uo. The Italian uo in fuori; often wo, and at times nearly oo.

u. Between the i in bit and the u in shut.

Consonants

ch as in chair; but before ih softened to dj.

ch’.  A strong breathing. Much-ha_rm_ without the italicized letters = ch’a.

f as in farm.

h as ch in Scotch loch.

hs.  A slight aspirate preceding and modifying the sibilant, which is, however, the stronger of the two consonants; e.g. hsing = hissing without the first i,

j.  Nearly the French j in jaune; the English s in fusion.

k. c in car, k in king; but when following other sounds often softened to g in go, gate.

k’.  The aspirate as in ch’. Kick-ha_rd_ without the italicized letters = k’a; and kick-he_r_ == k’e.

l as in English.

m as in English.

n as in English.

ng.  The italicized letters in the French mo_n ga_lant = nga; mo_n gai_llard = ngai; so_n go_sier = ngo.

p as in English.

p’ The Irish pronunciation of party, parliament. Slap-ha_rd_ without the italicized letters = p’a.

s as in English.

sh as in English.

ss.  Only in ssu.  The object of employing ss is to fix attention on the peculiar vowel-sound u (see above).

t as in English.

t’ The Irish t in torment. Hit-ha_rd_ without the italicized letters = t’a.

ts as in jetsam; after another word softened to ds in gladsome.

ts’. The aspirate intervening, as in ch’, etc. Bets-ha_rd_ without the italicized letters = ts’a.

tz.  Employed to mark the peculiarity of the final u; hardly of greater power than ts.

tz’ like ts’.  This, tz, and ss used only before u.

w as in English; but very faint, or even non-existent, before ue.

y as in English; but very faint before i or ue.

Tone

The correct pronunciation of the sound (yin) is not sufficient to make a Chinese spoken word intelligible.  Unless the tone (sheng), or musical note, is simultaneously correctly given, either the wrong meaning or no meaning at all will be conveyed.  The tone is the key in which the voice is pitched.  Accent is a ‘song added to,’ and tone is emphasized accent.  The number of these tones differs in the different dialects.  In Pekingese there are now four.  They are best indicated in transliteration by numbers added to the sound, thus: