Google has released a Pinyin-based character-input method for Windows systems. It offers a number of special features … which I don’t have time to detail right now, sorry. Read about them here: Google Gǔgē pīnyīn shūrùfǎ gōngnéng jièshào. And download the program from this page.
Category Archives: pinyin
Why ‘Beijing’ was spelled ‘Peking’
Sino-Platonic Papers has just released one of its popular back issues as a free PDF. This one, no. 19 (June 1990), deals with the common question of What’s up with that “Peking” spelling, anyway?
As Bosat Man explains in “Backhill / Peking / Beijing”:
The three main contributing factors to the discrepancy between Peking and Beijing are:
- a plethora of romanizations
- a welter of local pronunciations, and
- phonological change over time.
He then goes into detail, especially about the third point. The whole work is just six pages, single spaced. Here it is: “Backhill / Peking / Beijing” (1 MB PDF).
Alice and Humpty Dumpty — in Hanyu Pinyin
O frabjous day! Finally, I have up on my site a Hanyu Pinyin version of a long section of Y.R. Chao’s delightful Mandarin translation of Through the Looking-Glass.
I’m certain that many will find this easier going than working through the original version in the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization system, though I hope that at least some site visitors will use this parallel text (English, Hanyu Pinyin, and Gwoyeu Romatzyh) to better learn that fascinating if somewhat baroque system.
Many thanks to Zhang Liqing for providing me with her carefully prepared Hanyu Pinyin version.
Here’s an excerpt containing most of the famous “glory” exchange between Alice and Humpty Dumpty:
Ālìsī shuō, “Wǒ bù dǒng nǐ zěnme jiào ‘róngyào.'”
Hūndì Dūndì lěngxiàozhe shuō, “Zìrán nǐ bù dǒng a — děi yào děng wǒ lái gàosong nǐ a. Wǒ de yìsi shì shuō, ‘Nǐ zhè jiù bèi rénjia bōdǎo le!'”
Ālìsī shuō, “Kěshi ‘róngyào’ yě bù néng dàng ‘bèi rénjia bōdǎo le’ jiǎng a.”
Hūndì Dūndì shuō, “Hng! Wǒ yào yòng yī ge zìyǎnr a, wǒ yào tā dàng shénme jiǎng jiù dàng shénme jiǎng — yě bù duō yě bù shǎo.”
Ālìsī shuō, “Zánmen yào wèn de shì, nǐ néng bu neng ná zìyǎnr yīhuǐr dàng zhège, yīhuǐr dàng nàge jiǎng.”
Hūndì Dūndì shuō, “Zánmen yào wèn de shì, dàodǐ shéi zuòzhǔ — jiùshi zhè diǎnr.”
See the more complete version in English, Hanyu Pinyin, and Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Humpty Dumpty in Mandarin Chinese.
some character-input methods ‘Westernizing’ Chinese culture and making it ‘degenerate’: PRC official
Many of the stories I come across in my searches for news about Pinyin are related to input methods for Chinese characters. But I seldom find anything of interest in these. They tend to follow the same template: someone is touting a great new character-input method that is just so much better than Pinyin and everything else. It’s going to save Chinese characters and thus Chinese civilization and all that is good in the universe, etc. Blah, blah, blah. I just get bored.
But I recently came across one widely reprinted article that’s a bit more interesting and amusing/alarming/absurd. It has the additional advantage of being about the claims of a member of the PRC’s Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Here’s the key paragraph:
Chén Duó wěiyuán shuō: “Shǒujī Hànzì shūrù jìshù yīlài wàiguó gōngsī zhìshǎo zàochéng sān dà wèntí. Shǒuxiān, wàiguó gōngsī de Hànzì shūrùfǎ pòhuài le wǒmen shǐyòng Hànyǔ Hànzì de chuántǒng sīwéi xíguàn, dǎozhì Hànwén huà yánghuà, yìhuà, tuìhuà; qícì, wàiguó gōngsī bù zhíxíng wǒguó 27,484 gè zì de qiángzhìxìng biāozhǔn, biānmǎ zì liáng zhǐyǒu 6,763 gè zì, zàochéng Hànzì shǐyòng hùnluàn, Hànzì wénběn xìnxī shīzhēn, yǐngxiǎng guójiā xìnxī ānquán; hái yǒu, Zhōngguó měinián huā jǐ yì yuán gòumǎi wàiguó gōngsī de Hànzì shūrù ruǎnjiàn, yèjiè liǎnmiàn hézài? Hànzì wénhuà de zūnyán, quánwēi bèi zhìyú hédì?”
