Questions about the official transcription writing system that is used to write the reading of chinese characters using the roman alphabet.
14
votes
9answers
743 views
Chinese input on Windows based on pinyin and tones
What is the best way for me to type pinyin using a keyboard on Windows?
I've tried the built-in IMEs, but... they don't feel very intuitive to me. For example, if I want to get wǔ, I need to type wu, ...
9
votes
3answers
320 views
血: xuè , xiě, what's the difference?
Is there some sort of logical rule for when 血 is xuè and when it is xiě?
8
votes
7answers
834 views
How is the “r” sound pronounced?
One of the most trickiest sounds to pronounce correctly in Mandarin seems to be the "r" sound, as in 日本 (rì běn). It's not uncommon to hear people pronounce that like "urban."
I have been told it's ...
7
votes
5answers
583 views
Why were some letters like Q, X, C, chosen for Pinyin which confuse non-Chinese speakers?
A romanization system is basically a system in which roman (latin) letters are used for languages that use non-roman scripts. This has the obvious benefit that people who can (maybe only) read roman ...
7
votes
6answers
349 views
Do acronyms borrowed from English use neutral tone for all syllables?
I was just reading a Q&A here about Chinese words for DVD and the discussion also included other acronyms from English.
It struck me that nobody wrote the pinyin for any of the terms which made ...
6
votes
5answers
473 views
How were Chinese characters taught to Chinese children before the introduction of pinyin?
Before schools started to use pinyin for teaching characters to Chinese children, how and/or what was used to teach it instead? And what about how dictionaries showed the pronunciation of characters?
6
votes
3answers
259 views
Why is it written LIU in Pinyin, when there's clearly an O sound?
Does anybody know why this decision was made in Pinyin, about not writing any hint of the sound /O/ in liu, instead of writing something like liou or liow ?
Because the first reaction of any ...
6
votes
3answers
151 views
When is the spelling and the pronunciation different?
I noticed that sometimes certain finals in Chinese sound differently when combined with different initials. For e.g., what is spelled "u" sometimes is pronounced "ü". Other times, I think the final ...
5
votes
1answer
193 views
Pinyin “ying” has an “o” sound?
Look at 1:54 and 5:22 of this video: Chinese Pinyin in 6 Mins
Is ying really pronounced with an "o" sound? This seems counterintuitive, especially when yin (at 1:49 in the video) sounds as a native ...
4
votes
4answers
628 views
How to convert from hanyu pinyin to IPA?
Where can I find a table showing the relation between hanyu pinyin spelling and IPA for all phonemes in Mandarin?
4
votes
1answer
109 views
Why one -> many mapping between IPA and Pinyin?
I am referring to Origin of zhuyin symbols table on wikipedia.
Under Rhymes and Medials following 3 entries confuse me:
Zhuyin IPA Pinyin
ㄧ i i/y
ㄨ u u/w
ㄩ y ...
4
votes
3answers
131 views
What is the correct orientation of “ㄧ” in zhuyin fuhao?
In zhuyin fuhao (bopomofo), "ㄧ" is equal to "i" or "yi" in hanyu pinyin. I have noticed, when displayed on my computer, even with very complete fonts, I see a vertical line (similar to "|"), but when ...
4
votes
2answers
88 views
Looking for Pinyin standards
I have noticed discrepancies in how native Mandarin speakers spell certain words in Pinyin reflecting differences in pronunciation, for instance, pángbiān vs. pángbian and zǎoshang vs. zǎoshàng. I've ...
3
votes
4answers
225 views
Did phonological systems (namely bopomofo) standardize Chinese phonemes?
As far as I know, Zhuyin fuhao, or Bopomofo, is the first system of phonetic symbols devised to aid to write Chinese phonology.
That was in 1910, so we could say very recent in the history of Chinese.
...
2
votes
2answers
80 views
How do I type the lü for Character Romanization?
I am studying classical Chinese and when I try to type in any words that require the ü it just randomly chooses a character.
How do I use the Traditional pinyin entry method on a Mac and get the the ...
2
votes
1answer
88 views
What's the Eye of a Hurricane called in Chinese/Pinyin?
For a role playing game I'm joining, my character is a monk of Chinese origin.
Trying to come up with a name I thought of "Eye of (the) Hurricane/Typhoon" as the monk is a very calm character caught ...
2
votes
2answers
148 views
Placement of Pinyin in relation to characters
I recently wrote a short article discussing the use of Pinyin and Zhuyin. One of the sentences I wrote, without thinking too much about it, was that Pinyin is normally written below the characters (in ...
2
votes
3answers
82 views
How is 儿化 represented in other romanization systems like Wade-Giles, Zhuyin Fuhao, etc.?
I just realized that I have no idea how other romanization systems (besides pinyin) deal with 儿化 (er hua).
What would be the Wade-Giles or Zhuyin-Fuhao equivalent to 电影儿 (diànyǐngr)?
1
vote
2answers
255 views
What is the correct pinyin for 哪儿?
I've seen both Nǎ'er and Nǎr.
The first form looks more like a literal transcription of each character, while the second one might be the way it's pronounced (assuming there is a difference)
I do ...
1
vote
3answers
228 views
Pinyin tones pronunciation cheat sheet
I've just started taking Chinese lessons, and I've been trying to find a "cheat sheet" for pinyin pronunciation. All the sites I've found is either incomplete (only having some tones), only having the ...
0
votes
2answers
199 views
What are the most common mistakes when pronouncing Pinyin? [closed]
For example, 'shuo' is sometimes mistakenly pronounced 'shou'. 'Juan' is often pronounced 'zhuan'.
Can anyone think of any others? I want to highlight some common mistakes to teach pinyin ...
0
votes
1answer
267 views
How are the words “engineering” or “engineer” translated in Cantonese? [closed]
I've been looking for the words "engineering" or "engineer" in Cantonese, and also in Mandarin, but less. Most of my family members describe them by their physical expectations, like "they make ...
