| Phonetic equivalents for the vowels and especially perplexing consonants are given here. | |
| LETTER | PHONETIC EQUIVALENT IN CHINESE |
| a | ah |
| e | uh |
| i | ee; except after z, c, and ch, when the sound is closer to i in it |
| u | oo; as in English food |
| c | ts (ch, however, is like English ch) |
| q | ch |
| z | dz |
| zh | j |
| x | sh |