Committee member Chen Duo said: “The reliance of mobile phones on foreign corporations’ Chinese character input technology creates at least three major problems. First, foreign corporation’s Chinese character input methods are destroying the traditional patterns for thinking about using Chinese characters and are Westernizing Chinese culture, [causing it to be] alienated and degenerate. Next, foreign corporations are not complying with our country’s compulsory standard of 27,484 characters, using instead only 6,763 characters, which wreaks chaos in the use of Chinese characters, distorts Chinese character text messages, and affects national information security. Also, China spends hundreds of millions of yuan every year on Chinese character input software. Where is the self respect of the [domestic] industry? The dignity and prestige of the culture of Chinese characters — where have they been put?
About a week later Liu Naiqiang (刘廼强), another member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, was touting the “fool” (shǎguā) character-input method, whatever that is, and warning against Pinyin.
Here is the whole article about Chen Duo:
“Wǒguó yǒu chāoguò 4.6 yì shǒujī yònghù, jū quánqiú dìyī, dàn yǒu jiǔchéng yònghù shūrù Hànzì shí, shǐyòng de shì wàiguó jìshù!” láizì xīnwén chūbǎnjiè de quánguó Zhèngxié wěiyuán Chén Duó zài quánguó Zhèngxié shí jiè wǔ cì huìyì gānggang kāishǐ shí, biàn tíjiāo le yī fèn zhǔnbèi hěn jiǔ de tí’àn, jiànyì jǐnkuài shíshī shùzì jiànpán Hànzì shūrù guójiā biāozhǔn, niǔzhuǎn wǒguó shǒujī Hànzì shūrù jìshù shòukòng yú wàiguó gōngsī de júmiàn.
Chén Duó wěiyuán shuō: “shǒujī Hànzì shūrù jìshù yīlài wàiguó gōngsī zhìshǎo zàochéng sān dà wèntí. Shǒuxiān, wàiguó gōngsī de Hànzì shūrùfǎ pòhuài le wǒmen shǐyòng Hànyǔ Hànzì de chuántǒng sīwéi xíguàn, dǎozhì Hànwén huà yánghuà, yìhuà, tuìhuà; qícì, wàiguó gōngsī bù zhíxíng wǒguó 27,484 gè zì de qiángzhìxìng biāozhǔn, biānmǎ zì liáng zhǐyǒu 6,763 gè zì, zàochéng Hànzì shǐyòng hùnluàn, Hànzì wénběn xìnxī shīzhēn, yǐngxiǎng guójiā xìnxī ‘ānquán; hái yǒu, Zhōngguó měinián huā jǐ yì yuán gòumǎi wàiguó gōngsī de Hànzì shūrù ruǎnjiàn, yèjiè liǎnmiàn hézài? Hànzì wénhuà de zūnyán, quánwēi bèi zhìyú hédì?”
