What is Chinese pinyin, why is Tao now "Dao",
why do the Chinese eat dog-meat soup, and
other pertinent questions and enigmas from the
Middle Kingdom...
why do the Chinese eat dog-meat soup, and
other pertinent questions and enigmas from the
Middle Kingdom...
There are hundreds of languages, and thousands of dialects in the
world today, but by far the most prevalent language is Chinese.
Nothing else comes close to it, although English, learned as a
second-language by many as the default "international" platform,
could be said to be cutting the gap day to day.
Although the subject of the Chinese language is truly vast, there are
some basic confusions that exist about it, especially in the non-
Asian world, that can be cleared up fairly easily, with a little
fundamental explanation.
Modern Chinese is written in "characters", as it has been for its
entire history. The problem is, it takes a long time and a lot of work
to learn them--for the Chinese themselves as well as others. The
solution is to "romanize" the language, for the rest of the world.
There have been a number of different systems created, but the two
most known are the Wade-Giles romanization, and the Pinyin
romanization.
Pinyin is the system that has been globally accepted as the current
way to go--though, as the past dies hard, the older Wade-Giles
method continues to go through its dying gasps and groans, trying
to hang on for dear life. But the writing is on the wall, and has been
for quite some time. So sorry Mr. Wade, and you too Mr. Giles. But,
Pinyin is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.
Both of these men, Wade and Giles, were British academics, who
headed the Chinese Language Department of Oxford University in
the 19th century. They were basically extensions of the British
imperialist, Christian mind that was attempting to engulf the world
with its way of life in the 1800's and first half of the 1900's. India,
Burma, Tibet, China, and many other places. Language was, of
course, a big part of the problem to colonization, and the Wade-
Giles system was a part of the "solution."
The task at hand was to give a romanization list to the modern
Chinese spoken language. This speech is known by many different
names--Mandarin, Guo Yu, Hanyu, Putonghua (in present-day
China)--but the accepted current identification is usually just plain
old "Chinese" for the English speaking world. It is not used to
romanize any of the other Chinese dialects, including "Cantonese"
(Guangdong Hua), "Shanghai-ese", Hunan Hua, Sichuan Hua, etc.
Only the "national" spoken language--Chinese.
Wade and Giles created their system to romanize the approximately
300 different syllables of modern spoken Chinese. It has been the
transcription method used in the recent past, especially in the
academic world, which includes the book translation businesses.
Some examples of this still lingering in modern times are the words
Tao, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Tao Te Ching, and so forth. Words that
were taken from some of the first translations of the Chinese
classics in the beginning of the 20th century.
When the Communist Party of China defeated the Nationalists of
Chiang Kai-Shek in 1949, the vanquished government went, along
with their foreign-designed Wade-Giles system, to Taiwan. The
victors, the CCP on the mainland, created their own new system,
called in full Hanyu Pinyin--literally meaning "Chinese language"
(Hanyu), "combining the sounds"(pinyin). Prounounce it "peen
yeen". Here's how it looks in Chinese characters:
拼 音 pin yin
Nowadays, the word "Tao" is written as Dao. Taoist master "Lao
Tzu" is spelled Laozi. Chuang Tzu is now Zhuangzi. The famous
Taoist classic the "Tao Te Ching" is now romanized in pinyin as the
Dao De Jing. The pronunciations have not changed at all, they
always remain the same. It is just a matter of learning the correct
sound-to-syllable connection in each particular method.
Modern Chinese pinyin has taken over the old Wade-Giles system,
and is used world-wide nearly across the board. The United States
Library of Congress has revamped its entire catalogue using Pinyin,
it is used on current maps, in newspapers and the Internet, and so
on and so forth. Even modern Western academics, probably the
most entrenched bastion of conservatism in the world, are using
Pinyin. It's not an exaggeration to say, that if you still use the old
W-G transcription for Chinese, you tag yourself as a real "old-timer"--
kind of a "fuddy-duddy" of sorts. Very old-fashioned, out-of-date,
and just "not with it."
But, you may ask, "Bob, why do the Chinese eat dog-meat soup?"
