[quote=“bumclouds”]For the love of God.
[b]
STANDARD
PINYIN
[/b]
Don’t come up with any other dumb ideas. Please.[/quote]
Word. Speaking of Pinyin, has Forumosa been disabling the pinyin auto-censor? I’m pretty sure Hsinchu used to display as Xinzhu.
I hope that the H-sinchu to X-inzhu pinyinizer has been disabled, since like Taipei and Kaohsiung, the city retains its old spelling.
[quote=“Mucha Man”][quote=“Chris”]So, the other day I made a trip across town from Fairview to Southport. After that I had to go all the way up to Freshwater. From there, I walked south to Mangrove. Then I took the MRT to Westgate.
So far, so good eh?
Then I had to shop as Sogo, so I took the MRT to Loyalty-Filial Piety/Resurgence MRT station.
Now it’s a bit sillier.[/quote]
You forget your hike with me today on Perfect Harmony Mountain in New Shop District.[/quote]
Afterwards, I headed out of New North City back into North Taiwan City, and got off at Public House MRT station. Then took a bus that passed by Big Safety Forest Park and soon arrived in the area of Little Giant Egg.
I hope that the H-sinchu to X-inzhu pinyinizer has been disabled, since like Taipei and Kaohsiung, the city retains its old spelling.[/quote]
Letting local governments take the lead when it comes to romanization standards is a proven recipe for disaster.
Hsinchu
hsinchu Hsinchu Hsinchu…
thanks be to Buddha…
Xinzhu.
There should be one standard and one standard only.
[quote=“bumclouds”]Xinzhu.
There should be one standard and one standard only.[/quote]
I like that there are so many standards. Its kinda like ‘diversity’
[quote=“Confuzius”][quote=“bumclouds”]Xinzhu.
There should be one standard and one standard only.[/quote]
I like that there are so many standards. Its kinda like ‘diversity’[/quote]
Taiwan’s official (and unofficial) exceptions from standard Hanyu Pinyin are more like “tivhurcitee.”
[quote=“Confuzius”][quote=“bumclouds”]Xinzhu.
There should be one standard and one standard only.[/quote]
I like that there are so many standards. Its kinda like ‘diversity’[/quote]
I’ll give you one week or “diversity” in 100 documents and see what happens…
[quote=“bumclouds”]Xinzhu.
There should be one standard and one standard only.[/quote]
The Mainland maps all have the TW cities in Hanyu Pinyin.
I’m still for the auto correct of “Hsinchu (Xinzhu)” “Keelung (Jilong)” “Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong)” “Civic Blvd (Shimin Dadao)” for both the correct and wade-giles/english inputs.
[quote=“bumclouds”]Xinzhu.
There should be one standard and one standard only.[/quote]
There should be, but as long as Hsinchu (and Taipei and Kaohsiung) officially retain their old spellings, consistently unchanged since time immemorial (i.e. in living memory), the Forumosa “pinyinizer” should correct to the names currently in use. (T-anshui/D-anshui/T-amsui and C-hilung/J-ilong/K-eelung are different matters, since they keep changing the spelling, unlike Hsinchu, which has remained unchanged.)
I’ve been reading these posts. The idea of translating these words into English for daily use won’t fly. The locals could not pronounce the words…
However, the idea of understanding and thinking of the places in their translated names is fine because that is what the Chinese themselves are thinking… I’d guess.
Towns like WoodSide New Jersey and probably the thousand other Woodsides in the English speaking world were just that… A nice clearing of land on the edge of the wood. There is even a Woodside Taiwan right near where I live. I that would be called East Port in Chinese, There are many East Ports in the states. They happen to be ports and they happen to be on the east side of something.
Hopewell was a town of hope. Jenny Jump is where a girl named Jenny jumped. If that in the Bond Film had that name like a fountain of Desire… that is what she is saying in Chinese. I want some of that desire too…
If the names sound silly in English… they should sound silly in Chinese too.
My favorite town… Assawoman, Virginia
[quote=“Chris”][quote=“bumclouds”]Xinzhu.
