Learn How To
Pronounce Chinese Names
How To Use It
Using the tool above you can learn how to pronounce Chinese names.
Simply replace the Chinese text with the Chinese characters that you have. Then click "Read".
You can select the speed of reading. The default speed setting is "XSlow", extra slow. Great for listening to it clearly.
There are two languages that you can select. The default setting here is "Cantonese". You can hear how the Chinese characters are pronounced in Cantonese. Cantonese is a language spoken mostly in Hong Kong and Macau.
If you want to hear how it is pronounced in Mandarin, select "Putonghua". Putonghua means common language. It's the language that is spoken in China and Taiwan.
Learn the four tones of Chinese Mandarin language.
The four tones are:
1. [媽] mā - the first tone is flat or high level.
2. [麻] má - the second tone is rising or high-rising.
3. [馬] mǎ - the third tone is falling-rising or low.
4. [罵] mà - the fourth tone is falling or high-falling.
Copy and paste these words into the box and hear the four tones: 媽麻馬罵
Say Your Chinese Name
You can use this tool to pronounce your own Chinese name.
Don't have one?
Hear how it is pronounced. Then repeat it yourself out loud a few times.
When you meet a Chinese next time, you can say, "你好. 我叫 [your name]".
Paste those Chinese characters in the tool above. Click "Read" and hear it. Practice saying it.
Literally, it is "You good. I call [your name]." It means "Wish you well. I am called [your name]."
Alright, with this tool I am sure you can easily pronounce your Chinese name. And with confidence too.
To learn about Chinese writing, we first have to understand who speaks the language. History 101 class begins.
Chinese Language
When someone says, "I am learning Chinese", chances are s/he is talking about the Mandarin language. Chinese language, according to Wikipedia: is a language family consisting of languages mutually intelligible to varying degrees.
In the Chinese language family, we have languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese and Min. There are many more. Some call these languages - dialects. But dialect is defined as a local variation of a language. However, some Cantonese speakers I know cannot understand Mandarin. And vice versa. For the sake of not debating the dialect/language definition, I will just call them Mandarin language or Cantonese language, and not Mandarin or Cantonese dialect.
The Mandarin language originated from northern China. Today, it is the official language of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). Unknown to many, the Mandarin language was not always the official Chinese language. There are other languages spoken in the long span of Chinese history. Mandarin language was made compulsory in the PRC and ROC's educational system in the mid 19th century. Thanks to that compulsory education, we now have a common Chinese language (Mandarin). That's why nowadays most people say, "I am learning Chinese" instead of correctly as 'learning Mandarin'.
Chinese Writing
There are so much to write about on Chinese writing. Why? There are 106,230 characters recorded in The Dictionary of Chinese Variant Form (compiled by the ROC Ministry of Education in 2004)! Most of them are variants though. Anyway, that's how much there are to write about. Most good dictionary will have about 50,000 characters.
The Chinese use a writing system of Han Character or Hanzi 汉字. From a commoner to a learned person, they will be able to read about 2,000 to 5,000 of these Chinese characters. Perhaps that is why some Chinese have very good memory. And they can still remember that $10 you owed them a year ago (read this as a joke).
With that many characters in the Chinese writing system. Where do you begin to look for the right characters or words for your baby's name? Well, fortunately some clever Chinese had devised a system or methodology leading you to the most unique name. A name that is suitable to the individual like a hand-glove fit. The clever Chinese naming method is like a filtering or funneling process. It narrows down to the best name. One that feels so right when you get it. Trust me, I have seen that many times.
Note (Alternative Tool): The tool is actually a third party program embedded on this page. For some reasons, sometimes the tool does not appear on the top of this page. If that happens, you may use ' Google translate' to help pronounce the Chinese name - click here. Paste the Chinese characters separated by commas. Then click on 'Listen'.
Learn more:
Learn About Chinese Writing
Read about Chinese writing and language. This will help you to understand why naming a baby is no easy feat.
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