ABSTRACT
Some of the sounds of Mandarin Chinese represented in this chapter by pinyin spelling are so similar to English sounds, they will present no difficulty for the learner. Others are less similar to sounds in English but have a close enough resemblance, and the third group of sounds does not occur in English at all. The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) symbols are given below for consonants of this sort. It explains about Initials, Finals, Spelling Conventions. The letters f, l, m, n, s, y, w are all roughly the same as in English. b, d, g letters are similar to their English counterparts, but they are not voiced such that the vocal chords do not vibrate when these sounds are produced. p, t, k are similar to their English counterparts but these are much more heavily aspirated. In diphthongs the tone mark is put over the dominant vowel sound. Apostrophes are used to mark syllable boundaries where necessary.
