# Chinese (Mandarin)/Pinyin

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The reading materials of this book are written in bite size for learning
easier, can be used for learning Pinyin Chinese\*
as well as English. (\*For learning Hanzi Chinese,
please click ***here***.)

-   You can search related topics of this book from the following box,
    or browse the ***resources***.
    

# The formulation of Pinyin

## Historic background

**Pinyin** was
officially declared by the government of the
People\'s Republic of China in
1958.

# The explanation of Pinyin

## What is Pinyin?

**Pinyin** (also called Hanyu Pinyin,
Romanized Chinese or Pinyin Chinese) is a
type of
transliteration for Putonghua - the
Standard Chinese language (a tonal language)
where tone marks are used to show tones. It is the
official form of the Latin
alphabet transliteration used for the
People\'s Republic of China and most of the world.
And it is the standard form of Chinese
Romanization for the United
Nations.

## Pronunciation

## Orthography

We should divide Pinyin text by words and write
syllables connectedly, such as \"I am a
foreigner\" should be written as \"Wǒ shì
wàiguórén\" in Pinyin.

## Syllable-dividing mark

Syllable-dividing mark is the mark for dividing syllables, used before
the syllables starting with vowels \"a\", \"o\", or
\"e\", such as \"pí\'ǎo\".

# The application of Pinyin

## To spell Chinese language

### Phonetic notation of Hanzi

### For spelling Putonghua

Chinese is normally written by
ideographics. But for non-Chinese-speaking
people, it is hard to recognize them. Pinyin can
help Chinese learners recognize them more easily.
This is a useful way to learn Chinese. Pinyin can
also be used in place of Hanzi when Hanzi is not convenient.

## Application technology

### Indexing

#### Indexing problems

There is no particular order to
Hanzi as it does not use the Roman
alphabet (also called the Latin
alphabet, i.e. ABC), so ordering by
alphabetical order is inconvenient. There are
currently many indexing methods to Hanzi,
including character
stroke, character radical,
Four-Corner System,
Zhuyin, Pinyin and etc. The
structural problems of Hanzi cause indexing
difficulty.

##### Solutions to indexing problems

Related governments together stipulate a
unified Hanzi strokes and
radicals standard.

There have been suggestions to use Pinyin as
the indexing method.
Pinyin adopts internationally used Roman
alphabet, makes convenient
file order. Pinyin uses
phonetic values, avoiding the
problem created by the lack of
unity between traditional and simplified
character strokes.

### Technical terms translation

#### Technical terms translation problems

Majority of written language uses Roman alphabet (also called Latin
alphabet). Hanzi (also called Chinese character) is not an alphabetic
written language and is not convenient for translation, causing a lot of
confusion. Technological terms such as Internet can be translated as
互联网 (Hùliánwǎng), 国际互联网 (Guójì Hùliánwǎng), 因特网 (Yīntèwǎng);
laser translated as 雷射 (léishè), 镭射 (léishè), 莱塞 (láisài), 激光
(jīguāng). Brand names such as National, Panasonic, Technics are
translated as 乐声牌 (Lèshēng-pái), 松下 (Sōng-xià); Sharp is translated
as 声宝 (Shēngbǎo), 夏普 (Xiàpǔ); Sony is translated as 新力 (Xīnlì),
索尼 (Suǒní). Place names such as 北京 (Běijīng) is translated as
Peking, Beijing; 广州 (Guǎngzhōu) is translated as Canton, Kwangchow,
Guangzhou. People names such as the surname 罗 (Luó) is translated as
Luo, Lo, Law; 李 (Lǐ) is translated as Lee, Li; Nixon is translated as
尼克逊 (Níkèxùn), 尼克松 (Níkèsōng). The same person can be translated
into different names.

##### Technical terms translation problem solutions

When translating foreign languages, directly transliterating foreign
languages can solve problems. For example, Internet directly translates
to the Internet; laser directly translates to the laser; National,
Panasonic and Technics directly translate to National, Panasonic and
Technics, or as kanji of Japan: 松下 (Sōng-xià). Names of Chinese
people, places and technical terms all use Pinyin to transliterate to
foreign languages. For example, 北京 (Běijīng) 邓小平 (Dèng Xiǎopíng)
and 普通话 (Pǔtōnghuà) use Pinyin to transliterate to Beijing, Deng
Xiaoping and Putonghua.

### Standardization of person and place names

### Romanization of technical terms and code names

#### Romanization

## Learn Chinese

Pinyin is a tool for learning Mandarin, and is used to explain both the
grammar and spoken Mandarin. Books containing both Hanzi and Pinyin are
used by learners of Chinese; Pinyin\'s role in teaching pronunciation is
similar to Furigana-based books (with Hiragana letters written above or
next to Kanji, directly analogous to Zhuyin) in Japanese or fully
vocalised texts in Arabic (\"vocalized Arabic\").

### Pinyin reading materials

**Pinyin reading materials**
are commonly used for learning Chinese.

## Hanzi input

### Pinyin input method

Pinyin input method is a popularly used phonetic input method. To key in
Putonghua\'s pinyin which will automatically convert into Hanzi. For
example: \"BABA\" is for inputting \"爸爸\".

# Resources

-   :Category:Book:Pinyin
-   See also

# Appendix

## The Problems of Hanzi Application in IT

## Pinyin Orthography

-   Basic Rules of Pinyin Orthography
    (Summary)

## Dictionaries

-   Pinyin vocabulary
-   Wenlin Pinyin dictionary

## Pinyin reading matters

The reading materials of this book can be used for learning Chinese as
well as English.

-   **Please see  for Pinyin reading
    matters**

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-   **Pinyin reading matters from
    Wikimedia**

## Pinyin tone marking

ā á ǎ à a = a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 = a ar aa ah \'a \*

āi ái ǎi ài = ai air aai aih

ān án ǎn àn = an arn aan ahn

āng áng ǎng àng = ang arng aang ahng

ē é ě è = e er ee eh

\- ér ěr èr = - err eer erh

nǖ nǘ nǚ nǜ = nv nvr nvv nvh

lǖ lǘ lǚ lǜ = lv lvr lvv lvh

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**de** = **d**, **dy**, or **de**, can be written distinguishably as
follows:

**d** indicating subordination; suffix indicating an adjective

**dy** -ly, suffix indicating an adverb

**de** indicating a verb followed by an adverb or adverb clause; infix
indicating be able to

------------------------------------------------------------------------

**le** indicating a past tense; indicating a new situation

**bu** not, no; non-, un-; be unable to

**\'g** non-specific measure word

**\'r** non-syllabic diminutive suffix; retroflex final

-   \* Syllable-dividing mark can be replaced by grave mark (\`) when
    apostrophe (\') is used for indicating neutral tone.

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-   Alternative methods can be used when diacritics are not convenient.

