Questions tagged [pinyin]

Questions about the official transcription writing system that is used to write the reading of chinese characters using the roman alphabet.

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How do you understand her name "Bi-khim Hsiao"?

Her name in Chinese is "萧美琴" and in English is "Bi-khim Hsiao". How do you understand the translation?
PdotWang's user avatar
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Is the Pinyin made for some Chinese characters in double standard?

The most striking cases are: 莫 (mo), 我(wo), 坡(po),波(bo), but 国(guo), 洛(luo), 错(cuo), etc, with one "u" added, which is unnecessary. To my ears, they are the same, aren't they?
NanningYouth's user avatar
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Why Pinyin's "声母" and "韵母" were translated as "initials" and "finals"?

Why Pinyin's "声母" and "韵母" were translated as "Initials" and "Finals", but not as "sound-mother" and "rime-mother"? What is the meaning of &...
PdotWang's user avatar
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What "字母" mean in Chinese (not Alphabet in English)? Why is it called "character-mother"?

The word "字母" might have been first used by SHOU WEN of the TANG dynasty. Why is it called "character-mother"? And now people translate "Alphabet letters" as "字母&...
PdotWang's user avatar
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How to properly map pinyin to Chinese text in a sentence?

I am working on displaying Chinese texts like CText does, but I wanted to have a version of each text which displays the pinyin next to it. My question is, how do you properly represent Chinese "...
Lance's user avatar
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How to get Google Contacts to use Hanyu Pinyin or Zhuyin fuhao sort order on desktop?

We observe an Android user figured out how to make Google Contacts sort his Chinese surnamed contacts in Hanyu Pinyin order. How to do the same thing, on desktop? Yes, I want to keep my main language ...
Dan Jacobson's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
188 views

Python function for splitting pinyin into syllables

The question I'd like to have a function in Python for splitting a given string containing pinyin into its syllables. The following two code blocks show how the function is intended to work. Input ...
rdrg109's user avatar
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Is there statistics on the frequency of individual pinyin syllables in real texts?

I'm interested in the frequency of pinyin syllables (both when including tones and toneless). This implies the usage in real text, weighted by the occurrences in the corpus, not by parsing a ...
Alexander Z.'s user avatar
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2 answers
120 views

How can I install Shuangpin in Rime for Traditional Characters only?

I am on a Windows 10 PC. I have installed the Zhengma method on RIME and have been using it for the past few months. But I want to try practicing with Shuangpin (aka Double Pinyin) since its easier on ...
Capdaflag loves Mandarin's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Ibus-pinyin seems not a good Chinese inputting system for Chinese learners. How do you usually input Chinese using keyboard without android or iphone?

Since my reputation points are insufficient, I guess that I can't paste an image in this post. So I describe what I want to tell you using texts only. I've been using ibus-pinyin in Ubuntu 22.04 to ...
TG24's user avatar
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Tool for processing Chinese text

DimSum is (was) a Java tool I found useful for Chinese on MacOS, but it is twelve years old and the website says it should solve some “problems on Snow Leopard” (Snow Leopard is 2009, version 10.6; ...
伟思礼's user avatar
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1 answer
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How do I change the ruby text language in Microsoft Word for Hanyu Pinyin?

I would like to use the Phonetic Guide in Microsoft Word to learn Chinese by adding Hanyu Pinyin to Simplified and Traditional Chinese text. However, when select a group of characters, the ruby text ...
Wibble's user avatar
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4 answers
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Where to put the tone mark in pinyin

In pinyin the tone mark (diacritical mark) only goes on vowels. If there is only one vowel in a character's pinyin then the answer is easy, the tone mark just goes on the vowel. For example: 思 sī, 于 ...
F Chopin's user avatar
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Why does "Lüzhijiang" or "Lvzhijiang" Bridge (绿汁江大桥) look so strange to me?

CNN's Record-breaking suspension bridge set to open in Yunnan, China says: Stretching 798 meters over a river valley, Lvzhijiang Bridge's mere length may not sound all that extreme when compared to ...
uhoh's user avatar
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1 answer
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Pinyin / pronunciation for 朋友

I've only been learning Chinese for three days so this may be a very stupid question. I'm seeing the pronunciation for 朋友 sometimes written as [péngyou] and sometimes written as [péngyǒu]. Please ...
KrJpnLinguistNoob's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
548 views

Converting pinyin with tones into chinese characters

Does anybody know how to convert pinyin with tone marks back into chinese characters. I am using www.branah.com/chinese-to-pinyin to convert the characters to pinyin but cannot find a way to do the ...
montyBoi's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
97 views

What is the zhuyin for the onomatopoei bia1

Seeing that my existing code to map pinyin to zhuyin has no mapping for biā .. ao: "ㄠ", ba: "ㄅㄚ", bai: "ㄅㄞ", ban: "ㄅㄢ", bang: "ㄅㄤ", bao: "ㄅㄠ"...
Michael Buen's user avatar
2 votes
8 answers
501 views

Is the Ong sound absent from zhuyin?

