1. When the Mandarin language was simplified, a system of "Romanization" was developed which assigns a syllable of Latin letters to each Mandarin character.
This system of signs was called the "[notranslate]Pinyin[/notranslate]" transcription. From there to know that after having read a Mandarin character, if one wants to say which sound it is necessary to pronounce the syllable. This is where we first encounter the term "syllabic tones". If I pronounce a syllable that can be described in three Latin letters, like "han", I can say it with multiple accents while speaking. By pronouncing the vowel of the base root syllable with different pitches, we form four (or more) phonetically different syllables (tones). These syllables, pronounced with different pitches, then have different meanings during speech. The description of the syllables to make the difference is indicated by various diacritics: {9}.
These syllabic tones will then hopefully sound different to our ears (once we are able to tell them apart). So when we want to describe them in electronic text input, we have to differentiate them as well.
2. If you want to input Mandarin characters on electronic interface with our Latin letter keyboard, you need [notranslate]Pinyin[/notranslate] sign system.
Warning! There isn't just one Pinyin input method for these characters, but I've only learned one so far.
3. It is also possible to enter [notranslate]Pinyin[/notranslate] syllables using online conversion sites. On these pages, you can convert [notranslate]Pinyin[/notranslate] syllables to Mandarin characters or vice versa. If we want to type pinyin syllables in the text field, we will have to use Chinese tones that we have already learned. |
