A Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese: Difference between revisions

[[File:Lie hør.ogg|thumb|"Hello" in Taiwanese, written "[[Lie hør!]]"]]  

Li<u>e</u> hø<u>r</u>! Taiwanese is a beautiful and musical language spoken in Taiwan and by Taiwanese people around the world. This '''''Beginner's Guide to Taiwanese''''' will provide you with a brief introduction to the spoken language as well as a writing system called [[Modern Taiwanese Language]] (MTL).  

Most speakers of Taiwanese are not aware that there are established ways to phonetically write down the language. While there is not a single widely adopted system for the written form of the language (not even in [[Harnji]]), MTL is a very useful tool for learning Taiwanese. There are several other systems in use in Taiwan, such as [[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]] (POJ), Daighi tongiong pingim, and [[Taiwanese Romanization System]]. Unfortunately most Taiwanese speakers will not be able to read any of these phonetic systems but they will understand it when you read it.  

==Introduction to Taiwanese Phonetics==

We will first introduce all of the phonetic sounds that you will encounter in Taiwanese. Some sounds have an approximation in English, while others may be less familiar. In the examples, we have underlined tone indicators that are silent, which we will explain later.

A valid syllable only needs to have a vowel. The brackets ([]) mean the consonant, nasal or rear nasal ending are optional.