Mandarin Pinyin

English Equivalent

a

As the “o” in “mother” and “brother”, as the “u” and “a” in “Russia“.

o

As the vowels in “saw“, “all”.

e

The pronunciation is similar to the vowel sound in “bird” and “sir“.

i

As the vowels in “sit”, “it”, “machine”, or “eat”.

u

As the vowel “o” in “too“, “woman”, “loop”.

ű

As the German “ü”. Try to say “yeee”, keep your tongue exactly where it is and let the sound continue while you for your lips to the shape they’d have when you say “yuuu”.