Why do some people keep referring to Taipei as “Taibei”? Of course, we all know that that is the correct pronunciation, but in English it is spelled T-a-i-p-e-i. Just wankerist “Ohh I know some Chinese” pretention?
Taipei isn’t English anymore than Paris is. It’s a pinyin system, an outdated one. Taibei instead of Taipei is just as appropriate as Beijing vs. Peking.
And Taibei is the correct pinyin for 台北, and is how it is pronounced.
Taipei isn’t correct Wade-Giles either, it should be T’aipei
[quote=“jimipresley”]Why do some people keep referring to Taipei as “Taibei”? Of course, we all know that that is the correct pronunciation, but in English it is spelled T-a-i-p-e-i. Just wankerist “Ohh I know some Chinese” pretention?[/quote]The English name of the city is spelled “Taipei”, sure. Just as “Sevilla” is “Seville” in English. But if people want to use the the Chinese name of the city then “Taibei” is the logical way to spell it, as (Hanyu) Pinyin is the local and international standard for Romanization.
Google gives 11 million results for “Taibei”. That’s a lot less than the 46 million for “Taipei”, but it’s still a substantial proportion.
Next year I’m going to Jermani and Frans on holiday.
[quote=“jimipresley”]Next year I’m going to Jermani and Frans on holiday.[/quote]If you’d have said “I’m going to Deutschland and La France,” it would have been a fair analogy.
That’s fine, but Taipei is the incorrect pronunciation anyway. Still written as Taipei, it should be pronounced with a B instead of a P, but non-chinese speaking people don’t know that. It’s not trying to be cool, it’s trying to pronounce things the way their intended.
Plus some of us do speak Chinese on a daily basis, and these names come out first instead of their other counterparts.
Fair enough, but we don’t write Deutschland and La France in English. It would seem pretentious. Same with the “Taibei” thing. OK, we can say “Taibei”, but to write it is wrong, considering that the accepted international English spelling is “Taipei”.
Fair enough, but we don’t write Deutschland and La France in English. It would seem pretentious. Same with the “Taibei” thing. OK, we can say “Taibei”, but to write it is wrong, considering that the accepted international English spelling is “Taipei”.[/quote]Yeah, it’s a fair point. I don’t know about pretentious, but I personally don’t use “Taibei” in writing. In fact, I use the English name “Taipei” in English conversation as well as writing. That’s the only city name I do that for, though. No other cities have an internationally accepted English name, and pronunciations such as “Keelung” with a “k” sound send shivers up my spine.
[quote=“joesax”]
Fair enough, but we don’t write Deutschland and La France in English. It would seem pretentious. Same with the “Taibei” thing. OK, we can say “Taibei”, but to write it is wrong, considering that the accepted international English spelling is “Taipei”.[/quote]Yeah, it’s a fair point. I don’t know about pretentious, but I personally don’t use “Taibei” in writing. In fact, I use the English name “Taipei” in English conversation as well as writing. That’s the only city name I do that for, though. No other cities have an internationally accepted English name, and pronunciations such as “Keelung (Jilong)” with a “k” sound send shivers up my spine.[/quote]
Well the “major” cities do have recognized names; Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu to name a few. I know Taichung is because my father works for a factory in Indiana thats owned by a company in Taichung Industrial Park. There’s KHH international airport. Hsinchu Industrial park is also quite international.
Yeah! “Keelung” is just ridiculous! One might as well spell it “Xynunmh” for the phonetic logic it makes.
Well the “major” cities do have recognized names; Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu (Xinzhu) to name a few. I know Taichung is because my father works for a factory in Indiana thats owned by a company in Taichung Industrial Park. There’s KHH international airport. Hsinchu (Xinzhu) Industrial park is also quite international.[/quote]I don’t think those work in the same way, though. They’re not as widespread, and they don’t have an associated English pronunciation. Kaohsiung is still pronounced “Gaoxiong”, unless it’s being mangled by some poor foreigner who doesn’t understand the intricacies of bastardized Wade-Giles.
[quote=“joesax”][quote=“craya”]
Well the “major” cities do have recognized names; Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu (Xinzhu) (Xinzhu) to name a few. I know Taichung is because my father works for a factory in Indiana thats owned by a company in Taichung Industrial Park. There’s KHH international airport. Hsinchu (Xinzhu) (Xinzhu) Industrial park is also quite international.[/quote]I don’t think those work in the same way, though. They’re not as widespread, and they don’t have an associated English pronunciation. Kaohsiung is still pronounced “Gaoxiong”, unless it’s being mangled by some poor foreigner who doesn’t understand the intricacies of bastardized Wade-Giles.[/quote]
But then using the OP’s logic, then we shouldn’t be saying Gaoxiong in the first place, we should be saying Kaohsiung.
It’s not about saying, it’s about writing. And it’s Gaoshiong, not Gaoxiong. Where the fuck does that “x” come from?
Hello, look at the signs. Its clearly Kaohsiung.
http://www.kcg.gov.tw/english/ ← Welcome to Kaohsiung City.
And its Gaoxiong. The X comes from the Hanyu romanization system, which is the internationally accepted romanization of Chinese.
your sh, I have no idea where the fuck that one comes from.
If you’re going to act like an expert on the matter, you should learn your shit :loco:
[quote=“jimipresley”]It’s not about saying, it’s about writing. And it’s Gaoshiong, not Gaoxiong. Where the fuck does that “x” come from?[/quote]Oh, right, I think you’re a bit confused there about the way Romanization systems work. They’re representations of Chinese phonemes (more or less) using Roman letters. They’re not intended to be representations of Chinese sounds using English orthography. Well, one kind of was, but that’s not the one that ended up as the local and international standard for Romanization of Mandarin. The standard is Hanyu Pinyin, which uses an “x” in the “xiong” of “Gaoxiong”.
Hello, look at the signs. Its clearly Kaohsiung.
http://www.kcg.gov.tw/english/ ← Welcome to Kaohsiung City.
And its Gaoxiong. The X comes from the Hanyu romanization system, which is the internationally accepted romanization of Chinese.
your sh, I have no idea where the fuck that one comes from.
If you’re going to act like an expert on the matter, you should learn your shit :loco:[/quote]
Oh grow up. It’s not about “the internationally accepted romanization(sic) of Chinese”. :bravo:
And “x” makes a “kss” sound in most English usages. Should we now change it to Kaiokssiung?
The accepted phonetic “sh” is far closer than the “x”.
Hello, look at the signs. Its clearly Kaohsiung.
http://www.kcg.gov.tw/english/ ← Welcome to Kaohsiung City.
And its Gaoxiong. The X comes from the Hanyu romanization system, which is the internationally accepted romanization of Chinese.
your sh, I have no idea where the fuck that one comes from.
If you’re going to act like an expert on the matter, you should learn your shit :loco:[/quote]
Oh grow up. It’s not about “the internationally accepted romanization(sic) of Chinese”. :bravo:[/quote]
But here you are saying that we should write/say Taipei, but write/say Gaoshiong.
No, we should write “Taipei” and say “Taibei”. Write “Kaohsiung” and say “Gaoshiung”.
Then i apologize for completely misunderstanding you. 