What is the Chinese Zhuyin Alphabet?
Zhuyin, The Original Mandarin Chinese Alphabet
Zhuyin is the original Chinese alphabet. Zhuyin was created as part of the Mandarin Chinese language by the same committee of scholars and linguists who created the Mandarin Chinese language
itself. See History of Mandarin. After considering many phonetic schemes including use of the Roman alphabet, the scholars who created the Mandarin language determined that Zhuyin was the best method for teaching Mandarin pronunciation. In 1932, the Republic of China government adopted Mandarin Chinese as China’s official language and Zhuyin as the official Chinese alphabet. After the end of China’s civil war in 1949, the new PRC government continued to teach Zhuyin into the early 1960s.
Pinyin is Simply Zhuyin Sounds Written with Roman Alphabet Letters
In 1958, the PRC government adopted a new alphabet for Mandarin Chinese called Hanyu Pinyin, or just Pinyin. Pinyin describes the sounds of the Mandarin Chinese language as defined in the Zhuyin alphabet using Roman letters (“ABCs”). In other words, Pinyin and Zhuyin are not different phonetic systems, they are just different symbols used to describe the same set of sounds of the Mandarin Chinese language. See Zhuyin-Pinyin Conversion Chart. Because the Roman Alphabet is not designed to transmit the tone of a sound, Pinyin retains the tone marks of the Zhuyin alphabet to express Mandarin Chinese tones. Tone notation is critical in Mandarin Chinese because Mandarin is a tonal language; i.e., different tones of the same sound have different meanings.
Unlike in English, Chinese Alphabets are Not Writing Systems
A vital difference in how the Chinese use alphabets, whether Zhuyin or Pinyin, versus Western countries and some Asian ones like Vietnam and Korea, is that in China, alphabets are only used as an aid to learning the pronunciation of Chinese characters and not as a stand alone writing system. Therefore, both Zhuyin and Pinyin appear only as annotations to Chinese characters, never by themselves.
In other words, the choice between Zhyuin and Pinyin is just a choice of method to learn Mandarin pronunciation, rather than a choice between different writing systems. There is only one proper way to pronounce Mandarin, whether that pronunciation is learned with Zhuyin or Pinyin.
The Proper Mandarin™ Curriculum and Textbook Series starts with phonics, progresses to Chinese characters with phonetic annotations, and finally to Chinese characters exclusively.
After late primary school when students begin using Chinese characters without any phonetic aids, the student will probably never interact with either Zhuyin or Pinyin again (or at least until they become parents themselves and need to help their young children with learning Mandarin pronunciation).
Pinyin Works . . . for People Who Already Speak Mandarin
Pinyin was primarily created as an effort to reduce illiteracy in China. In other words, the main purpose of Pinyin is to teach native Mandarin speakers how to read their own language. At the time Pinyin was created in the late 50s to early 60s, most mainland Chinese were illiterate.
The proponents of Pinyin also hoped that a side benefit of Pinyin would be to make it easier for foreigners to learn Chinese because they would already be familiar with the Roman alphabet. In practice, this has not been the case, especially with children learning Chinese. As discussed below, the same letters in the Roman alphabet have different sounds in Pinyin and English and there are no tones in English. While an adult may be able to train his/her brain to decipher Roman letters using a completely different phonology depending on whether the person is reading Pinyin or English, this is very difficult for children and impossible for young children who are still trying to learn what the Roman alphabet is supposed to sound like in English. In other words, a young native English speaking child learning Pinyin while at the same time learning the "ABCs" in English could lead to difficulties in learning English as well as Chinese.
Pinyin works fine for individuals who already speak Chinese fluently. Pinyin works in China because people in China have no preconceived notion of what the Roman letters used in Pinyin are “supposed” to sound like in any other language.
Learning Pinyin First May Cause Confusion and Mispronunciation for English Speakers
Even though Pinyin uses Roman letters to describe pronunciation, it is radically different from English phonology. As discussed below, in trying to learn Chinese words, native English speakers using Pinyin will inevitably transfer familiar English phonology that are similar, but not identical, to those of Mandarin Chinese, resulting in a comical mispronunciation of Mandarin Chinese: the dreaded "lao wai" accent.
