In China, letters of the English alphabet are pronounced somewhat differently because they have been adapted to the phonetics (i.e. the syllable structure) of the Chinese language. The knowledge of this spelling may be useful when spelling Western names, especially over the phone, as one may not be understood if the letters are pronounced as they are in English. (The letters that are pronounced differently – not counting tone and character differences – according to different sources are given in bold.)

LetterSpelling 1[1]Spelling 2[2]
Aēiēi
B
C西西
D
E
F艾付àifù艾弗àifú
G
H爱耻àichǐ艾尺àichǐ
Iāiài
Jzháijié
Kkāikāi
L饿罗èluó艾勒àilè
M饿母èmǔ艾玛àimǎ
Nēn艾娜àinà
Oǒuó
P
Q吉吾jíwú
Rěr艾儿àiér
S艾斯àisī艾丝àisī
T
Uyōu伊吾yīwú
Vwéiwéi
W大波留dàbōliú豆贝尔维dòubèiěrwéi
X埃克斯āikèsī艾克斯yīkèsī
Ywāi吾艾wúài
Z再得zàide贼德zéidé

Notes

The respelling of H mimics the standard aitch /tʃ/ rather than the regional haitch /htʃ/.

The respelling of Z mimics the British English zed /zɛd/ rather than the American English zee /z/ or the Hong Kong English variant izzard /ˈɪzərd/.

References

  1. Mandarin Phrasebook and Dictionary. Lonely Planet 2012, ISBN 9781743211977, p. 16
  2. Chinese Alphabet (MyLanguages.org)
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