Chances are, if you're trying to pronounce a name in Cantonese (the other major dialect that is mainly used in Hong Kong), you won't have much trouble.

The type of phoenetic writing used here is called PinYin, or sometimes HanYu PinYin. HanYu is the national language of China, which was standardized in order to facilitate communication across the wide distances that the country spanned. The government felt that a standardized language would make it's job of centralized ruling much easier. While you'll still find areas that speak other dialects, like Hokkien and Cantonese, the standard language in China is HanYu.

PinYin is the most common form of anglicized Chinese writing. In the past, there were a few others, like Yale. This explains differences between spellings of common Chinese names, like Peking and Beijing. "Beijing" is the pinyin spelling of the word. Like most Chinese words, it is a composite, made up of bei (north) and jing (capital).

Now on with the pronunciation guide.

There are only four sets of sounds that you need to learn.

• Vowels are pretty easy.
• Dipthongs follow from vowels.
• Normal consonants are just like English.
• Special consonants are what make you sound silly if you haven't read here.

Vowel sounds are very similar to Spanish pronunciation rules, using soft sounds.
 

Dipthongs

Dipthongs follow directly from normal vowel sounds.
They are just two or three vowel sounds all mashed together.

English-speakers have a tendency to say these backwards.
For example, qiu is pronounced "choo" and not "kwee".
Similarly, guo is "gwoah" and not "gow".
 

Normal Consonants

Normal consonants are pronounced just like they are in English.
 

Special Consonants

There are only five special consonant sounds, but they are very common.
Mastering these five will make you sound like a pro!