202 CultureShock! China
Pinyin Wade-Giles Equivalent English
Phoneme
H H ‘h’ as in ‘hot’
I (before ‘n’) I or ih ‘I’ as in ‘pin’
I (after ‘sh’) Ih ‘ur’ as in ‘cur’
I (after other
consonants)I or ee ‘ee’ as in ‘week’J Ch ‘j’ as in ‘jump’
K K’ ‘k’ as in ‘kite’
L L ‘l’ as in ‘light’
M M ‘m’ as in ‘mama’
N N ‘n’ as in ‘banana’
O Aw ‘o’ as in ‘dog’
P P’ ‘p’ as in ‘pig’
Q Ch’ ‘ch’ as in ‘chicken’
R (when
followed by ‘u’
or sometimes
by ‘a’)J ‘r’ as in ‘groove’R (other times) Jh no English equivalent
S S ‘s’ as in ‘sat’
T T’ ‘t’ as in ‘toy’
U Eu ‘oo’ as in ‘loon’
W W ‘w’ as in ‘watch’
X Hs ‘sh’ as in ‘harsh’
Y Io ‘y’ as in ‘young’
Z Tx ‘dz’ as in ‘adze’
Ai I ‘y’ as in ‘fly’
Ao Au ‘ou’ as in ‘loud’
Ei Ay or ai ‘ay’ as in ‘pay’
Ia Ya or ia ‘ya’ as in ‘yard’
Iao Yao or iao ‘eow’ as in ‘meow’
Iu Iu ‘yo’ as in ‘yo-yo’