I have been trying to locate a Hanyu Pinyin spelling chart of all the place names in Taiwan. Unfortunately, I have had no success.
So, I made my own.
Would any spelling experts on forumosa.com care to comment on any problems with my spellings???
Are hyphens or apostrophes (apostrophe’s, apostrophes’, etc.) needed at all ?
See taiwanbasic.com/kcity/zipcode.htm
I would appreciate it if anyone could point out any errors …
彰化 should be Zhanghua. Nan’ao (in Yilan) should have an apostrophe.
[color=red]DAMN that auto-censor! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Gus!!![/color]
[color=blue]The spaces added in the original words are to defeat the foul, evil, accursed auto-censor.[/color]
EDIT: Thanks to Cranky Laowai for telling me how to fix that! 
Changhua should be Zhanghua;
大村鄉 515 Dacn Township should be Dacun
元長鄉 655 Yuanchang Township is ok if pronounced chang2, but might be zhang3
same for 長治鄉 908 Changzhi Township (I just don’t know how these two are pronounced).
嘉義市 Chiayi City should be Jiayi
same for 嘉義縣 Chiayi County
高雄市 Kaohsiung City should be Gaoxiong
same for 高雄縣 Kaohsiung County
橋頭鄉 825 Qiaotao Township should be Qiaotou
屏東縣 Pingtung County should be Pingdong
花蓮縣 Hualien County should be Hualian
吉安鄉 973 Jian Township should be Ji’an
台東縣 Taitung County should be Taidong
連江縣 Lienchiang County > Lianjiang
As for apostrophes, I prefer to add one if the result is ambiguous, as in:
永安鄉 828 Yongan Township > Yong’an
南竿鄉 209 Nangan Township > Nan’gan (compare to Yong’an!!!)
蘇澳鎮 270 Suao Township > Su’ao
南澳鄉 272 Nanao Township >Nan’ao
Cranky or sb else might be able to give you a better answer on apostrophes; some rules treat the apostrophe as optional in some of the above cases, but I always add them in cases like mangan, where you don’t know if it’s man-gan or mang-an; it’s easier to read, and one should bear in mind that not everyone will have the rule memorized.
How refreshing to see those names in proper Pinyin, as they should be.
Here’s more:
大村鄉 515 Dacn Township -> Dacun Township
綠島鄉 951 Ludao Township -> Lüdao Township (the umlaut is needed over the u)
Da’an
南庄鄉 353 Township Township Nanzhuang Township Township
泰安鄉 365 Tai’an Township [not absolutely strictly necessary I think as the only possible confusion could be Da “Ian” which would be Dayan or summat, but it’s often written with the apostrophe…]
大村鄉 515 Dacun Township [typo]
車城鄉 944 Detroit Township
蘇澳鎮 270 Su’ao Township
南澳鄉 272 Nan’ao Township
烈嶼鄉 894 Lie’yu Township [Could be “Li E Yu”?]
About the pinyinizer, I propose the addition of some kind of option to disable it for posts where it needs to be disabled, such as the ones in this thread.
I’ve already made such a list (though without postal codes). But I must admit that it has been too hard for users to find. I’ll put it up in a better location later tonight, along with some other useful lists.
Sure you do, if you know Pinyin’s rules for apostrophes, which are clear and easy.
There’s just Mangan (man + gan) and Mang’an (mang + an). Man’gan is simply incorrect.
That’s their problem, not Pinyin’s. I strongly advise not trying to “help” by screwing around with Pinyin’s rules; that’s the sort of thing that brought about Taipei’s stupid, ugly, and downright evil InTerCaPiTaLiZaTion.
Below is DB’s post, without the auto-correct. (DB, feel free to edit this out of my post and into your original one.)
[quote=“Dragonbones”]
Changhua should be Zhanghua;
大村鄉 515 Dacn Township should be Dacun
元長鄉 655 Yuanchang Township is ok if pronounced chang2, but might be zhang3
same for 長治鄉 908 Changzhi Township (I just don’t know how these two are pronounced).
嘉義市 Chiayi City should be Jiayi
same for 嘉義縣 Chiayi County
高雄市 Kaohsiung City should be Gaoxiong
same for 高雄縣 Kaohsiung County
橋頭鄉 825 Qiaotao Township should be Qiaotou
屏東縣 Pingtung County should be Pingdong
花蓮縣 Hualien County should be Hualian
吉安鄉 973 Jian Township should be Ji’an
台東縣 Taitung County should be Taidong
連江縣 Lienchiang County > Lianjiang[/quote]
[quote]As for apostrophes, I prefer to add one if the result is ambiguous, as in:
永安鄉 828 Yongan Township > Yong’an
南竿鄉 209 Nangan Township > Nan’gan (compare to Yong’an!!!)
蘇澳鎮 270 Suao Township > Su’ao
南港區 115 Nangang District > Nan’gang
南澳鄉 272 Nanao Township >Nan’ao[/quote]
[ul][li]Yong’an [color=green]correct[/color][/li]
[li]Nan’gang [color=red]No, it should be Nangang[/color][/li]
[li]Su’ao [color=green]correct[/color][/li]
[li]Nan’gang [color=red]No, it should be Nangang[/color][/li]
[li]Nan’ao [color=green]correct[/color][/li][/ul]
Thanks cranky – I knew we could count on you for this one! 
