I need to have some textbooks shipped to me from the US, but I just moved to a new apartment and am not sure how to write my address in English. Does this look correct?
XX Floor No XX Lane XXX Jhoncing Road
Beitun District, Taichung City 406
Taiwan
“Jhoncing Road” is actually spelled Zhongqing Road on my map, so I’m wondering which spelling I should use. It’s pretty important I get this package the first time round without any major delays, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Apologies if this belongs in the Learning Chinese section, but I really need a quick response and thought this would be the best bet. Thanks.
Personally, I would send a label in Chinese characters to whomever is shipping for you, and just write “Taiwan, ROC” on the bottom in English. That’s always worked for me, and it cuts a few days off the shipping time as the Post Office employees don’t have to dust off their dictionary, or whatever it is they use to figure out what street an English address means.
I agree that this is the best solution. However, I don’t know how to type Chinese characters on my computer and the package will be shipped today. It certainly would make things easier though…
Use Zhongqing Road. The Post Office will know it. The other spelling (which is wrong, by the way) is the evil Tongyong system and therefore should be discouraged.
This is completely unrelated, but I have to ask: If you want to use Hanyu Pinyin (which I totally agree with), why do you use “zhong” in “zhongqing” Rd. but still persist in using “chung” in “Taichung” when they are the same Chinese character (I’m presuming they are both “center”). I’m well aware that “Taichung” is a more accepted/traditional spelling, but isn’t it a bit of a double standard to say “Hanyu Pinyin here, but keep the Tongyong here…”?
No disrespect, just curious and furious at the inconsistencies of signage in Taiwan.
[quote=“MPenguin”]This is completely unrelated, but I have to ask: If you want to use Hanyu Pinyin (which I totally agree with), why do you use “zhong” in “zhongqing” Rd. but still persist in using “chung” in “Taichung” when they are the same Chinese character (I’m presuming they are both “center”). I’m well aware that “Taichung” is a more accepted/traditional spelling, but isn’t it a bit of a double standard to say “Hanyu Pinyin here, but keep the Tongyong here…”?
No disrespect, just curious and furious at the inconsistencies of signage in Taiwan.[/quote]
It’s one of the inconsistencies of Taiwan. Street names can be written in several standard spelling systems (WG, HYPY, MPS2, typy) and be understood by the Post Office. Each city is allowed to choose which system to put on its street signs (Taipei chose HYPY, Taoyuan chose MPS2, Keelung chose typy). But each major city (this doesn’t apply to small towns) is also allowed to choose the spelling of its city name, and most major cities have opted to keep the traditional, long-standing spellings that people overseas have been familiar with since 1945. ([color=black]I[/color]lan, on the other hand, chose Yilan; [color=black]Chi[/color]lung reverted to [color=black]Kee[/color]lung).
I wouldn’t worry too much about that. A lot of people still don’t use the five-digit code. I don’t even know mine, though I guess it must be on my gas bill or something. Anyway, mail gets to me OK.
Anyway, FWIW, the spelling for Taichung would be from the old (pre-Pinyin) Wade-Giles system (even though it’s wrong in that system) and not from the Evil Tongyong System (ETS).
I say this only in the interest of romanizational correctness.