Chén Duó jīngguò diàoyán huòxī, yóu Zhōngguórén zìzhǔ kāifā de guó bǐ shūrù jìshù zì liáng 27,484 gè, pīnyīn shūrù sùdù Bǐguó wài shūrùfǎ kuàijiāng jìn sì chéng, bǐhuà shūrù Bǐguó wài shūrùfǎ kuài yībàn, yīn xíng zǔhé shūrù Bǐguó wài pīnyīn shūrùfǎ kuài jìn qīchéng. Tā rènwéi, “guó bǐ cǎijí jìsuàn le shù bǎiyì zì de Zhōngguó bǎixìng xíguàn yòngyǔ yòng cí, yōngyǒu gèxìng huà de zhìnéng tiáopín wénzì shūrù fāng’àn, yínghé le Zhōngguó bǎixìng shǐyòng Hànyǔ Hànzì de chuántǒng sīwéi guànxìng, shǐ wénzì shūrù gèng liúchàng, fāngbiàn, shíyòng. “2006 nián 10 yuè, xìnxī chǎnyè bù zhàokāi le yǐ guó bǐ shūrùfǎ wéizhǔ dǎo de guójiā biāozhǔn 《xìnxī jìshù shùzì jiànpán Hànzì shūrù tōngyòng yāoqiú》 zhēngqiú yìjiàn huì, chàngyì quánguó gè dàshǒu jī shèjì shāng, zhìzàoshāng děng cǎiyòng wǒguó zìzhǔ chuàngxīn de Hànzì shūrùfǎ.
Chén Duó wěiyuán shuō, jǐnguǎn guó bǐ shūrù jìshù yǐ qiànrù le kāng jiā, jīn lì, yǔ lóng, TCL děng zhōngduān chǎnpǐn, dǎkāi le shìchǎng de quēkǒu, dàn yóuyú shūrù jìshù shìyǐ qiànrù jìshù de fāngshì jìnrù shìchǎng, zhǔnrù ménkǎn gāo, zhōuqī cháng; zhàn wǒguó 60% yǐshàng shǒujī shìchǎng de jǐ dàguó wài pǐnpái shāng, cúnzài cǎigòu wàiguó gōngsī ruǎnjiàn de guànxìng, yǒude guónèi shǒujī chǎngshāng yě mángmù chóngbài guówài chǎnpǐn; jiāshàng shuǐhuò shǒujī jí shǎo fùfèi děng yuányīn, guónèi de Hànzì shūrù jìshù yào yǔguó wài yǐjing xíngchéng lǒngduàn de gōngsī jìngzhēng, nándù fēicháng dà; jiāzhī zhè xiàng jìshù de ménkǎn jiàogāo, jíshǐ qiāndìng le hézuò xiéyì, cóngxīn shǒujī yánfā dào chéngshú de chǎnpǐn chūchǎng zhìshǎo xūyào 9 ge yuè de shíjiān, zhège guòchéng rúguǒ méiyǒu hěn hǎode jìshù bǎozhàng hédà liáng zījīn zhīchí, hěn nán wéichí xiaqu.
Wèicǐ, Chén Duó jiànyì guójiā yǒuguān bùmén cǎiqǔ qièshí cuòshī tuīdòng shùzì jiànpán Hànzì shūrù guójiā biāozhǔn de shíshī, jiāndū hé yǐndǎo yǒuguān shēngchǎn shāng zhíxíng guójiā biāozhǔn, tuījìn guóchǎn shǒujī Hànzì shūrù jìshù chǎnyèhuà, bìng cóng fúzhí zìzhǔ chuàngxīn de jiǎodù chūfā, duì qí jǐyǔ zhèngcèxìng zhīchí.
sources:
- Chén Duó wěiyuán jiànyì jǐnkuài shíshī shùzì jiànpán Hànzì shūrù guójiā biāozhǔn (陈铎委员建议尽快实施数字键盘汉字输入国家标准), 中国政府网, March 5, 2007
- Jiànyì kāifā guójiā biāozhǔn Zhōngwén “shǎguā” shūrùfǎ (建议开发国家标准中文“傻瓜”输入法), Shēnzhèn xīnwén wǎng — Shēnzhèn tèqū bào, March 13, 2007
“只有顺着中文书写逻辑,以字形和笔顺为基础,不用学、不用记,人人都很快上手的‘傻瓜输入法’才能成为全球通用的中文输入法。国家应尽快将‘傻瓜输入法’开发出来。”全国政协委员刘廼强说。
现在社会上的中文输入法很多,像目前最流行的繁体“仓颉”、“简易”,简体的“五笔”等,但刘廼强认为它们是为要求速度的专业人员设计的,不适合现在人人都要自己输入,速度不是最重要要求的现实状况。
至于“拼音”输入法,刘廼强则认为,虽然繁简皆宜,更无须特别学和记,只要统一拼音标准,按道理是不错的全球通用的输入方法。“问题是中文不是语音语言,老用拼音输入法,很容易就会执笔忘字。实践证明,彻底拼音化决不是中文发展的正确方向,因而也不是中文输入应发展的方向,因为这样下去,中文便会萎缩灭亡。”
Mandarin teaching in Thailand: Taiwanese teachers choosing Hanyu Pinyin
The following quote sums up a recent article on Taiwanese who are teaching Mandarin at universities in Thailand:
jiùsuàn yǒu lǎoshī cǎiyòng ㄅㄆㄇ jiāoxué, zuìzhōng háishi huíguī dào Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, zhìyú Tōngyòng Pīnyīn, gēnběn méiyǒu rén shǐyòng.
