The politics of pinyin

[Chris]

Hanyu Pinyin wins! Tongyong Pinyin loses!

[Charlie Jack]

Hanyu Pinyin wins! Tongyong Pinyin loses!

A possible double victory: it might be time to start practicing the retroflex consonants.

[fanglangzhe]

Hanyu Pinyin wins! Tongyong Pinyin loses!

I thought Tongyong was already dead and buried. Is it going to come back like Freddy Kreuger or Jason from Friday 13th?

[cranky laowai]

Hanyu Pinyin wins! Tongyong Pinyin loses!

I thought Tongyong was already dead and buried. Is it going to come back like Freddy Kreuger or Jason from Friday 13th?

Certainly there are some in the DPP who would raise Tongyong from the dead, and it doesn't look like anyone in that party thinks it's worthwhile not to go along with that. But if Hanyu Pinyin had really won, we wouldn't have Tamsui, Lukang, or New Taipei City now (all these during KMT administrations) -- instead of Danshui, Lugang, and Xinbei.

[fanglangzhe]

Yeah, even PRC isn't consistent when it comes to Hanyu pinyin. Just look at "Peking University" for example. That's still the official English name, not Beijing University.

[LURKER]

What is this so called "Pin-Yin" thing, anyway?

I use Wade-Giles, the only system of transliterating Chinese that makes sense (apart from Yale, which I still think isn't as good).

[80sStar]

Honestly, I don't know why people get their knickers in a twist about whatever romanisation system is used. I find it a little weird, the way some foreigners declare Wade-Giles or Tongyong as unsuitable for Taiwan. Honestly, it should be up to Taiwanese what, if any system is chosen. I don't see any innate superiority in any system. The differences between them are really pretty minor, and someone with training in Pinyin can figure out what something in Wade-Giles represents. Foreigners who've never taken any Mandarin courses are unlikely to achieve correct pronunciation, regardless of system used. It would be helpful, though, if one system were chosen and used consistently, though.

[Bob Violence]

The differences between them are really pretty minor, and someone with training in Pinyin can figure out what something in Wade-Giles represents.

Not when it's used incorrectly, as it invariably is in Taiwan.

[Chris]

Wade-Giles is fine if it's used correctly. But the way it's used in Taiwan, "chuan" could be any of four syllables, even disregarding tones: chuan, zhuan, quan and juan. I still like Wade-Giles as a standard for people's names. It looks classy.

Yale: Clearly geared toward teaching English speakers how to speak Chinese. It was rarely used for any purposes other than language teaching. I don't really like the way it looks, with words like "jr" and "sz".

Hanyu Pinyin has the advantage of being the international standard. It's also parsimonious and accurate. Its disadvantage is when people attempt to extend the system to other languages (Turkic, Tibetan, etc.) to which it isn't well suited.

Guoyeu Romatzyh is accurate if you can master it; the problem is mastering it, since it's very complicated. It is also not very aesthetically appealing. I think the idea of tonal spelling is silly (preferring diacritics, or at the very least, numerals), and I wish the Hmong would also do away with it in their language.

Tongyong: useless garbage. Must be eliminated and all memory of it purged. Greatest mistake in the annals of romanization.

Ma's victory will help in the continued spread of Hanyu Pinyin and elimination of that monstrosity Tongyong.

[80sStar]

Hanyu Pinyin has the advantage of being the international standard.

So by that logic, you would be willing to use the British spelling system for your English?

It's also parsimonious and accurate.

"parsimonious

adjective

Definition: unwilling to spend money"

Darned stingy transliterations.

Accurate? Any I've encountered fit that bill assuming you know what letter corresponds to whatever sound it represents in Chinese. Like I said, any system is going to cause trouble with people who haven't studied basic Chinese phonics. The Q in qigong, causes English speakers to produce sounds like key gong or quee gong.