Title is clear I hope. Does anyone know what the proper way to romanize the Taiwanese for those oracle blocks used in temples?
Based on which Romanization system, Church?
Not buo, but bua bui. Not sure, but it sounds closer.
Any will do though the most commonly used would be best.
Well, for intuitive Romanization for native English speakers, it might be buah bweh. That’s just off the top of my head. Or bua bwe, or bwa bwe. Someone else will have to come along and give a more definitive version if you want Church, for instance.
Seems like those blocks should be able to tell you, if they were worth a damn.
He he. But they only answer yes or no or maybe.
“Okay, does it start with a b?”
“Is the next letter u? No? How about w?”
That could take a while.
I would like something definitive, and also intuitive, as this is for an article.
Church romanization:
poa’h-poe
跋杯 po̍ah-poe (without diacritics: poah poe) Note: the o̍ is a dotted o, not an o-apostrophe.
Nothin’ intuitive there!!! 
[quote=“rice_t”]Church romanization:
poa’h-poe[/quote]
Thanks. Wow, that is completely unsuitable for an article. DB is right, nothing intuitive. I think I will use some kind of intuitive spelling and list the Church in brackets: bwuah bweh (Church romanization: poa’h-poe)
[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“rice_t”]Church romanization:
poa’h-poe[/quote]
Thanks. Wow, that is completely unsuitable for an article. DB is right, nothing intuitive. I think I will use some kind of intuitive spelling and list the Church in brackets: bwuah bweh (Church romanization: poa’h-poe)[/quote]
I wouldn’t add the Church unless you have some special reason to do so. Are you merely trying to convey the pronunciation? Also, your w and u are redundant there in bwuah, IMO.
taiyu tongyong would be （if I am not mistaken）:
buah bue
I’d suggest using the actual Church Romanization version throughout the article, but when you first introduce the term, show the pronunciation as “bwah bweh”).
“The worshipper picks up a pair of poah poe (pronounced “bwah bweh”), asks a question, and tosses them on the ground. Poah poe are kidney-bean-shaped divining blocks, …”
[quote=“Chris”]I’d suggest using the actual Church Romanization version throughout the article, but when you first introduce the term, show the pronunciation as “bwah bweh”).
“The worshipper picks up a pair of poah poe (pronounced “bwah bweh”), asks a question, and tosses them on the ground. Poah poe are kidney-bean-shaped divining blocks, …”[/quote]
Yeah, I like that except as a reader I hate reading things that I can’t pronounce intuitively each time I look at them. But I’ll probably go with this or just call them oracle blocks throughout with poah peo (bwah bweh) the first time.
Mwuuuuuah hwuah hwuah hwuah hwuah.
Hmm, maybe you are right. 
I couldn’t agree more. Why the insistence on insertion of Church? It’s a creaky, antiquated system. Yuck. It’s not as if any significant percentage of readers know it, after all. 
“…which cause people to make random decisions while avoiding any responsibility for them.”
I couldn’t agree more. Why the insistence on insertion of Church? It’s a creaky, antiquated system. Yuck. It’s not as if any significant percentage of readers know it, after all. [/quote]
No insistence. I would use any system that looks good. Just would like to have something official as I know my editors are going to ask for this.
[quote=“rice_t”]taiyu tongyong would be （if I am not mistaken）:
buah bue[/quote]Tongyong can’t be used be Taiwanese, this was one the lies use to get it approved.
I am with Chris, use the most “standard” romanization (perhaps with an explanation of the actual pronounciation) instead of creating yet another romanization.
Especially if I find the article interesting and want to google the term afterwards, try to google bwah-bweh. Not that poah-poe would give you a lot of results either