Expert: Shannon G. - 6/2/2007

Question
hello,

I am currently learning japanese, but i really want to learn chinese afterwards.  I was just wondering, in japanese and chinese they use kanji.  in japanese, they can put Furigana on top of the kanji to help pronunciation and so you know how it sounds if you forget or whatever. (the furigana is just hiragana or katakana, two of the other alphabets above the kanji).  I was just wondering,  in chinese, what is there to help you if you forget a kanji? or you dont know the pronunciation? is there pinjin on top or anything?  thank you very much for your time!

Answer
Hey Stevo,

Very glad to hear that you are interested in Chinese. Yes, you are right, like Japanese, we also use pinyin on top of characters to show the pronunciation if you forget it or don't know how to write it. Pinyin is based on alphabets. So it's not that hard to pronounce pinyin if you see it.  To most Chinese learners, the 4 tones in Chinese language is the biggest obstacle. But you can definitely get used to it if you practice more.
Good luck in your oriental languages study!
Shannon