FAQ About Mandarin Phonics
Which Mandarin Chinese phonetic system is better, Zhuyin or Pinyin?
Chinese use alphabets, whether Zhuyin or Pinyin, as a way of learning the pronunciation of Chinese characters, not as a writing system. The end result of learning either Zhuyin or Pinyin is the same: being able to pronounce Mandarin Chinese correctly. There is only one correct way to pronounce Mandarin Chinese regardless of whether Zhuyin or Pinyin is used to learn it.
Zhuyin and Pinyin annotations only appear in school books and books intended for young children. Once the student has learned how to pronounce Mandarin, they will generally have no further use of either Zhuyin or Pinyin. Chinese publications for adults use Chinese characters only and have no phonetic annotations, either Zhuyin or Pinyin.
Whether Zhuyin or Pinyin is better depends on the characteristics of the individual student learning Mandarin. Our experience is that most native English speaking students do best by learning Zhuyin first in order to master proper pronunciation. After proper pronunciation is achieved, the student can then learn Pinyin, a useful reference as well as a good keyboard entry method, without interference of English phonology on Mandarin pronunciation.
Why do some teachers claim that Zhuyin is better or Pinyin is better?
Unfortunately, not all teachers are experienced teaching both Zhuyin and Pinyin so they will naturally favor what they have the most experience with. At A Little Dynasty, we have teachers who have training and native experience with both.
Prior to the early 1960s, things were much simpler. There was only one way of teaching Mandarin and that was with Zhuyin. It did not matter where the teacher came from: mainland China, Taiwan, overseas Chinese . . . everybody taught Zhuyin.
In the early 1960s, however, schools in mainland China stopped teaching Zhuyin and switched to Pinyin. See History of Pinyin. The mainland Chinese teachers who had experience teaching Zhuyin before the 1960s are now mostly retired. Therefore, most of the mainland Chinese teachers today have never learned Zhuyin.
Chinese use alphabets, whether Zhuyin or Pinyin, as a way of learning the pronunciation of Chinese characters, not as a writing system. The end result of learning either Zhuyin or Pinyin is the same: being able to pronounce Mandarin Chinese correctly. There is only one correct way to pronounce Mandarin Chinese regardless of whether Zhuyin or Pinyin is used to learn it.
Zhuyin and Pinyin annotations only appear in school books and books intended for young children. Once the student has learned how to pronounce Mandarin, they will generally have no further use of either Zhuyin or Pinyin. Chinese publications for adults use Chinese characters only and have no phonetic annotations, either Zhuyin or Pinyin.
Whether Zhuyin or Pinyin is better depends on the characteristics of the individual student learning Mandarin. Our experience is that most native English speaking students do best by learning Zhuyin first in order to master proper pronunciation. After proper pronunciation is achieved, the student can then learn Pinyin, a useful reference as well as a good keyboard entry method, without interference of English phonology on Mandarin pronunciation.
Why do some teachers claim that Zhuyin is better or Pinyin is better?
Unfortunately, not all teachers are experienced teaching both Zhuyin and Pinyin so they will naturally favor what they have the most experience with. At A Little Dynasty, we have teachers who have training and native experience with both.
Prior to the early 1960s, things were much simpler. There was only one way of teaching Mandarin and that was with Zhuyin. It did not matter where the teacher came from: mainland China, Taiwan, overseas Chinese . . . everybody taught Zhuyin.
In the early 1960s, however, schools in mainland China stopped teaching Zhuyin and switched to Pinyin. See History of Pinyin. The mainland Chinese teachers who had experience teaching Zhuyin before the 1960s are now mostly retired. Therefore, most of the mainland Chinese teachers today have never learned Zhuyin.
Why should the English speaking Mandarin learner learn the Chinese Zhuyin Alphabet first?
