Pinyin
Mandarin in letters
Pinyin is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese, converting Chinese characters into Latin letters with diacritical marks indicating tones.
It was adopted by China in 1958 and became the international standard: The word for "hello" in Pinyin is nǐ hǎo.
Essential for language learners and digital input of Chinese text. (Lowercase pinyin treats the system as a common noun.)
High-ranking government official
- charactersPersons in a narrative
- hanziChinese logographic symbols
- simplifiedMade less complex
- traditionalFollowing long-held customs
romanization · Latin script · standardization · 1958 · ISO · international standard
Ivy League institution
- transliterationCross-script phonetic spelling
- diacriticsMarks altering letter pronunciation
- accent marksCharacters altering pronunciation
- umlautsDouble-dot diacritical marks
apostrophes · spelling · transcription · Latinization · alphabetization · conversion
Abbreviated personal letters
- finalsConcluding tests or matches
- syllablesUnits of pronunciation
- consonantsLetters that aren't vowels
- vowelsLetters with unblocked airflow
diphthongs · palatals · aspirated · syllable structure · phonemes
Paper memorization tools
- drillsRepetitive training routines
- practiceRepeated work toward mastery
- pronunciation guideChart showing speech sounds
- textbookAcademic subject manual
beginner · Duolingo · dictionary · mnemonics · listening · speaking · annotation · study
Mandarin
High-ranking government official
- charactersPersons in a narrative
- hanziChinese logographic symbols
- simplifiedMade less complex
traditional · romanization · Latin script · standardization · 1958 · ISO · international standard
Yale
Ivy League institution
- transliterationCross-script phonetic spelling
- diacriticsMarks altering letter pronunciation
- accent marksCharacters altering pronunciation
umlauts · apostrophes · spelling · transcription · Latinization · alphabetization · conversion
initials
Abbreviated personal letters
- finalsConcluding tests or matches
- syllablesUnits of pronunciation
- consonantsLetters that aren't vowels
vowels · diphthongs · palatals · aspirated · syllable structure · phonemes
flashcards
Paper memorization tools
- drillsRepetitive training routines
- practiceRepeated work toward mastery
- pronunciation guideChart showing speech sounds
textbook · beginner · Duolingo · dictionary · mnemonics · listening · speaking · annotation · study · curriculum
intonation
Pitch variation in speech
dipping · flat · neutral tone
- Romanizationromanization, transliteration, romanized, romaji, Hepburn
- alphabetsLatin, vowels, Latin alphabet, Greek alphabet, Roman alphabet
- writing systemsalphabet, vowel, alphabets, Cyrillic alphabet, consonant
- left-to-rightEnglish, French, German, Spanish, Italian
- Keyboard LayoutsQWERTY, Dvorak, French Canadian, Canadian French, Latin American
- spelling reformspelling reform, spelling rules, phonetic spelling, respelling, Noah Webster