There should be one standard and one standard only.[/quote]
There should be, but as long as Hsinchu (and Taipei and Kaohsiung) officially retain their old spellings, consistently unchanged since time immemorial (i.e. in living memory), the Forumosa “pinyinizer” should correct to the names currently in use. (T-anshui/D-anshui/T-amsui and C-hilung/J-ilong/K-eelung are different matters, since they keep changing the spelling, unlike Hsinchu, which has remained unchanged.)[/quote]
It took awhile, but after consultation with several other pinyin-concerned expats, I came up with the following standard: everything in Hanyu Pinyin, except for the “big three”, Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. If I were to broaden the exceptions even further, I suppose I’d add Keelung and Hsinchu. It’s a judgment call, and I choose to err on the side of standardization. 
Good. Three big cities. Three very easy-to-remember exceptions. The rest standard pinyin.
[quote=“bumclouds”]
Good. Three big cities. Three very easy-to-remember exceptions. The rest standard pinyin.[/quote]
Taichung can hardly compare with Taipei and Ktown. It does not deserve special treatment in my view.
Honestly, I have no problem with legacy names all across the board. as Chris said about personal names, it gives them a bit of class.
[quote=“Mucha Man”]
Honestly, I have no problem with legacy names all across the board. as Chris said about personal names, it gives them a bit of class.[/quote]
Why complicate things for the sake of aesthetics? It gives translators a headache, confuses tourists, and google maps for TW is so discombobulated that a copy-n-paste of Chinese addresses is the only option for some buildings to be located properly.
One more things to add; A year ago I wrote my address in Chinese 50 times on seperate adhesive labels and mailed them to Australia so that my family can send me stuff. Prior to that, about 10% of my stuff went missing due to romanization confusion.
I’ll say it 'till I go blue in the face:
Standard.
Pinyin.
In my translation work, I stick to the official standard handed down by the GIO:
Hanyu Pinyin, except for the following: Taipei, H-sinchu, Taichung, C-hanghua, K-eelung, C-hiayi, Kaohsiung, P-ingtung, T-aitung, H-ualien, K-inmen, L-ienchiang and M-atsu. (Hyphens added to defeat pinyinizer) In other words, Counties and Municipalities. (The remaining ones, like Tainan and Nantou, happen to have the same spelling as Hanyu Pinyin anyway.)
Unfortunately, they also recently added T-amsui and L-ukang to the list, neither of which is a County or Municipality. It pains me to use these.
Good news, though: Kending is officially Kending, not K-enting. I’m also glad that Yilan is Yilan, and not the old I-lan spelling.
[quote=“bumclouds”][quote=“Muzha Man”]
Honestly, I have no problem with legacy names all across the board. as Chris said about personal names, it gives them a bit of class.[/quote]
Why complicate things for the sake of aesthetics?[/quote]
We obviously have different values. Believe me, tourists are confused no matter what, and the post office is no better off with HP than bastardized Wade Giles.
In any case, I am not taking about streets but the names of towns and cities.
The simple fact is, not matter what, we will have exceptions for Taipei and Kaohsiung. Extending that to a few more is not going to add any level of confusion. Consistency is the key.
The OPs proposal would certainly be more useful if Chinese place names had more memorable meanings. There are a couple of villages near where I used to live in the UK called Little Snoring and Great Snoring. New Bamboo City doesn’t show much imagination (not to mention the nearby ZhuBei and ZhuNan, and half a dozen other minor Zhus. I mean, seriously, it’s no wonder Chinese people have a reputation for being uninventive).
[quote]I’ll say it 'till I go blue in the face:
Standard.
Pinyin.[/quote]
This. Written in Chinese characters is the “traditional” name. The romanisation is purely a pronunciation guide for tourists and has NO other purpose. Pinyin is the most suitable choice because (most) speakers of European languages can learn it in about 20 minutes. What irks me most is that nobody bothers putting tone marks on street/town signs, which is a bit like writing English words with the vowels missing.
Well, it does have other purposes, such as providing addresses for international mailing, shipping and business dealings, as well as place names for non-tourist-oriented articles, maps, books, papers etc.