GUIDE TO PRONOUNCING CHINESE (Specifically Cantonese)
The information is based on my understanding of and adaptation of the Yale System (there are other standardized systems, and one I like is the one developed by Sidney Lau).
- Chan Kong
Sang
is pronounced: Chàhn Kòng Sàng, where the "h" after the
vowel is silent and is used solely to indicate a low tone. The
diacritical markings, or accent marks, are used to indicate
whether it is a rising or falling tone. Words without any accent
mark are level, either mid-level or low-level.
Of course, you knew it wasn't that easy, here is an exception. When two words having high falling tones follow each other, the first tone changes to a high level tone, so if there were a symbol, or if I knew what it was, Kong would have a small straight line over it in this context, but not otherwise.
- Sing Lung is pronounced Sìhng Lùhng. (Both are low falling tones). Chen Long is pronounced Zhèn Lóng according to the books I have looked at, (but Chen Long is Mandarin and I haven't studied that yet.) Chinese Characters
- Hong Kong is pronounced Hòng Kóng, "Hong" is high falling and "Kong" is mid-rising. Chinese Characters
- Beijing is pronounced Bàk Gìng in Cantonese, and Béi Jíng in Mandarin. Chinese Characters
More Chinese characters will be added as I have time. I need a quicker way to import them than the way I'm doing it now!
|
Back to FAQ's
|
| ||
|
|
©2001 |
