Chinese respelling of the English alphabet

Summary

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.)

Letter Spelling 1[1] Spelling 2[2]
A ēi ēi
B
C 西 西
D
E
F 艾付 àifù 艾弗 àifú
G
H 爱耻 àichǐ 艾尺 àichǐ
I āi ài
J zhái jié
K kāi kāi
L 饿罗 èluó 艾勒 àilè
M 饿母 èmǔ 艾玛 àimǎ
N ēn 艾娜 àinà
O ǒu ó
P
Q 吉吾 jíwú
R ěr 艾儿 àiér
S 艾斯 àisī 艾丝 àisī
T
U yōu 伊吾 yīwú
V wéi wéi
W 大波留 dàbōliú 豆贝尔维 dòubèiěrwéi
X 埃克斯 āikèsī 艾克斯 yīkèsī
Y wāi 吾艾 wúài
Z 再得 zàide 贼德 zéidé

Notes edit

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 edit

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