Pronouncing Chinese surnames

Have you ever wondered how to pronounce Chinese (Mandarin) surnames? Looking through the list of Chinese names in our church, I thought I’d give a few tips:

• -          Chen, Shen. Say the ‘e’ as in ‘the’.
• -          Chang. Ch sounds like ‘j’; ‘a’ sounds like ‘ah’.
• -          Fei. Sounds like ‘fay’.
• -          He. Sounds like ‘her’.
• -          Leung. ‘eu’ sounds like ‘er’.
• -          Tan. ‘a’ sounds like ‘ah’.
• -          Wang. Sounds like ‘wong’.
• -          Xia, Xu. ‘x’ sounds like ‘sh’. ‘u’ as in ‘foot’.
• -          Zhang. ‘Zh’ sounds like ‘j’. ‘a’ sounds like ‘ah’.
• -          Zhou. ‘Zh’ sounds like ‘j’. ‘ou’ sounds like ‘oh’
• -          Zhuang. ‘Zh’ sounds like ‘j’. ‘u’ as in ‘foot’. ‘ang’ sounds like ‘ah-ng’.

But most Chinese would be happy to help you pronounce their names properly – just ask!