Polygala Blog

Here are all 37 individual Zhùyīn phonetic symbols listed beside their Pīnyīn phonetic equivalents:

b ㄅ          p ㄆ          m ㄇ          f ㄈ

d ㄉ          t ㄊ          n ㄋ          l ㄌ

g ㄍ          k ㄎ          h ㄏ

j ㄐ          q ㄑ          x ㄒ

zh ㄓ          ch ㄔ          sh ㄕ          r ㄖ

z ㄗ          c ㄘ          s ㄙ

a ㄚ          o ㄛ          e ㄜ

i ㄧ          u ㄨ          ü ㄩ

ai ㄞ          ei ㄟ

ao ㄠ          ou ㄡ

ie ㄝ          er ㄦ

an ㄢ          en ㄣ         

ang ㄤ

eng ㄥ

The phonetic characters used in Pīnyīn and Zhùyīn do not directly equate to one another in all instances. Note, the initial sounds taught in Pīnyīn of 'y' and 'w', not listed above, are represented by the same Zhùyīn symbols used for the respective final sounds 'i (ㄧ)' and 'u (ㄨ)'. Furthermore, some compound finals described in the Pīnyīn alphabet do not have an individual character to represent them using the Zhùyīn method of phonetic transcription of Chinese sounds, and so: 'ui' is ㄨㄟ, 'iu' is ㄧㄡ, 'ie' is ㄧㄝ, 'üe' is ㄩㄝ, 'in' is ㄧㄣ, 'un' is ㄨㄣ, 'ün' is ㄩㄣ, 'ing' is ㄧㄥ and 'ong' is ㄨㄥ. Note also, that rather than combining the initials and finals as they are combined in Pīnyīn, the syllable 'yong' is transcribed in Zhùyīn as 'ㄩㄥ'.