So, my point is, if various departments of the Taipei City Government are still using and still promulgating tongyong data, and have not fully implemented PIN YIN across the board (in a rigorous manner), is it not a bit too early to have a Press Conference to thank Mayor Ma???
quote:I agree. Especially since I've seen about 3 new "Kelang Road" signs on what should be Jilong Road and what is currently spelled "Keelung Road". It bugs me that a non-national language, using a non-approved pinyin "system", and even a non-approved pronunciation scheme ("Gueilang is an alternative Taiwanese pronunciation of "Kelang") is being arbitrarily thrust upon foreigners exclusively. In any area of the city, this would be a stupid error, but especially in the world trade centre area, this is a huge mistake. Taiwanese business people tend to speak either English or Mandarin with foreigners. If they give a Taiwan place name to a foreigner, they consistently do it in Mandarin. The truth is, the languages being written on the signs, and the languages being commonly uttered are compeletely different. Your average Joe visiting Computex won't be able to know discern the subtleties of the language difference. And the locals, who very rarely pay any attention to the romanized signage won't understand why foreigners can't pronounce anything even remotely right. [img]images/smiles/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]
Originally posted by Hartzell: ...is it not a bit too early to have a press conference to thank Mayor Ma?
Can anyone confirm if the spelling on the MRT maps are correct Hanyu Pinyin? These maps are posted in the MRT stations and in the trains as well.
As Bri noted, before the crash of the site’s host [temporarily?] deleted his post, the MRT does not use hanyu pinyin but bastardized Wade-Giles (for the most part).
For MRT maps in hanyu pinyin, see
www.romanization.com/mrt/maps.html
Schmartzell> is it not a bit too early to have a Press Conference to thank Mayor Ma???
Ah, mere technical details. He said he supports hanyu pinyin.
I mean on the news they only give you 10 seconds. You get into
technical details and the message gets lost.
Hmm, perhaps city agencies could welcome a pinyin consultant like
Mr. www.romanization.com to take a brief look at what they plan to
print/hang?
For instance I was impressed with a recent map from the city gov’t
tourist bureau until I spotted Zhengde Rd. for Chengde. So I was
thinking maybe there was a real foreigner who lived nearby who could
go over and help them out.
On Chongqing N. Rd. I saw some bus stops with a Hong Kong looking
romanization, stop after stop.
Anyway, if one of you could stoop to help them, then believe me, you
will be doing as much for this country as one of those oldtimers who
have opened orphanages, etc. 功德無量
Did you notice the story in yesterday’s Liberty Times about another old-timer? He wrote the Ministry of Education that his birthday wish is that Taiwan reject hanyu pinyin, repeating the canard of the Soviet origins of hanyu pinyin.
Oy.
quote:
Originally posted by cranky laowai: ...old-timer...repeating the canard of the Soviet origins of hanyu pinyin.
This old priest, Father Jozsef Maron, is said to be “fluent in German, Latin, French, Mandarin and Southern Min” - as well as his native Hungarian, presumably. As such, he should be aware that Hanyu pinyin, like all other romanisations, is based on Latin, not English (the Romans spoke Latin - get it, Father Maron?) and that the use of the letter X for a “kh” sound in Russian, a “sh” sound in Portuguese and a “sh”-like sound in Mandarin are all derived from the Greek letter chi. I suggest this is the key to popularising Hanyu pinyin among Taiwan’s Christians, since the letter chi occurs in the ancient Christian symbol “chi ro” (a chi (X) superimposed on a ro (P), these being the first two letters of the Greek word Christos (Christ), and is also the second letter of the Greek word ichthys, meaning fish, which is comprised of the initial letters of the Greek sentence Iesous Christos Theou Gios Soter meaning “Jesus Christ, God’s son (and) saviour.” So Father Maron and all the other Christians will be pleased to know that the X in Hanyu pinyin is in origin Greek, not Russian, and Christian, not communist!
Iesous Christos Theou Gios Soter
Jesus Christ, God’s son (and) saviour
quote:
Originally posted by Hartzell: Have you been in the Shrlin District recently? I saw a lot of road signs there with wierd spellings.
My favorite is Jui An Road, Rwei An Road and RuiAn Road… three street markers on FuXing South Road demarking different entrances to the same street!
For a moment I thought you wrote the priest was fluent in “Southern Man” ! A bit before CSNY’s time perhaps…!?