In the “group a finals” rows of the Wikipedia pinyin and zhuyin tables I see an “ong” row present in the pinyin table absent from the zhuyin table. Zhuyin expresses this final with the combination of “...
Joseph Johnston's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
217 views

Tools for self study of Mandarin pronunciation

I am interested in self-study resources to improve my mandarin pronunciation (improve pinyin syllables and also tone pronunciation). There are many resources to self study writing/reading skills here ...
user3507584's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
236 views

Pronouncing pinyin "ing" (bopomofoㄧㄥ ) as /iŋ/ or /jəŋ/ e.g. in 冰

The book "Sounds of Chinese" gives the surface representation IPA transcription for the word 冰 as /pjəŋ/ and the underlying representation as /piŋ/ (in section 8.1), while the example at 3....
Anonymous's user avatar
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Dictionary for different dialects

I am in search for a dictionary that have the most common Chinese words mapped with a one-to-one relationship for different dialects. To be specific, I am looking for a entries mapped for Taiwan (...
Axel's user avatar
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Is the pinyin for 他撇了撇嘴 actually "tā piē le piězuǐ" (as given by Pleco)? And if so, why are the two 撇s pronounced differently?

There are two pronunciations for 撇: piē and piě. As I understand, the pinyin for 撇嘴 is piě​zuǐ​. But then I see this example sentence on Pleco... 他撇了撇嘴,轻蔑地一笑。 Tā piēle piězuǐ. His lips curled in a ...
Becky 李蓓's user avatar
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Without using the help of Pinyin

I was taught Chinese by my family and could do the memorizing of many words. The thing that had me worried is that while I could read without pinyin in some parts, I couldn't in others. If I was given ...
Artemis Silver's user avatar
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2 answers
83 views

Pronunciation of 对 and 水

对 (duì) sounds to my ears more like /duei/. Similarly with 水 (shuǐ) /ʂuei/. Am I mishearing, or am I misunderstanding how Pinyin is supposed to be pronounced? Or is this a dialectal variant?
月--'s user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
438 views

Why has zuò//láo // in between?

I am going through the word 坐牢 using the Pleco dictionary. Generally they will not keep // in between two characters. But I can see // for this. zuò//láo What does // mean? Can zuò and láo be used ...
user27485's user avatar
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What does this name mean in pinyin/english?

i'd appreciate it a lot if someone could tell me! id like to know what this name means in pinyin, as well as english.
sophiexx's user avatar
5 votes
7 answers
751 views

Pronunciation of word-initial glides (pinyin 'y' and 'w')

As a non-native speaker, I read pinyin and want to pronounce 'yi' as /ji:/ and 'wu' as /wu:/. But sometimes I think I hear just /i:/ and /u:/. Is that really the case or am I just (not) hearing ...
Mitch's user avatar
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1 answer
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How do I type 了 with m17n tonepy in ubuntu?

I understand this character to be "le1." Here are what I get for the options of le+tone: le1: le2: (nothing) le3: (nothing) le4: I do not see what I am looking for and expected this common ...
Mittenchops's user avatar
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1 answer
138 views

How to type PinYin on Windows without the actual letters being typed out as you construct a word?

The reason I'm asking is that I want to practice typing in Chinese on TypeRacer, but it's currently very inconvenient to use. If the word I'm trying to type is "你好", it warns me that I've ...
Daniel Lin's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
195 views

What tone for retroflex r?

The retroflex r is not the consonant r in a word (pinyin) like in 人 rén. The retroflex is added as a suffix in the Beijing area, or as a diminutive suffix. Would it be pronounced with the second tone,...
faure's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
466 views

Is pinyin an accurate pronunciation guide?

Pinyin seems to be an EXACT pronunciation guide to Chinese words, but is it exact? I am not a Chinese speaker so don't know for sure. I would like to take the Pinyin transcription of Chinese words and ...
Lance's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
438 views

Character substitution in Microsoft Pinyin IME for typing 「」(直引号)

recently my Windows 10 was updated and with came some changes with the input methods that I was using, namely Google Chinese Piyin 谷歌拼音. The problem is that I cannot access it now for no clear reason. ...
Patrik's user avatar
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0 votes
3 answers
189 views

Hello! Can someone please translate: 'My Little Ghost' to Chinese?