Probably for the same reason that Americans eat hamburgers, I
would guess.
Cheers,
Bob
May 28, 2008
Colorado, USA
world today, but by far the most prevalent language is Chinese.
Nothing else comes close to it, although English, learned as a
second-language by many as the default "international" platform,
could be said to be cutting the gap day to day.
Although the subject of the Chinese language is truly vast, there are
some basic confusions that exist about it, especially in the non-
Asian world, that can be cleared up fairly easily, with a little
fundamental explanation.
Modern Chinese is written in "characters", as it has been for its
entire history. The problem is, it takes a long time and a lot of work
to learn them--for the Chinese themselves as well as others. The
solution is to "romanize" the language, for the rest of the world.
There have been a number of different systems created, but the two
most known are the Wade-Giles romanization, and the Pinyin
romanization.
Pinyin is the system that has been globally accepted as the current
way to go--though, as the past dies hard, the older Wade-Giles
method continues to go through its dying gasps and groans, trying
to hang on for dear life. But the writing is on the wall, and has been
for quite some time. So sorry Mr. Wade, and you too Mr. Giles. But,
Pinyin is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.
Both of these men, Wade and Giles, were British academics, who
headed the Chinese Language Department of Oxford University in
the 19th century. They were basically extensions of the British
imperialist, Christian mind that was attempting to engulf the world
with its way of life in the 1800's and first half of the 1900's. India,
Burma, Tibet, China, and many other places. Language was, of
course, a big part of the problem to colonization, and the Wade-
Giles system was a part of the "solution."
The task at hand was to give a romanization list to the modern
Chinese spoken language. This speech is known by many different
names--Mandarin, Guo Yu, Hanyu, Putonghua (in present-day
China)--but the accepted current identification is usually just plain
old "Chinese" for the English speaking world. It is not used to
romanize any of the other Chinese dialects, including "Cantonese"
(Guangdong Hua), "Shanghai-ese", Hunan Hua, Sichuan Hua, etc.
Only the "national" spoken language--Chinese.
Wade and Giles created their system to romanize the approximately
300 different syllables of modern spoken Chinese. It has been the
transcription method used in the recent past, especially in the
academic world, which includes the book translation businesses.
Some examples of this still lingering in modern times are the words
Tao, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Tao Te Ching, and so forth. Words that
were taken from some of the first translations of the Chinese
classics in the beginning of the 20th century.
When the Communist Party of China defeated the Nationalists of
Chiang Kai-Shek in 1949, the vanquished government went, along
with their foreign-designed Wade-Giles system, to Taiwan. The
victors, the CCP on the mainland, created their own new system,
called in full Hanyu Pinyin--literally meaning "Chinese language"
(Hanyu), "combining the sounds"(pinyin). Prounounce it "peen
yeen". Here's how it looks in Chinese characters:
拼 音 pin yin
Nowadays, the word "Tao" is written as Dao. Taoist master "Lao
Tzu" is spelled Laozi. Chuang Tzu is now Zhuangzi. The famous
Taoist classic the "Tao Te Ching" is now romanized in pinyin as the
Dao De Jing. The pronunciations have not changed at all, they
always remain the same. It is just a matter of learning the correct
sound-to-syllable connection in each particular method.
Modern Chinese pinyin has taken over the old Wade-Giles system,
and is used world-wide nearly across the board. The United States
Library of Congress has revamped its entire catalogue using Pinyin,
it is used on current maps, in newspapers and the Internet, and so
on and so forth. Even modern Western academics, probably the
most entrenched bastion of conservatism in the world, are using
Pinyin. It's not an exaggeration to say, that if you still use the old
W-G transcription for Chinese, you tag yourself as a real "old-timer"--
kind of a "fuddy-duddy" of sorts. Very old-fashioned, out-of-date,
and just "not with it."
But, you may ask, "Bob, why do the Chinese eat dog-meat soup?"
Probably for the same reason that Americans eat hamburgers, I
would guess.
Cheers,
Bob
May 28, 2008
Colorado, USA
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