Tone marks on official signs

I spotted something surprising this morning: highway signs with tone marks on the romanization. (The signs were poorly done, but that’s another matter.) This was in Zhonghe (I think). Has anyone seen similar signs elsewhere?

I love those tools

But how do I get it to work over here?

nǐhǎo .pinyin

Or won’t it work?

I am all for it. If I can’t read the characters, e.g. the middle character of 歸綏街, I want to know how to pronounce the place name properly, and I can’t do that if I don’t know the tone.

Not seen those yet but I thinks it’s a good idea (if they are also in Hanyu-Pinyin that is).

Also a great way to show that Taiwan is “better than” the Mainland – after all, the signs over there don’t have tone marks!

awsome :bravo:

great idea

Yes, tone marks! Now, just make it Hanyu Pinyin, and we can all be happy!

Used “quote” instead of “edit” again :blush:

All Taiwan needs to do to get it right is to put Cranky in charge. It’s so simple!!! :stuck_out_tongue:

Good stuff. Well done that Pinyinist.

We should form a Tippex Army and go out putting the appropriate diacritical marks on all Taipei’s roadsigns.

[quote=“Miranda”]Good stuff. Well done that Pinyinist.

We should form a Tippex Army and go out putting the appropriate diacritical marks on all Taipei’s roadsigns.[/quote]
Wow, that is a good idea. Move this post into the volunteers forum.

Tone marks can be very very helpful so this is a good step! I just wish they’d standardise the romanization. Having been taught Chinese in Pinyin (and simplified characters), I have to say that sometimes I’ve been a little stumped by Taiwan’s romanization for its street names, etc. While I don’t mind Wades-Giles that much, I wish they’d stick to one system or the other… :s

The don’t use the Wade system in Taiwan, its a rumour. Since I came here I never saw them use it :wink: . I don’t what they use. There is Zhongshua (zhong shan) road in Hsinchu for example :slight_smile:

I’ve seen it a fair bit in travel guides and on websites and have seen plenty of variations of the ‘standard’ names on things like business cards and maps and, to a large extent, these ARE in the old Wade-Giles system.

Thankfully, the Pinyin spellings are becoming more prevalent but I still come across spellings which fit into neither category. :s

[quote=“lady_skywalker”]I’ve seen it a fair bit in travel guides and on websites and have seen plenty of variations of the ‘standard’ names on things like business cards and maps and, to a large extent, these ARE in the old Wade-Giles system.

Thankfully, the Pinyin spellings are becoming more prevalent but I still come across spellings which fit into neither category. :s[/quote]

Sorry, but “large extend” doesn’t work with romanisation. It either respects the standard or it doesn’t. Sadly they also think in Taiwan that ‘close enough’ is enough when they make road signs or (even worse) company names. I noticed many companies even make their own kind of system since it just looks better. Hwa Meei et. al. Its only in the “large extend” since they used the same alphabet? :unamused:

I now have photos of the signs I mentioned at the start of this thread:


(The bottom photo is a detail of the first, adjusted to make it less wide.)

They have tone marks – but in the wrong positions (too high) and the wrong sizes (too small).

Shouldn’t that be XinDian? No wonder so many foreigners here speak such wierd ass names for cities and such.

The signs are in Tongyong (Sindian, Sioulang, and Jingping vs. Hanyu Pinyin’s Xindian, Xiulang, and Jingping).
Tongyong orthography, such as it is, is also the reason that first tone isn’t marked in Sindian.

See? This is why PinYin is useless. they won’t make it universal.

The signs have been replaced. The new signs have no tone marks. Moreover, the signs for Sioulang Bridge and Jingping Road have been combined.