# Forum Other Languages All other languages Chinese  pinyin and Russian transcriptions

## Propp

I won’t list here the whole table, because it’s quite a boring task to type it, but I’ll try to explain the main principles. 
The basic phonetic and semantic unit of Chinese language is a syllable. A syllable has its initial part (it may be absent sometimes) and its final part. There may be also a middle part. 
Initial parts 
b = б
c = ц (hard)
ch = ч
d = д
f = ф
g = г
h = х
j = цз (soft)
k = к
l = л
m = м
n = н
p = п
q = ц (soft)
r = ж
s = с (hard)
sh = ш
t = т
w = в
x = с (soft)
z = цз (hard)
zh = чж 
You should bear in mind that Wu = У and Yi = И (sinse w and y here designate the beginning of vowel-syllable; in actual speech it may be pronounced wit a kind of consonant, but theoretically it is not so).  
Final and middle parts 
a = а
ai = ай
ao = ао
e = э
ei = эй
i = и (after soft) ы (after hard consonants)
ia = я
iao = яо
ie = е
iu = ю
ou = оу
u = у, (but after soft it is юй, when actually is it

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