Chinese Phonetics

About
Mandarin Chinese has 21 consonants and 16 vowels. They can be combined together to create more than 400 mono-syllabic sounds. As a Tonal language, Mandarin Chinese also have 4 main tones and a neutral tones that distinct different characters by using their tones. However, note that these tones are usually not expressed while singing.

Chinese VOCALOIDs
Mandarin is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Mandarin itself is divided by location with a number of dialects found within the language itself. However, when taken as a whole there are a estimated 1 billion speakers of the language; the most of any language in the world.

China
China is the origin of Mandarin Chinese. Within China itself, Mandarin is divided between 8 subgroups. Due to the variation caused by the large number of speakers, individuals from one subgroup do not always understand individuals from the other 7 subgroups.


 * Luo Tianyi
 * YANHE
 * Yuezheng Ling
 * Stardust
 * Yuezheng Longya

Taiwan
Mandarin is also spoken in Taiwan. There are slight variations in dialect with a number of words having a slight variant in their meanings compared to Mainland Mandarin. The main variation with the language is that many Taiwanese do not follow the usual 'retroflex articulation' pronunciation, as is the case with Mandarin speakers in Southern China. When they do (e.g. in formal situations), they pronounce retroflexes softer than in standard Mandarin.


 * Xin Hua

Japan

 * Hatsune Miku