What on earth is going on over at Google? Just last week I had nothing but love for Google Maps because it had finally made some important improvements to its maps of Taiwan. But just a few days later Google … Continue reading
Two years ago when Google switched to Hanyu Pinyin in its maps of Taiwan, it did a poor job … despite the welcome use of tone marks. Here are some of the problems I noted at the time: The Hanyu … Continue reading
It appears that few things are harder to get rid of than a Taipei City Government official’s bad idea. Four years ago I noted that city hall was sponsoring a “festival” for beef noodle soup and promoting it to foreigners … Continue reading
The island known in Mandarin as Lán Yǔ (蘭嶼 / 兰屿) has a lot of different names, including Orchid Island, Ponso no Tao, Pongso no Tawo, Irala, Tabako Shima, Tabaco Xima, Botol, Buturu, Kotosho, and Botel Tobago. In texts in … Continue reading
Here are some signs in Taimali Taimali (Tàimálǐ / 太麻里), Taidong County, Taiwan. In all cases of distinctive spellings, they’re in Tongyong Pinyin, even though they should have been replaced by Hanyu Pinyin years ago. When the change to Tongyong … Continue reading
With Taiwan’s presidential election less than six months away and various position papers being issued, perhaps it’s time to take a look at where the opposition stands on romanization. Sure, various politicians rant from time to time. But they may … Continue reading
The maps of Taiwan put out by GooGle are plagued with errors in their use of Pinyin. But what about that other big company with deep pockets? You know: Microsoft. How good a job does Microsoft’s Bing do with its … Continue reading
Xinbei, formerly known as Taipei County and now officially bearing the atrocious English name of “New Taipei City,” has made available an online map of its territory. Interestingly, the map is available not just in Mandarin with traditional Chinese characters … Continue reading