The natural interference of English phonological awareness by native English speakers has a strong adverse affect on native English speakers ability to learn Mandarin Chinese using Pinyin. Because Pinyin employs the familiar Roman alphabet, Pinyin is problematic for people whose native language also uses the Roman alphabet. For example, the Pinyin letters "j", "q", and "x" which represent the Zhuyin letters "ㄐ", “ㄑ”, and "ㄒ" represent entirely different sound values from the English pronunciation of the English letters j, q, and x. The Pinyin letter “q” which represents the Zhuyin letter “ㄑ”, sounds like “chee” in English. An English speaker who sees the letter “q” in a Pinyin word would naturally try to pronounce it as an English "q" as in the English word “queen” rather than its proper Mandarin pronunciation of “chee.” This is because in English, the letter “q” does not sound anything like "chee.” Another example is the pinyin letter "z" which an English speaker will naturally try to pronounce as in "zebra" but the Pinyin "z" sounds nothing like that. Therefore, using the visually similar Roman alphabet letters to represent the different phonologies of Chinese and English will cause inevitable confusion and inaccurate pronunciation. This is why Pinyin should only be learned after a native English speaker has already mastered accurate accent-free Mandarin pronunciation.
Zhuyin is Easier for English Speakers to Master Accent-Free Mandarin
It is easier for non-Chinese speakers to learn proper accent-free Mandarin Chinese pronunciation using Zhuyin because the non-Chinese speaker has no preconceived notion of what Zhuyin letters are supposed to sound like. The non-Chinese speaker only needs to learn what 37 Zhuyin letters sound like, a relatively easy task, in order to pronounce any word in Mandarin Chinese perfectly.
Because Pinyin is based on Zhuyin, once the Chinese learner has mastered accurate Mandarin Chinese pronunciation with Zhuyin, learning Pinyin is very easy. ALD’s Proper Mandarin™ curriculum and textbook series teaches both Zhuyin and Pinyin phonetics in the most effective and rational sequence for English speaking Mandarin learners to speak fluent accent-free Mandarin Chinese.
© Copyright 2020 A Little Dynasty LLC, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Use Prohibited
Zhuyin is the original Chinese alphabet. Zhuyin was created as part of the Mandarin Chinese language by the same committee of scholars and linguists who created the Mandarin Chinese language
itself. See History of Mandarin. After considering many phonetic schemes including use of the Roman alphabet, the scholars who created the Mandarin language determined that Zhuyin was the best method for teaching Mandarin pronunciation. In 1932, the Republic of China government adopted Mandarin Chinese as China’s official language and Zhuyin as the official Chinese alphabet. After the end of China’s civil war in 1949, the new PRC government continued to teach Zhuyin into the early 1960s.
Pinyin is Simply Zhuyin Sounds Written with Roman Alphabet Letters
In 1958, the PRC government adopted a new alphabet for Mandarin Chinese called Hanyu Pinyin, or just Pinyin. Pinyin describes the sounds of the Mandarin Chinese language as defined in the Zhuyin alphabet using Roman letters (“ABCs”). In other words, Pinyin and Zhuyin are not different phonetic systems, they are just different symbols used to describe the same set of sounds of the Mandarin Chinese language. See Zhuyin-Pinyin Conversion Chart. Because the Roman Alphabet is not designed to transmit the tone of a sound, Pinyin retains the tone marks of the Zhuyin alphabet to express Mandarin Chinese tones. Tone notation is critical in Mandarin Chinese because Mandarin is a tonal language; i.e., different tones of the same sound have different meanings.
Unlike in English, Chinese Alphabets are Not Writing Systems
A vital difference in how the Chinese use alphabets, whether Zhuyin or Pinyin, versus Western countries and some Asian ones like Vietnam and Korea, is that in China, alphabets are only used as an aid to learning the pronunciation of Chinese characters and not as a stand alone writing system. Therefore, both Zhuyin and Pinyin appear only as annotations to Chinese characters, never by themselves.
In other words, the choice between Zhyuin and Pinyin is just a choice of method to learn Mandarin pronunciation, rather than a choice between different writing systems. There is only one proper way to pronounce Mandarin, whether that pronunciation is learned with Zhuyin or Pinyin.
