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English Phonetics
        Every speech-sound belongs to one or other of the two main classes known as Vowels and Consonants.
        A vowel ( in normal speech ) is defined as a voiced sound in forming which the air issues in a continuous stream through the pharynx and mouth, there being no obstruction and no narrowing such as would cause audible friction.
        All other sounds ( in normal speech ) are called consonants.
        Consonants therefore include (i) all sounds which are not voiced (e.g. p,s, t), (ii) all sounds in the production of which the air has an impeded passage through the mouth ( e.g. b, l, rolled r ), (iii) all sounds in the production of which the air does not pass through the mouth (e.g. m), (iv) all sounds in which there is audible friction (e.g. f, v, s, z, h).
        Both Ennglish and Chinese share these elements.

        The following table shows all the English phonemes:


        In the above table we can see the detailed classification of the English consonants and the pure vowels. Besides these there is another kind of vowels: diphthongs. They are represented by the symbols: ei, ou, ai, au, 

Comparasion between Chinese and English phonemes:

Consonants:

Chinese b p m f d t n l g k h s r c zh ch sh ng w y
English b p m f d t n l g k h s ts w j

Particular Consonants in Chinese:
      z, j, q, x

Particular Consonants in English:
      v, z, 

Similar vowels in both languages:

Chinese a o e i u ai ei ui ao ou iu ie er an en in un ün ang eng ing ong
English a w i: u and u: ai ei wei au ou jou i r n en in wen jwen e i

        So we can see that except some particular sounds, the majority of both the English and Chinese sounds are quite similar.


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