Phonetic guides are a feature of the Microsoft Office Language Packs, a download that you can purchase online at the Microsoft website and that integrate with your existing PowerPoint program (see Resources). Both simplified and traditional Chinese are a language options in the pack, however a separate program update is required for Pinyin to display properly in the phonetic guide. This update is published by Microsoft and is free to download; once installed you can use it with all the programs in the Microsoft Office Suite, including PowerPoint.

  • Phonetic guides are a feature of the Microsoft Office Language Packs, a download that you can purchase online at the Microsoft website and that integrate with your existing PowerPoint program (see Resources).

Visit Microsoft's update page to access the Simple Fast 2010 and New Experience 2010 updates (see Resources). Click the "Immediate Download" button in the far right of the screen.

Select one or both of the Simple Fast 2010 (blue) and New Experience 2010 (red) options.

Follow the installation instructions in the installation wizard (Instructions will vary with your system and your versions of Windows).

Open PowerPoint and click the Chinese language tab in the navigation ribbon at the top of your screen.

Select the phonetic guide option.