ICANN 46 - Beijing Playing Card Deck

A special one-off Chinese language and culture card deck designed by ICANNWiki staff member Vivian Hua.

(1B) MANDARIN CHINESE & PINYIN

Chinese words are romanized throughout this deck with a system called pīnyīn (拼音), the official system of translating Chinese characters into Latin script in China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Below are some introductory ideas.

Mandarin's Four Accent Tones

• First tone (Flat / High Level)
• Second tone (Rising / High-Rising)
• Third tone (Falling-Rising / Low)
• Fourth tone (Falling / High-Falling)
• Fifth tone (Neutral)

+ Pronunciation Guide

q	As in “punch yourself” (no English equivalent)
x	As in “push yourself” (no English equivalent)
zh	With a sharpness found in words like “choke”
z	Unaspirated c, like a mix of “suds” and “cats”
c	Strongly aspirated c, as in “hats”
i	As in “bee”, but if proceeded by z-, c-, s-, zh-, ch-, sh-, or r-, those sounds are extended
ei	As in “hey”
ou	As in “so”
ang	As in the German “Angst”
ua	Like “wa”
ui	Like “wei”