The first test in our series 'Learn Pinyin and Tones - Discrimination of tones' that test your knowledge of pinyin and the ability to recognize different tones. Pinyin is the most commonly used Romanization system for Standard Mandarin. Literally, it means to spell sound. It was designed to look up unknown Chinese characters in dictionaries, as well as teaching Chinese learners the standard pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese. Once you’ve learnt Pinyin, you will be able to pronounce any of the words in Mandarin using a Chinese dictionary.

The aim of this test is to examine your knowledge of Hanyu Pinyin. The exercise set includes 10 questions, and each one contains a Pinyin sound with one relevant Pinyin character. Please listen to the sound and select the most appropriate answer from A, B, C and D. Repeat the exercise as much as you can. It will help you to learn how to distinguish the different pinyin tones.