Lesson 2

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Pronunciation of Initials

The initials can be divided into three types:

Normal: These are pronounced like in English.

Aspirated: Pronounced like y in English, but are said with a strong puff of air at the end of the consonant.

Pronunciation Pattern: These initials don't directly correspond to any English letters or sounds. They use a pronunciation rule that has to be memorized. The initials that follow this pattern are shown as red in the left column.

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Initial	How They Sound	Pronunciation Notes
b	Like the p is spy, not the b in bye	Corresponds closer to the sounds of a p
p	Like the p in pun	Aspirated
m	Like the m in man
f	Like the f in for
d	Like the d in den
t	Like the t in tongue	Aspirated
n	Like the n in no
l	Like the l in letter
g	Like the k is sky, not the g in good	More like a soft unaspirated k
k	Like the k in kite	Aspirated
h	Like the h in hot
j	Like the j in jeans	Sounds like gee, but unaspirated
q	like the ch in the word reach
x	Like the sh in she	Said like a slightly longer she
z	Like the ds in buds
c	Like the ts in cats	Aspirated
s	Like s in the word sun
zh	Like the G in German	Said with your tongue pulled slightly back into your mouth. The sound is made from the back of your tongue tip (it takes a bit of getting used to). These are sometimes called the "retroflex initials".
ch	Like the zh above, but aspirated
sh	Like the sh in shoe
r	Like the r in run

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