The Chinese Zhuyin alphabet uses 37 symbols as its “letters” and each letter represents a unique Mandarin Chinese sound. China adopted the Zhuyin alphabet in 1932 along with the Mandarin language as its accompanying phonetic system. Zhuyin is the best method for a native English speaker to learn accent-free Mandarin Chinese. See The Chinese Zhuyin Alphabet.
Children between the ages of 3 and 7 have a unique opportunity to learn a second language “accent free” as if they were learning two first languages because it is during the same time their natural language skills are developing. As such, it is a golden opportunity for young children to take advantage of this window and to develop the correct pronunciation of the target language.
Native English speaking young children, however, are also learning English between the ages of 3 and 7, so teaching children different sounds for the same Roman letters (as used in Pinyin) will confuse young children.
Mainland hina has used Pinyin successfully since the early 1960s as a way to combat widespread illiteracy among people who already spoke Mandarin. The use of Pinyin by native Mandarin speakers was adequate because illiterate Chinese did not know English nor have any preconceived notions of what Pinyin letters are “supposed” to sound like in another language like Engish. Pinyin is a useful method to learn the pronunciation of Chinese characters for students who already speak fluent Mandarin, such as kids in China, but not for students with no Chinese language background,
Why do so many English speaking Chinese learners use Pinyin if the Chinese Zhuyin Alphabet teaches native English speakers better pronunciation of Chinese words?
Pinyin is used by many English speaking people as a shortcut to learning Mandarin because they do not need to learn new alphabet symbols. In other words, Pinyin can provide, in a shorter period of time than Zhuyin, a usable knowledge of Mandarin Chinese. It is almost impossible for a native English speaker with no knowledge of Mandarin pronunciation to learn perfect accent-free Mandarin using Pinyin alone. For some Chinese learners such as military personnel and business people, however, their priority is to be able to understand Mandarin Chinese as quickly as possible and do not mind speaking Mandarin with a foreign accent. In this regard, Pinyin is perfectly sufficient.
© Copyright 2017 A Little Dynasty LLC, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Use Prohibited
The Chinese Zhuyin alphabet uses 37 symbols as its “letters” and each letter represents a unique Mandarin Chinese sound. China adopted the Zhuyin alphabet in 1932 along with the Mandarin language as its accompanying phonetic system. Zhuyin is the best method for a native English speaker to learn accent-free Mandarin Chinese. See The Chinese Zhuyin Alphabet.
Children between the ages of 3 and 7 have a unique opportunity to learn a second language “accent free” as if they were learning two first languages because it is during the same time their natural language skills are developing. As such, it is a golden opportunity for young children to take advantage of this window and to develop the correct pronunciation of the target language.
Native English speaking young children, however, are also learning English between the ages of 3 and 7, so teaching children different sounds for the same Roman letters (as used in Pinyin) will confuse young children.
Mainland hina has used Pinyin successfully since the early 1960s as a way to combat widespread illiteracy among people who already spoke Mandarin. The use of Pinyin by native Mandarin speakers was adequate because illiterate Chinese did not know English nor have any preconceived notions of what Pinyin letters are “supposed” to sound like in another language like Engish. Pinyin is a useful method to learn the pronunciation of Chinese characters for students who already speak fluent Mandarin, such as kids in China, but not for students with no Chinese language background,
Why do so many English speaking Chinese learners use Pinyin if the Chinese Zhuyin Alphabet teaches native English speakers better pronunciation of Chinese words?
Pinyin is used by many English speaking people as a shortcut to learning Mandarin because they do not need to learn new alphabet symbols. In other words, Pinyin can provide, in a shorter period of time than Zhuyin, a usable knowledge of Mandarin Chinese. It is almost impossible for a native English speaker with no knowledge of Mandarin pronunciation to learn perfect accent-free Mandarin using Pinyin alone. For some Chinese learners such as military personnel and business people, however, their priority is to be able to understand Mandarin Chinese as quickly as possible and do not mind speaking Mandarin with a foreign accent. In this regard, Pinyin is perfectly sufficient.
© Copyright 2017 A Little Dynasty LLC, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Use Prohibited
