A Chinese person with a good education today knows 6,000-7,000 characters. About 3,000 Chinese characters are needed to read a Mainland newspaper. However, people who have learned only the 400 most frequently used characters can read a newspaper—but they will have to guess some less-used words.
ʌ WORD_BOUNDARY t̠ʃ aɪ n iː z WORD_BOUNDARY p ɜː s ə n WORD_BOUNDARY w ɪ ð WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ WORD_BOUNDARY ɡ ʊ d WORD_BOUNDARY ɛ d̠ʒ uː k eɪ ʃ ə n WORD_BOUNDARY t ə d eɪ WORD_BOUNDARY n oʊ z WORD_BOUNDARY s ɪ k s WORD_BOUNDARY z iə ɹ oʊ z iə ɹ oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY z iə ɹ oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY d æ ʃ WORD_BOUNDARY s ɛ v ə n WORD_BOUNDARY z iə ɹ oʊ z iə ɹ oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY z iə ɹ oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY k æ ɹ ɪ k t ə ɹ z WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ b aʊ t WORD_BOUNDARY θ ɹ iː WORD_BOUNDARY z iə ɹ oʊ z iə ɹ oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY z iə ɹ oʊ WORD_BOUNDARY t̠ʃ aɪ n iː z WORD_BOUNDARY k æ ɹ ɪ k t ə ɹ z WORD_BOUNDARY ɑ ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY n iː d ɪ d WORD_BOUNDARY t ə WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ iː d WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ WORD_BOUNDARY m eɪ n l ə n d WORD_BOUNDARY n uː z p eɪ p ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY h aʊ ɛ v ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY p iː p ə l WORD_BOUNDARY h uː WORD_BOUNDARY h æ v WORD_BOUNDARY l ɜː n d WORD_BOUNDARY oʊ n l i WORD_BOUNDARY ð ə WORD_BOUNDARY f ɔ ɹ h ʌ n d ɹ ɪ d WORD_BOUNDARY m oʊ s t WORD_BOUNDARY f ɹ iː k w ə n t l i WORD_BOUNDARY j uː z d WORD_BOUNDARY k æ ɹ ɪ k t ə ɹ z WORD_BOUNDARY k æ n WORD_BOUNDARY ɹ iː d WORD_BOUNDARY ʌ WORD_BOUNDARY n uː z p eɪ p ə ɹ WORD_BOUNDARY b ʌ t WORD_BOUNDARY ð eɪ WORD_BOUNDARY w ɪ l WORD_BOUNDARY h æ v WORD_BOUNDARY t ə WORD_BOUNDARY ɡ ɛ s WORD_BOUNDARY s ʌ m WORD_BOUNDARY l ɛ s j uː z d WORD_BOUNDARY w ɜː d z WORD_BOUNDARY