The proper-nouns tag has no wiki summary.
11
votes
5answers
223 views
How do we know what characters correspond to Chinese names?
Recently I've asked "How do we choose the correct characters for a westerner name?", and now, I'm facing a similar, yet kind of different problem, which I think applies to any westerner or Chinese ...
10
votes
1answer
213 views
Why use 非 and 亚 for continent names?
Why was 非 chosen for 非洲 (Africa) and 亚 chosen for 亚洲 (Asia)?
I can't find a particular reason to use these characters.
6
votes
3answers
307 views
Dog radical (犭) for non-Han ethnic groups
As far as I understand, the dog radical (犭) was used for all non-Han ethnic groups before the Chinese Communist Party took power on the mainland. Is there truth to that? If so:
Why did the CCP stop ...
6
votes
2answers
118 views
中东 - “Middle East” or “Eastern China”?
The dictionary lists both Middle East and Eastern China for 中东. Is one of these meanings more common? What would be a native speaker's first impression of the word? Does the meaning vary from ...
4
votes
2answers
81 views
Official place names
Is there an official list of place names (esp. for non-Chinese places)? If a bureaucrat or journalist in China is writing about a lesser-known foreign place, how do they determine the characters?
I ...
4
votes
3answers
132 views
How would I say Dominican Republic in Chinese?
Google translate gives me: Duōmǐníjiā gònghéguó.
But I wondered if the chinese use a smaller word or lop-off the Republic at the end?
1
vote
3answers
117 views
Is 菜心 used in Mandarin?
Is the vegetable 菜心 (Choy Sum - English rendering of Cantonese) called 菜心 in Mandarin? Is it pronounced "cài xīn" or is it pronounced as it would be in Cantonese?
