All 37 signs
Each card has the sign and the pinyin letters it matches, then a word that uses it. The words are written in characters, in zhuyin with tone marks, and in pinyin.
21 initials
The sound a syllable starts with. Lin says each one the way Taiwanese first graders learn it: ㄅ is “bo”, ㄉ is “de”, ㄓ is “zhi”.
13 finals
The vowel sound a syllable ends on, with or without an n or ng.
3 medials
ㄧ, ㄨ and ㄩ can sit between an initial and a final (ㄒㄧㄝ, xie), or stand alone as a whole syllable.
What zhuyin is
Zhuyin fuhao (注音符號, “sound marking symbols”) was created in China in the 1910s to write the sounds of Mandarin, and it's still Taiwan's way of teaching them. The signs are taken from parts of old characters: ㄅ comes from 勹, ㄇ from 冖.
You'll see it beside characters in children's books and textbooks, written small to the right of each character so a young reader can sound it out. Many people in Taiwan also type with a zhuyin keyboard on their phones.
How a syllable is written
Every Mandarin syllable is at most three signs and a tone mark: a starting sound (initial), a middle ㄧ, ㄨ or ㄩ (medial), and an ending (final).
Tones are marked after the signs: no mark for the first tone, ˊ for the second, ˇ for the third, ˋ for the fourth. The light, neutral tone gets a dot, ˙, written before the syllable, as in 謝謝 (ㄒㄧㄝˋ ˙ㄒㄧㄝ).
Zhuyin or pinyin?
Pinyin writes the same sounds with Latin letters, and most courses and dictionaries made for learners use it. It's quick to start with, but its letters don't sound the way they do in English: pinyin q, x and zh trip up almost everyone.
Zhuyin has no such habits to unlearn, because every sign is new. It's what you'll see in Taiwan's books and on Taiwanese phones, and it's how the people you'll talk to learned their sounds. If Taiwan is where you'll use your Mandarin, learning zhuyin is worth the week it takes. You can read pinyin too; they don't compete.
Learn all 37 in a week
The chart's order isn't random: signs that are made in the same part of the mouth sit together. Learn them in those groups, a few a day, and say each one out loud every time you see it.
- Day 1, the lips: ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ (b, p, m, f).
- Day 2, the tongue tip: ㄉ ㄊ ㄋ ㄌ (d, t, n, l), then the back of the mouth: ㄍ ㄎ ㄏ (g, k, h).
- Day 3, the front of the tongue: ㄐ ㄑ ㄒ (j, q, x), always followed by ㄧ or ㄩ.
- Day 4, curled and flat: ㄓ ㄔ ㄕ ㄖ (zh, ch, sh, r), then ㄗ ㄘ ㄙ (z, c, s). In Taiwan the curled ones are often said softly, close to the flat ones.
- Day 5, simple finals: ㄚ ㄛ ㄜ ㄝ, then the medials ㄧ ㄨ ㄩ.
- Day 6, the rest: ㄞ ㄟ ㄠ ㄡ, ㄢ ㄣ ㄤ ㄥ, and ㄦ.
- Day 7: read every word on this page in zhuyin before you look at the pinyin.
After that, reading real words is what makes it stick. Ten minutes of words beats an hour of the bare chart.
In Bopomo each sign is a sticker you collect by saying it, and Lin brings it back right before you'd forget it. Join the waitlist.
Questions
Is zhuyin the same as bopomofo?
Yes. Bopomofo is a nickname made from the first four signs, ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈ (bo, po, mo, fo). The full name is zhuyin fuhao, 注音符號.
Do people in Taiwan still use zhuyin?
Yes. Children learn it in their first weeks of school before characters, children's books print it beside the characters, and many adults type Chinese with a zhuyin keyboard.
Should I learn zhuyin or pinyin first?
If you're learning for Taiwan, start with zhuyin: it takes about a week and it's what you'll see there. If your course or dictionary uses pinyin, learn that too. Most learners end up reading both.
How long does it take to learn zhuyin?
Most learners can recognise all 37 signs in about a week of short daily practice, and read words fluently in zhuyin after a few weeks of using it.
Is zhuyin used in mainland China?
Not in everyday life. Mainland China teaches pinyin, which it adopted in the 1950s. Zhuyin is used mainly in Taiwan.