Comparison of Mandarin phonetic transcription systems

Mandarin syllables are divided into two parts: initials (consonants) and finals (vowels, diphthongs, triphthongs or vowels + n or ng). Most syllables are made up of an inital plus a final, but all the finals can stand alone as can some of the initials.

The pronunciation shown below is for the Mandarin spoken in the north of China, particularly by educated speakers in Beijing. It is considered the 'correct' or 'standard' way to pronounce Mandarin. There are considerable variations in Mandarin pronunciation in other areas. The most noticable difference in southern dialects of Mandarin is that the initials zh, ch and sh sound like z, c and s respectively.

Initials

Mandarin initials in various romanization systems

Finals

Mandarin finals in various romanization systems

Tone indication

Tone indication in various Mandarin romanization systems

Further information about Mandarin and about these transcription systems

Sample text in Chinese (Traditional characters)

人人生而自由﹐在尊嚴和權利上一律平等。他們賦有理性和良心﹐並應以兄弟關係的精神互相對待。

Sample text in Chinese (Simplified characters)

人人生而自由,在尊严和权利上一律平等。他们赋有理性和良心,并应以兄弟关系的精神互相对待。

Sample text in Chinese (Traditional characters with zhuyin)

Sample text in Chinese with zhuyin

Transliteration (Hànyŭ Pīnyīn)

Rénrén shēng ér zìyóu, zài zūnyán hé quánlì shàng yīlù píngděng. Tāmen fùyǒu lǐxìng hé liángxīn, bìng yīng yǐ xiōngdì guānxì de jīngshén hùxiāng duìdài.

Transliteration (Bopomofo)

ㄖㄣˊ　ㄖㄣˊ　ㄕㄥ　ㄦˊ　ㄗˋ　ㄧㄡˊ，　ㄗㄞˋ　ㄗㄨㄣ　ㄧㄢˊ　ㄏㄜˊ　ㄑㄩㄢˊ　ㄌㄧˋ　ㄕㄥˋ　ㄧ　ㄌㄩˋ　ㄆㄧㄥˊ　ㄉㄥˇ．　ㄊㄚ　ㄇㄣ˙　ㄈㄨˋ　ㄧㄡˇ　ㄌㄧˇ　ㄒㄧㄥˋ　ㄏㄜˊ　ㄌㄧㄤˊ　ㄒㄧㄣ，　ㄅㄧㄥˋ　ㄧㄥ　ㄧˇ　ㄒㄩㄥ　ㄉㄧˋ　ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄒㄧˋ　ㄉㄜ˙　ㄐㄧㄥ　ㄕㄣˊ　ㄏㄨˋ　ㄒㄧㄤ　ㄉㄨㄟˋ　ㄉㄞˋ．

Transliteration (Wades-Giles)

Jen²-jen² sheng¹ erh² tzu⁴-yu², tsai⁴ tsun¹-yen² he² ch'üan²-li⁴ shang⁴ i¹-lü⁴ p'ing²-teng³. T'a¹-men fu⁴-yu³ li³-hsing⁴ he² liang²-hsin¹, ping⁴ ying¹ i³ hsiung¹-ti⁴ kuan¹-hsi⁴ te ching¹-shen² hu⁴hsiang¹ tui⁴-tai⁴

Transliteration (Yale)

Rén-rén shēng ér dz̀-yóu, dzài dzwūn-yán hé chywán-lì shàng yī-lù píngdĕng. Tā-men fù-yǒu lĭ-syìng hé lyáng-syīn, bìng yīng yĭ syūng-dì gwān-syì de jīng-shén hù-syāng dweì-dài.

Transliteration (Gwoyeu Romatzyh)

Renren sheng erl tzyhyou, tzay tzuenyan her chyuanlih shanq iluh pyngdeeng. Ta.men fuhyeou liishinq her liangshin, binq ing yii shiongdih guanshih .de jingshern huhshiang dueyday.