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The letter "i" in Chinese as a vowel represents two distinct vowels in Chinese.This is another great source of confusion to beginning students of Chinese. Once again, if you don't learn a simple rule, you will cause yourself and your Chinese listeners much anguish. The charts and the sound files below should make this clear.
| bi, pi, mi, di, ti, ni, li, ji, qi, xi | pronounced "eeeeeee" | imbecilic mnemonic phrase = Didi xihuan ni | Younger Brother likes you |
| zhi, chi, shi, ri | Riben ren shi bu shi bu chi zhi? | Japanese people don't eat paper, right? | |
| zi, ci, si | Zhege zi xie si ci | Write this character four times. |
In chart one, the "i" is clearly "eeeeeee." In chart two, it is actually more important to get the consonant and vowel will follow. In other words, from a functional point of view it is easiest to think of zhi, chi, chi, ri, zi, ci, and si as consonants that use a "vowel letter" to fill in the spelling. Most Chinese teachers won't like this explanation, but good luck finding a Chinese person who can pronounce this vowel for you independent of the consonant.
Here's one more example focusing on "ci = time" and "si = shredded"
| Diyi ci chi niurou-si, Di'er ci chi yurou-si, disan ci chi jirou si, disi ci chi sherou-ci, meiyou diwu ci | |
| First time I ate shredded beef, the second time shredded fish, the third time shredded chicken, the fourth time shredded snake, and there was no fourth time. |