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How to pronounce Chinese names

Hear any Chinese name or word from a native voice, sound by sound, with each syllable spelled the English way.

Brands and apps

Places

People

Food and drink

Everyday words

The sounds English speakers get wrong

x 西 xī shee
q 去 qù chew
zh 中 zhōng joong
c 菜 cài tsye
z 在 zài dzye
r 人 rén run
i after z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r 是 shì shr
ü 女 nǚ new
e 饿 è uh
ui 对 duì dway
iu 六 liù lyoh
ian 天 tiān tyen
ao 好 hǎo how

How do I pronounce a Chinese name?

Read its pinyin a syllable at a time. Most letters are close to English, but x is said like sh, q like ch, zh like j and c like ts, and each syllable has a tone. Type the name above to hear it from a native voice.

Why are Chinese names spelled so differently from how they sound?

They are written in pinyin, China’s way of spelling Mandarin in Latin letters, which gives some letters sounds English doesn’t: Xiaomi is “shyow-mee”, Qingdao “cheeng-dow”. A few older names keep older spellings, as Tsingtao beer is Qingdao.

Do the tones matter in a name?

Yes. The same letters with other tones can be another word: a falling tone on mǎi (buy) makes mài (sell). In a name said in English the tones are usually left out, but in Chinese they are part of it.

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Voices recorded for our word cards. A spelling such as “shyow-mee” is the nearest English sound, not the sound itself: hear the voices.