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PrismaCards can be used for Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic etc.
What do you need for this?
An Unicode-font. Anyone who works with Chinese characters will already have at least one Unicode-font on their PC. If not, please download the following file and install the font. Sorry, the file is large, but there are so many Chinese characters 
Start PrismaCards. In Extras - Options choose the Unicode-font (Arial Unicode). Please set a large font size for it.
Alternative you can change the font just for a particular exercise. Please open this exercise and choose Exercise - Manage - Fonts from the menu. Please don't forget to press Apply to save the settings.
PrismaCards comes already with a test version of Chinese words. In the lesson database there is an entry for Chinese.
Restrictions:
- no import of Chinese characters
- no export of Chinese characters (including PDA)
What developments will there be in the future?
There are basic words for German-Chinese [already]*available. More databases will follow. In addition to this, PrismaCards will gradually be improved to support all functions for Chinese.
Pronunciation - Pinyin
The primary purpose of pinyin in Chinese schools is to teach Mandarin pronunciation. Many in the West are under the mistaken belief that pinyin is used to help children associate characters with spoken words which they already know, but this is incorrect as many Chinese do not use Mandarin at home, and therefore do not know the Mandarin pronunciation of words until they learn them in elementary school through the use of pinyin.
Pinyin uses the Roman alphabet, hence the pronunciation is relatively straightforward for Westerners. A pitfall for English-speaking novices is, however, the unusual pronunciation x, q, c and z (and sometimes i) and the unvoiced pronunciation of d, b, g, j. More information on the pronunciation of all pinyin letters in terms of English approximations is given further below.
The pronunciation of Chinese is generally given in terms of initials and finals, which represent the segmental phonemic portion of the language. Initials are initial consonants, while finals are all possible combinations of medials (semivowels coming before the vowel), the nucleus vowel, and coda (final vowel or consonant).
Pronunciation of initials
| b |
unaspirated p, as in spit |
| p |
as in English |
| m |
as in English |
| f |
as in English |
| d |
unaspirated t, as in stand |
| t |
as in English |
| n |
as in English |
| l |
as in English |
| g |
unaspirated k, as in skill |
| k |
as in English |
| h |
like the English h if followed by "a" |
| j |
like q, but unaspirated. (To get this sound, first take the sound halfway between joke and check,
and then slowly pass it backwards along the tongue until it is entirely
clear of the tongue tip.) While this exact sound is not used in
English, the closest match is the j in ajar, not the s in Asia; this means that "Beijing" is pronounced like "bay-jing", not like "beige-ing". |
| q |
like church; pass it backwards along the tongue until it is free of the tongue tip |
| x |
like sh, but take the sound and pass it backwards along the
tongue until it is clear of the tongue tip; very similar to huge |
| zh |
ch with no aspiration (take the sound halfway between joke and church and curl it upwards) |
| ch |
as in chin, but with the tongue curled upwards |
| sh |
as in shinbone, but with the tongue curled upwards; very similar to undershirt in American English |
| r |
similar to the English r in rank, but with the lips spread and with the tongue curled upwards |
| z |
unaspirated c (halfway between beds and bets), (more common example is suds) |
| c |
like ts, aspirated (more common example is cats) |
| s |
as in sun |
Pronunciation of finals
The following is an exhaustive list of all finals in Standard Mandarin.
To find a given final:
- Remove the initial consonant. For zh-, ch-, sh-, both consonants should be removed.
- However, y- or w- are part of the final; do not remove those.
- Syllables beginning with y- and w- are simply standalone forms of finals beginning with i-, u-. and ü-.
- If the initial is j-, q-, and x-, and the final starts with -u-, then change the -u- to -ü-.
Pinyin |
Final-only form |
Explanation |
| a |
a |
as in "father" |
| o |
o |
starts with English "oo" and ends with a plain continental "o". |
| e |
e |
a backward, unrounded vowel, which can be formed by first pronouncing a plain continental "o" and then spreading the lips without changing the position of the tongue. That same sound is also similar to English "duh", but not as open. |
| ê |
(n/a) |
as in "bet". Only used in certain interjections. |
| ai |
ai |
like English "eye", but a bit lighter |
| ei |
ei |
as in "hey" |
| ao |
ao |
approximately as in "cow"; the a is much more audible than the o |
| ou |
ou |
as in "so" |
| an |
an |
starts with plain continental "a" and ends with "n" |
| en |
en |
as in "taken" |
| ang |
ang |
as in German Angst, including the English loan word angst (starts with the vowel sound in father and ends in the velar nasal; like song in American English) |
| eng |
eng |
like e above but with ng added to it at the back |
| er |
er |
like ar (exists only on own, or as last part of final in combination with others- see bottom of list) |
| |
|
Finals beginning with i- (y-)
|
| i |
yi |
like English "ee", except when preceded by "c", "ch", "r", "s", "sh", "z" or "zh" |
| i |
n/a |
When preceded by "c", "ch", "r", "s", "sh", "z" or "zh", "i" should
be pronounced as a natural extension of those sounds in the same
position, but slightly more open to allow for a clear-sounding vowel to
pass through |
| ia |
ya |
as i + a; like English "yard" |
| io |
yo |
as i + plain continental "o". Only used in certain interjections. |
| ie |
ye |
as i + ê; but is very short; e (pronounced like ê) is pronounced longer and carries the main stress (similar to the initial sound ye in yet) |
| iao |
yao |
as i + ao |
| iu |
you |
as i + ou |
| ian |
yan |
as i + ê + n; like English yen |
| in |
yin |
as i + n |
| iang |
yang |
as i + ang |
| ing |
ying |
as i + eng |
| |
|
Finals beginning with u- (w-)
|
u |
wu |
like English "oo" |
| ua |
wa |
as u + a |
| uo |
wo |
as u + o; the o is pronounced shorter and lighter than in the o final |
| uai |
wai |
as u + ai |
| ui |
wei |
as u + ei; here, the i is pronounced like ei |
| uan |
wan |
as u + an |
| un |
wen |
as u + en; like the on in the English won |
| uang |
wang |
as u + ang; like the ang in English angst or anger |
| ong |
n/a |
starts with the vowel sound in b'ook and ends with the velar nasal sound in sing |
| n/a |
weng |
as u + eng |
| |
|
Finals beginning with ü- (yu-)
|
| ü |
yu |
as in German "üben" or French "lune" (To get this sound, say "ee" with rounded lips) |
| üe |
yue |
as ü + ê; the ü is short and light |
| üan |
yuan |
as ü + ê+ n; |
| ün |
yun |
as ü + n; |
| iong |
yong |
as ü + ong; |
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