With the advent of writing in the Middle Kingdom, the hieroglyphic system of writing the text was firmly established, because the Chinese alphabet as such does not exist. Usually, the pinyin method, created in the last century for transcribing characters into Latin, falls under this concept.
Why doesn't the Chinese alphabet exist
To answer this question, we must refer to the definition. It says that the alphabet is a collection of symbols of the writing system. It would seem, what's the catch?
Chinese writing is based on hieroglyphs that have a semantic meaning separate from other characters in the text and, in turn, consist of keys. With the latter, the situation is exactly the same. Moreover, the key can be used as an independent hieroglyph, i.e. a word.
The alphabet implies the meaninglessness of a single character of a letter and a small number of established, unchanging letters. The Chinese language, or Putonghua, has more than 50 thousand characters, taking into account various modifications, while their numberis not known for certain and tends to increase.
What is pinyin
In other words, "pinyin" is a romanization system for the language of the Middle Kingdom or a way of writing hieroglyphs by syllables. With its help, any word can be represented in Latin, which makes it easier to understand the phonetic component.
Thus, it turns out that the Chinese alphabet does not exist, and applying this term to this set of characters is nothing more than a common mistake. However, due to the frequency of its use, it sometimes has to be reckoned with.
However, the question of how many letters are in the Chinese alphabet has no answer for all the above reasons.
Pinyin initials
As mentioned earlier, this system (hereinafter "Chinese alphabet") consists of Latin characters. Syllables mainly form consonants, vowels and their combinations. The pronunciation of initials, as well as finals, has a lot of nuances:
- For example, "m", "f", "s", "h" are similar to Russian "m", "f", "s" and "x".
- There are aspirated consonants ("p", "t", "k", "c", "sh", "ch"), which require a strong exhalation when pronounced.
- The "n" in pinyin is more alveolar, while the "l" and "j" are similar to English pronunciations.
- "q" is read as "tsk", "x" is like"s", and "z" and "zh" - on "tsz" and "zh".
- The consonants "b", "d", "g" are extremely difficult to pronounce correctly, because they are a cross between the Russian counterparts of these voiced and unvoiced sounds.
- "r" at the beginning of a word replaces "g".
Finals
The Chinese alphabet (does not include hieroglyphs) also contains vowels called "finals". They often consist of diphthongs and follow the following pronunciation rules:
- "an", "en", "ao", "uo", "ou", "ei", "ai", "a" are transcribed as "an", "en", "ao", "woo", "oh", "hey", "ay" and "a" respectively.
- Complex endings "ia", "ian", "iao", "iang", "ie", "iu", "in" are read as "i", "yang", "yao", "yang" ", "e", "yu", "yin".
- "i" is similar to the Russian "and", but does not soften consonants. If it is the only vowel in a syllable, then it is written as "yi".
- "y" is pronounced like "y" or "wu" (identical to the previous case).
- "er" replaces "er".
When the romanization system is used
Usually"pinyin", also known as the Chinese alphabet (hieroglyphs in it are replaced by syllables in Latin), is used as an auxiliary element for tourists in the form of signatures on various signs or if there is a rare sign in the text.
Romanization is also used to write messages on the English keyboard. As a rule, this is an automated process, and the typed transcription of "pinyin" is automatically converted into a hieroglyph.
The last, most popular option is intended for structuring information in lists and databases: it is much more expedient to break words into first syllables using Latin transliteration. This will facilitate the search not only for foreigners, but also for the Chinese.
"Pinyin" as a language learning tool
The Latin romanization system contains 29 syllables and is used as an auxiliary step in learning Chinese. It allows you to get acquainted with the correct reading and pronunciation of vowel tones, thanks to the presence of diacritical marks. In China, the study of "pinyin" is mandatory for foreign students and is included in the curriculum of all modern schools.
Often, the phrase "Chinese alphabet with translation" refers to the transcription of syllables for ease of pronunciation. Diacritics are present for the same purpose.
Tone
In Mandarin, each vowel has its own specific intonation.
Same syllables with differentpronunciation can form words that are radically different in meaning from each other. To do this, it is extremely important to master the tones - without them, language skills are impossible. Often, no one understands a foreigner with an incorrect intonation, and his speech is mistaken for some unknown dialect.
To avoid this problem, learn pronunciation directly with the teacher. Naturally, the Chinese alphabet with Russian translation will not help here (transcription does not convey diacritical marks) and you will have to refer directly to the "pinyin" system.
There are four tones in total:
- Tall smooth.
- Rising medium to high.
- Low with a further decrease and then a rise to a medium tone.
- High down.
Video tutorials or a teacher will help you understand them, but the latter, as mentioned earlier, is preferable.
In conclusion about the Chinese alphabet
Returning to the theme of the Celestial Empire, it is worth noting that Chinese, like other languages with hieroglyphic writing, is too unlike European.
Its features preclude the existence of a standard alphabet. Moreover, early attempts to replace the familiar way of writing text with letter combinations quickly failed. Simply put, such methods fell out of use in a short time and are unlikely to be revived again.