I'm creating a story with this title and the setting I'm supposed to have is in ancient China. It would be helpful if you can show me how it is spelled and if the translated version sounds more like ...
JannDG's user avatar
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1 answer
108 views

There is this song that I can't find the Pinyin lyrics to on Youtube

Can someone help me find it please? This is just copied and pasted from what should be the songs title 凌震 尤金 多看一眼
Lynjah Marie Saint's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
161 views

Why use "i" to represent 自然韵?

In teaching 汉语拼音,the biggest headache is how to explain the "i" after the 7 独立音节 should not be pronounced same way as in "bi" "pi" "mi" ... etc. A very serious ...
James Liu 刘老师's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
138 views

What's wrong to write g for 漢語拼音 pronunciation of 歌? [closed]

This is a question asked on behalf of thousands of new beginner learning 漢語拼音. When giving a 漢語拼音 dictation test (like spelling test in English) to my students, one very smart student write "g&...
James Liu 刘老师's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
134 views

According to the official rules of pinyin, should 道德经 be transcribed with or without spaces between the individual syllables?

While reading the Wikipedia article about the 道德经 / 道德經, I noticed how inconsistent it is in its pinyin transcription of that book title. Here are the transliterations found in the article (the link ...
Tsundoku's user avatar
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-1 votes
2 answers
139 views

How do I write my name in traditional Chinese characters (with pinyin)? [closed]

I'm starting my first Chinese class in a few days, and I was hoping someone could help me write name in Chinese (with a pinyin transliteration because I can't read Chinese characters yet)? My first ...
Ren's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
117 views

Examples of correct and incorrect pinyin

Where to find an authoritative and/or verified list of examples for correct (and incorrect) Chinese to Pinyin conversions for words and sentences? I am specifically looking for corner cases when ...
ccpizza's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
2k views

What are the most common Mandarin words for each pinyin syllable?

I've been practicing my pronunciation by reciting the different pinyin syllables described in my book. My book lists some examples of common words for some syllables. I was wondering where I could ...
Horatio's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
494 views

To display a correct pinyin in a web page what font should i use

I have the line <link href="https:/ /fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Ma+Shan+Zheng&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"> to display a nice font for Chinese characters, which ...
faure's user avatar
  • 540
0 votes
5 answers
492 views

How to pronounce 學 "shwehh", "shoo-ehh", or "xüüehh"?

According to pinyin pronunciation guides, 學 should be pronounced x + ü + e with a rising tone. This should verbally sound something like 1) a shh- with tip of tongue close to your bottom teeth ...
MuchAppreciated25's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
91 views

What is the correct pronunciation of 辫发?

Google Translate and 查查在线词典 both say 辫发 ought to be biànfǎ, but Baidu says biànfā. What is correct?
user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
248 views

What is this modified version of Hanyu Pinyin called?

I am new to Chinese, have been studying it for almost a year or so. I noticed that a lot of Chinese music videos have subtitles in a modified version of pinyin that has many distinct features from ...
ye sheng's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
693 views

Why is the Pinyin for 波 bo1 not buo1? And why is 多 duo1 instead of do1?

Recently I started to learn Pinyin. The system is relatively easy to follow but some ambiguity does exist. For example, I found the usage of finals o and uo confusing: why the Pinyin for 波 is bo1, not ...
techie11's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
913 views

Is it wo you didi or wo you yí ge didi?

Is it wo you didi or wo you yí ge didi? I have a younger brother. Do I use yi ge or not? I am confused about the yí ge?
soccergirl's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
10k views

How to translate Pinyin with tones marks on Google Translate?

On Google Translate , if I enter Pinyin with tone marks (for example "nǐ hǎo"), Google Translate is unable to translate from Mandarin to English. However, if I type without tones (for example "ni hao")...
mark's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
953 views

Why the pinyin of 鱼 is yú instead of ǘ?

Two observations: It should be fine for the pinyin of a character to contain no initials such as 阿(ā),哦(ò) and 噩(è). The bopomofo equivalent is ㄩˊ, which is ǘ in pinyin. Then why the pinyin of 鱼 is ...
Zuriel's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
517 views

Bù kèqi or Bú kèqi: In PinYin, do I write the fourth or second tone with 不客气?

When writing 不客气 in (PinYin): 不 = Bù 不客气 = Bù kèqi Because of the fourth tone of kè the pronunciation is Bú kèqi. But do i write it down as Bù kèqi or Bú kèqi?
Apotacyll's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
604 views

-uan pinyin pronunciation

It seems to me that in Mandarin, two different vowel sounds are used for words whose pinyin ends with -uan. In some words, like 全 (quán) and 元 (yuán), the vowel sounds like "oo-en" (the nucleus/coda ...
Kerrick Staley's user avatar