses letters from the Latin alphabet to transcribe Mandarin Chinese sounds. It is now widely used as an alphabetical replacement for Chinese characters outside of Chinese speaking regions, and is a common computer input system for typing Chinese. The fundamental Chinese morpheme (word) is a combination of initials, finals, and tones. The following is a list of initials and finals. Audio (all sounds are pronounced in flat tone) is provided for sounds that are less familiar to English speakers.
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Chinese pinyin |
Similar to the underlined sound in English |
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b |
book |
*It’s voiceless in Chinese |
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p |
park |
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m |
mother |
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f |
food |
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d |
dog |
*It’s voiceless in Chinese |
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t |
terrific |
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n |
nurse, nice |
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l |
lay |
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g |
egg. garden |
*It’s voiceless in Chinese |
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k |
knock, cake |
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h |
hot |
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j |
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*It’s pronounced similar to the “j” in “joy” but it’s a hard j. Place the tip of your tongue behind your top front teeth. |
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q |
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* Try to add a “t” sound to the front of the “x” sound in Chinese (see below). |
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x |
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*It’s pronounced similar to the “sh” in “she” but the tongue is low and flat. Place the tip of your tongue behind your lower teeth and raise the middle of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. |
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zh |
jerk |
*Pronounce “jerk” in English but stop before “rk.” |
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ch |
chirp |
*Pronounce “chirp” in English but stop before “r.” |
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sh |
shirt |
*Pronounce “shirt” in English but stop before “r.” |
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r |
leisure, pleasure |
* It’s closer to the “j” sound in French. |
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z |
goods |
* It’s an initial sound in Chinese. |
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c |
bits, pizza |
* It’s an initial sound in Chinese. |
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s |
sand |
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w |
wood |
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y |
yes |
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Chinese pinyin |
Similar to the underlined sound in English |
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i |
meet, meat |
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u |
oops, flute |
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ü |
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*Pronounce the “ee” as in meet, and then round up lips. It is like the German umlaut. |
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a |
father, bar |
*”ah” |
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o |
or |
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e |
but, the |
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ai |
I, die, aisle, Thai |
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ei |
may, eight |
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ao |
cow, Daoism/Taoism |
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ou |
boat |
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an |
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*It sounds between “on” and the “an” of “can” in English. |
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en |
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* “e” in Chinese + the nasalized “~n” ending in English |
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ang |
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* “a” in Chinese + the nasalized “~ng” ending in English |
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eng |
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* “e” in Chinese + the nasalized “~ng” ending in English |
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ong |
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* “o” or “u” in Chinese + “eng” in Chinese |
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ie |
yet |
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iu |
mayo |
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ue |
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“ü” in Chinese + the “e” in “egg” in English |
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ui |
way |
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uo |
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“oo” in “look” + “au” in “auto” |
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n |
thin |
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ng |
thing |
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Bai  |
Cai |
| Chen |
Gao |
| Guo |
Huang |
| Jiang |
Li |
| Liao |
Lin |
| Liu |
Lü |
| Ma |
Song |
| Sun |
Tian |
| Wang |
Wen |
| Wu |
Yang |
| Ye |
Zhang |
| Zhao |
Zhu |
List of Names of Chinese SILC Faculty & Staff
| Bo Yi |
Stephen Bokenkamp |
| Cao Zhongyu |
Joanne Tsao |
| Chen Huaiyu |
Huaiyu Chen |
| Gao Deyao |
Robert Joe Cutter |
| Liao Jianling |
Jianling Liao |
| Ling Xiaoqiao |
Xiaoqiao Ling |
| Tian Hao |
Hoyt Tillman |
| Wu Yingjun |
Young Kyun Oh |
| Xi Rugu |
Stephen H. West |
| Zhang Xia |
Xia Zhang |
| Zhou Anqi |
Angie Chau |
Some Names of Graduate SILC Students
| Chang Wenbo |
Li Jiangnan |
Liang Shuo |
| Liu Lidan |
Liu Xuewen |
Lu Le |
| Wang Xuan |
Wen Zuoting |
Wu Yang |
| Wu Yue |
Xin Zhaokun |
Zhang Jianhua |
| Zhang Jin |
Zhang Junlei |
Zhang Shuran |
| Zhang Xiaomeng |
Zhao Luying |
Outside Resources
For more information on the pronunciation of pinyin, see:
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Chinese Pinyin Chart (with tones) from Chinese Pronunciation Wiki
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Mandarin Chinese Pinyin chart with audio from Yabla