Just 3.6 percent of Taipei’s street names need apostrophes. But those that need them really do need them, and Taipei’s ill-advised, counterproductive, and downright annoying InTerCaPiTaLiZaTion on street signs is no substitute for doing things right.

Because Taipei continues to omit required apostrophes from street names, one of the city’s main thoroughfares is labeled the Mandarin equivalent of Hot-Milk Road. This is because according to the rules of Hanyu Pinyin RENAI is RE+NAI, not REN+AI. Thus, rather than a road named after rén’ài (love for one’s fellow man; humanity; 仁愛), Taipei has rènǎi (hot milk) road (熱奶路).

I’m not going to bother giving all of the misleading readings, as I did in my earlier entry on mistakes in Taipei’s MRT system. But there are plenty of awkward results of Taipei’s mistakes.

Below are all of Taipei’s street names that require an apostrophe. Almost all of these contain the character 安 (an).

Note the tone marks on Tóng’ān St. (同安街) and Tōng’ān St. (通安街). More about those in a later entry.

Chinese characters Pinyin and English mix
保安街 Bao’an St.
北安路 Bei’an Rd.
博愛路 Bo’ai Rd.
長安東路 Chang’an E. Rd.
長安西路 Chang’an W. Rd.
大安路 Da’an Rd.
惠安街 Hui’an St.
民安巷 Min’an Ln.
寧安街 Ning’an St.
農安街 Nong’an St.
仁愛路 Ren’ai Rd.
瑞安街 Rui’an St.
泰安街 Tai’an St.
同安街 Tóng’ān St.
通安街 Tōng’ān St.
萬安街 Wan’an St.
西安街 Xi’an St.
新安路 Xin’an Rd.
信安街 Xin’an St.
興安街 Xing’an St.
鍚安巷 Yang’an Ln.
永安街 Yong’an St.
詔安街 Zhao’an St.