When the Chinese Meets the English-speaking
With the advent of keyboards and the computer, China realised it needed a mean of input into computers that is better than the current clumsier method using keystroke input. With more and more foreigners streaming into China, the nation also realised it needs a mean of romanising its Chinese characters, into something anyone who uses Latin languages can read.
Chinese Hanyu Pinyin came about precisely because of all these reasons. The romanisation, however, is different in many ways from how an English-speaker uses these same letters. Even the way the Chinese initially pronounce them is different, just like how A is not read as "ay" but "ah" in Indonesia. Of course, as China modernises, and the English language assumes an importance as a compulsory second language, our familiar "ay", "bee", "see" returns to the Chinese tongue.
As a bilingual and bicultural person, I could understand the many hilarious situations that come about when the Chinese encounters the English-speaking. Chinese pinyin, romanised Chinese, does make for interesting situations when English speakers who do not understand it encounters them for the first time.
Imagine, as a professor, coming across a student by the name of He Die. I can just imagine the pause as he wonders how best to read this out loud, without sounding really offensive. In pinyin, these two names would be pronounced her (without the final ‘r’) diego (without the ‘go’). He is a common surname, and Die means “butterfly”.
Then we have our famous conversation.
Prof: What’s your name, girl?
Chinese: Hu (who).
Prof: You, girl.
Chinese: No, sir, Yu is the person there. I’m Hu.
Prof: Look, girl, stop being funny with me.
Chinese: Sir, Mi is not here. And I do not think I am funny, sir.
And imagine, then, as a professor, coming across another student by the name of He She (pronounced "sher" without the final 'r'). Much must have gone through the heads of said professor, as he wondered aloud which parent would name their child after two common pronouns for both genders.
One can also think of the various Bin, Pin, Pie, Tie, Nun, Long, Gong, Tan, Hang, Hen, Gun, Song, Run, Ran, Rang, all of which are valid names in Chinese, and pronounced very differently from how an English speaker would read it.
All these serves to remind us that romanisation may have its benefits, but nothing beats reading and knowing the language and its culture. Perhaps all three professors should take a lesson with me on the Chinese language and culture, with Chinese students proliferating across the world!
Chinese Hanyu Pinyin came about precisely because of all these reasons. The romanisation, however, is different in many ways from how an English-speaker uses these same letters. Even the way the Chinese initially pronounce them is different, just like how A is not read as "ay" but "ah" in Indonesia. Of course, as China modernises, and the English language assumes an importance as a compulsory second language, our familiar "ay", "bee", "see" returns to the Chinese tongue.
As a bilingual and bicultural person, I could understand the many hilarious situations that come about when the Chinese encounters the English-speaking. Chinese pinyin, romanised Chinese, does make for interesting situations when English speakers who do not understand it encounters them for the first time.
Imagine, as a professor, coming across a student by the name of He Die. I can just imagine the pause as he wonders how best to read this out loud, without sounding really offensive. In pinyin, these two names would be pronounced her (without the final ‘r’) diego (without the ‘go’). He is a common surname, and Die means “butterfly”.
Then we have our famous conversation.
Prof: What’s your name, girl?
Chinese: Hu (who).
Prof: You, girl.
Chinese: No, sir, Yu is the person there. I’m Hu.
Prof: Look, girl, stop being funny with me.
Chinese: Sir, Mi is not here. And I do not think I am funny, sir.
And imagine, then, as a professor, coming across another student by the name of He She (pronounced "sher" without the final 'r'). Much must have gone through the heads of said professor, as he wondered aloud which parent would name their child after two common pronouns for both genders.
One can also think of the various Bin, Pin, Pie, Tie, Nun, Long, Gong, Tan, Hang, Hen, Gun, Song, Run, Ran, Rang, all of which are valid names in Chinese, and pronounced very differently from how an English speaker would read it.
All these serves to remind us that romanisation may have its benefits, but nothing beats reading and knowing the language and its culture. Perhaps all three professors should take a lesson with me on the Chinese language and culture, with Chinese students proliferating across the world!
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