Pinyin & Pronunciation Resources

This is one of the the best Pinyin charts available online. The Chinese Pronunciation Wiki combines an interactive audio pinyin chart with clear guides to initials, finals, tones and commonly confused sounds. Learners can also view IPA and Zhuyin transcriptions, making it a particularly thorough reference for understanding how Mandarin sounds are formed and pronounced.

The Arch Chinese Pinyin Chart organizes Mandarin initials and finals into an interactive table with audio for each syllable and tone. It also provides pronunciation guidance using familiar English comparisons—such as explaining that a sounds like the “a” in “father”—making it a helpful reference for beginners learning how to produce pinyin sounds.

Dong Chinese offers a clear introduction to pinyin along with an interactive trainer for developing a better ear for Mandarin tones. Work through the Pinyin Guide, then use the Tone Trainer to practice identifying tones in single syllables and two-syllable combinations. You can also isolate specific tones when you need more focused practice.

Grace does more than pronounce the sounds: she shows how they are physically formed and explains contrasts such as aspiration and difficult consonant groups. This makes the series especially useful for learners who cannot reproduce a sound by listening alone.

Ka Chinese Tones uses fast-paced, card-based exercises to help learners distinguish Mandarin tones and similar-sounding syllables. Its short listening and pronunciation drills make focused tone practice feel more like a game. The app is free to use with ads, with optional in-app purchases available.

Here you will find a very useful “guide” to writing pinyin correctly. Learn the basic rules for writing pinyin, where to place tone marks, information about the history of pinyin and other romanization systems (MPS2, Wade-Giles, Yale) and more.

Chinese Pinyin Trainer by trainChinese uses nearly 2,000 audio recordings and several types of exercises to help learners distinguish Mandarin sounds and tones. Activities include listening challenges, multiple-choice questions and tone-drawing tests, with support for both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. The free version is very limited, so an in-app upgrade is required to access most of the training content. Download it for Android or iOS.

A simple interface allows you to listen to native audio for all syllables. What I really enjoy is its invitation to “Study Tone Pairs” at the bottom of the page. Their tone pairs game is great for listening practice.

This is one of the best Pinyin Charts online and its FREE! Yang Yang, the site’s owner provides videos within the chart to help you pronounce hard pinyin properly. When appropriate, she shows you how your mouth should be shaped as the words are formed and where your tongue should be. Click on “Video-based Pinyin Chart” in top menu to access this chart. Yang Yang was my first teacher, and I love her.