That’s their problem, not Pinyin’s. I strongly advise not trying to “help” by screwing around with Pinyin’s rules; that’s the sort of thing that brought about Taipei’s stupid, ugly, and downright evil InTerCaPiTaLiZaTion.
[/quote]
OK, if there’s never an apostrophe between n and g, then how do you distinguish 南竿 Nan’gan from 囔安 Nang’an? Purely hypothetical example but the point is valid, no?
Oh, thanks! Your code tip was very helpful – I’ll do it manually.
(I can’t edit your post anyway – wrong forum! 
)
As promised, here’s my list of Taiwan place names in Chinese characters and Hanyu Pinyin.
The list also contains some other romanization systems I’d prefer to ignore but I’ve included because some people might need to know how something written in, say, Tongyong Pinyin ought to be spelled – in Hanyu Pinyin, that is. 
(As you can see, not many apostrophes are needed.)
I edited this into the above post so you might have missed it, Cranky:
OK, if there’s never an apostrophe between n and g, then how do you distinguish 南竿 Nan’gan from 囔安 Nang’an? Purely hypothetical example but the point is valid, no?
I should have also mentioned my companion page to the one on apostrophes: How to find syllable boundaries in Hanyu Pinyin.
Those who make it to the end of that might want to take the quiz.
:homer:
I should have also mentioned my companion page to the one on apostrophes: How to find syllable boundaries in Hanyu Pinyin. [/quote]
Well, while I appreciate all your clarifications, I remain of the opinion that this particular rule, although parsimonious, is not user friendly, and I feel that adding apostrophes in this case is clearer for the average user (which is the bottom line, in my opinion).
Hmm…but wouldn’t it be clear from context that Nangan 南竿 is the correct one? Surely ‘Nan’ is going to be south.
You’re assuming familiarity with the language, while Cranky is assuming extreme familiarity with the rules; I on the other hand would point out that the average person isn’t going to have much of either, in which case adding those optional apostrophes helps. 
Extreme familiarity? Pinyin spelling is many orders of magnitude easier than English spelling, considerably easier than French spelling, and even easier than Italian spelling. There’s nothing particularly difficult about this.
I’ll summarize:
That’s all of two sentences.
Also, I’m left wondering who this “average person” is. Apparently it’s someone who, despite using a romanization system for the Mandarin language, doesn’t know a thing about Mandarin. Would it be the same person who wouldn’t know a Mandarin word if it bit him on the pigu or how to deal with an x or a q? If so, then why bother with a system at all? Tie-pay, Sheen-jew, Bay-jing… :help:
Again, I’d like to stress that according to the rules, apostrophes are not optional: they’re either right or they’re wrong. Putting one between an n and a g is wrong. It might not be the worst thing in the world; but it’s still wrong. Trust me on this.
I think it’s especially important to follow the rules closely in relatively new orthographies, lest things disintegrate into a, well, Taiwan-romanization-like mess.
All this certainly does convince me of one thing: I need to write up some basic guidelines for beginners. Oh, joy: more work. 
Any map you purchase in China of Taiwan will have all of the names with both Hanyu pinyin and simplified characters. There should be a website too based in China with all of the places in Taiwan and all of the historical figures in Taiwan with HanuYu pinyin names. I bet Li Deng Hui loves that. What about Keelung and Kaohsiung residents? I guess they all prefer Jilong and Gaoxiong huh?
Does Hong Kong now have all of their place names in Hanyu pinyin? What about Macao? Use to be nice to see different Romanzations used in different Chinese countries in Asia. Works great with romanized Chinese names. You can actually guess which country they are from based on their Romanized English name.
Even though I was educated in University using HanYu Pinyin and it is really useful, I am happy to not use it all of the time as IMO certain places get their character from their names. I think Keelung seems more charming than Jilong, ditto with Lee Teng Hui.
I have put up a revised html file here –
taiwanbasic.com/kcity/zipcode.htm
In this file, I have put all the place names in strict “zip code” order.
Based on previously submitted suggestions for corrections, as posted in this thread by the many helpful members of forumosa.com, I have revised the relevant spellings to reflect the following preferred Hanyu Pinyin:
[color=darkblue]Zhanghua
Dacun
Jiayi City/County
Gaoxiong City/County
Qiaotou
Pingdong City/County
Hualian City/County
Taidong City/County
Lianjiang County
Nanzhuang Township[/color]
[quote=“Hobart”]Any map you purchase in China of Taiwan will have all of the names with both Hanyu Pinyin and simplified characters. There should be a website too based in China with all of the places in Taiwan and all of the historical figures in Taiwan with HanuYu Pinyin names. I bet Li Deng Hui loves that. What about Keelung (Jilong) and Kaohsiung residents? I guess they all prefer Jilong and Gaoxiong huh?
Does Hong Kong now have all of their place names in Hanyu Pinyin? What about Macao? Use to be nice to see different Romanzations used in different Chinese countries in Asia. Works great with romanized Chinese names. You can actually guess which country they are from based on their Romanized English name.
Even though I was educated in University using HanYu Pinyin and it is really useful, I am happy to not use it all of the time as IMO certain places get their character from their names. I think Keelung (Jilong) seems more charming than Jilong, ditto with Lee Teng Hui.[/quote]
As long as it’s not in Tongyong Pinyin, I’m happy.
Ludao is still incorrect. Should be Lüdao, as somebody has already pointed out. In China the use of v instead of ü seems to become popular, e.g. in email addresses.