The Proper Mandarin™ Curriculum and Textbook Series starts with phonics, progresses to Chinese characters with phonetic annotations, and finally to Chinese characters exclusively.
After late primary school when students begin using Chinese characters without any phonetic aids, the student will probably never interact with either Zhuyin or Pinyin again (or at least until they become parents themselves and need to help their young children with learning Mandarin pronunciation).
Pinyin Works . . . for People Who Already Speak Mandarin
Pinyin was primarily created as an effort to reduce illiteracy in China. In other words, the main purpose of Pinyin is to teach native Mandarin speakers how to read their own language. At the time Pinyin was created in the late 50s to early 60s, most mainland Chinese were illiterate.
The proponents of Pinyin also hoped that a side benefit of Pinyin would be to make it easier for foreigners to learn Chinese because they would already be familiar with the Roman alphabet. In practice, this has not been the case, especially with children learning Chinese. As discussed below, the same letters in the Roman alphabet have different sounds in Pinyin and English and there are no tones in English. While an adult may be able to train his/her brain to decipher Roman letters using a completely different phonology depending on whether the person is reading Pinyin or English, this is very difficult for children and impossible for young children who are still trying to learn what the Roman alphabet is supposed to sound like in English. In other words, a young native English speaking child learning Pinyin while at the same time learning the "ABCs" in English could lead to difficulties in learning English as well as Chinese.
Pinyin works fine for individuals who already speak Chinese fluently. Pinyin works in China because people in China have no preconceived notion of what the Roman letters used in Pinyin are “supposed” to sound like in any other language.
Learning Pinyin First May Cause Confusion and Mispronunciation for English Speakers
Even though Pinyin uses Roman letters to describe pronunciation, it is radically different from English phonology. As discussed below, in trying to learn Chinese words, native English speakers using Pinyin will inevitably transfer familiar English phonology that are similar, but not identical, to those of Mandarin Chinese, resulting in a comical mispronunciation of Mandarin Chinese: the dreaded "lao wai" accent.
The natural interference of English phonological awareness by native English speakers has a strong adverse affect on native English speakers ability to learn Mandarin Chinese using Pinyin. Because Pinyin employs the familiar Roman alphabet, Pinyin is problematic for people whose native language also uses the Roman alphabet. For example, the Pinyin letters "j", "q", and "x" which represent the Zhuyin letters "ㄐ", “ㄑ”, and "ㄒ" represent entirely different sound values from the English pronunciation of the English letters j, q, and x. The Pinyin letter “q” which represents the Zhuyin letter “ㄑ”, sounds like “chee” in English. An English speaker who sees the letter “q” in a Pinyin word would naturally try to pronounce it as an English "q" as in the English word “queen” rather than its proper Mandarin pronunciation of “chee.” This is because in English, the letter “q” does not sound anything like "chee.” Another example is the pinyin letter "z" which an English speaker will naturally try to pronounce as in "zebra" but the Pinyin "z" sounds nothing like that. Therefore, using the visually similar Roman alphabet letters to represent the different phonologies of Chinese and English will cause inevitable confusion and inaccurate pronunciation. This is why Pinyin should only be learned after a native English speaker has already mastered accurate accent-free Mandarin pronunciation.
Zhuyin is Easier for English Speakers to Master Accent-Free Mandarin
It is easier for non-Chinese speakers to learn proper accent-free Mandarin Chinese pronunciation using Zhuyin because the non-Chinese speaker has no preconceived notion of what Zhuyin letters are supposed to sound like. The non-Chinese speaker only needs to learn what 37 Zhuyin letters sound like, a relatively easy task, in order to pronounce any word in Mandarin Chinese perfectly.
Because Pinyin is based on Zhuyin, once the Chinese learner has mastered accurate Mandarin Chinese pronunciation with Zhuyin, learning Pinyin is very easy. ALD’s Proper Mandarin™ curriculum and textbook series teaches both Zhuyin and Pinyin phonetics in the most effective and rational sequence for English speaking Mandarin learners to speak fluent accent-free Mandarin Chinese.
© Copyright 2020 A Little Dynasty LLC, All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Use Prohibited