(Even if some teachers employ bopo mofo in [the early stages of] their teaching, they still ultimately revert to Hanyu Pinyin. As for Tongyong Pinyin, essentially no one uses it.)
In the penultimate paragraph, a teacher takes what for traditional Chinese education is often seen as a radical position: content over form.
“Wǒmen kěyǐ yòng Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, yòng fántǐzì qù tuīxíng Táiwān wénhuà, zhè shì bu chōngtū de. Wǒ yòng jiǎntǐzì jiǎng Táiwān, dàjiā dōu rènshi Táiwān le, wǒmen yòng Hànyǔ Pīnyīn jièshào Táiwān, dàjiā dōu rènshi Táiwān le.”
(”We can use Hanyu Pinyin and traditional Chinese characters to promote Taiwan culture; these are not conflicting. I use simplified Chinese characters to talk about Taiwan; everyone learned about Taiwan. We use Hanyu Pinyin to introduce Taiwan; everyone learned about Taiwan.”)
In the final paragraph, the reporter editorializes along the same lines. (Editorializing in news articles is a common practice here.) It’s perhaps worthy of note that this comes from what was until recently a KMT-run television network — one that remains very “blue.”
Here’s the whole article:
Táiwān nèibù, jīhū měigé yīzhènzi, jiùyào chūxiàn guānyú “wénzì” de yìshi xíng tài zhēngzhí, bāokuò jiǎntǐzì fántǐzì, bāokuò Tōngyòng Pīnyīn yǔ Hànyǔ Pīnyīn. Hǎoxiàng yòng hé dàlù bù yīyàng de xìtǒng, jiùshì ài Táiwān, jiùshì tūxiǎn Táiwān zhǔtǐ yìshi.
Rán’ér, zhè duì ài Táiwān zhēn de yǒu bāngzhù ma? Duì qiánghuà Táiwān zhǔtǐ yìshi zhēn de yǒu bāngzhù ma?
Zhè shì zài Tàiguó dàxué lǐ, xuéshengmen shàng Zhōngwén kè de qíngkuàng. Suīrán méiyǒu tǒngyī de jiàocái, dàn dàduōshù de lǎoshī shǐyòng de háishi jiǎntǐ Zhōngwén bǎnběn, jiāo de yěshì Hànyǔ Pīnyīn.
Rajamangala Kējì Dàxué Zhōngwén kèchéng zhǔrèn Fú Cuì-lán lǎoshī jiù zhíyán, wèile zài Tàiguó tuīdòng Huáyǔ kèchéng, tā duì Huáyǔ lǎoshī de yāoqiú zhǐyǒu yī ge, jiùshì shǐyòng jiǎntǐ Zhōngwén: “Xiànzài wǒmen yī shuōdào Hànyǔ, tāmen jiù shuō bù xué, juéde Hànyǔ hěn nán, wǒ yào jiéshù zhèige gàiniàn, bāng tā mànmàn de xuéxí, ràng tā zhīdao Hànyǔ bù shì hěn nán de, kěyǐ xué de.”
Shìshíshàng duì dàduōshù de Tàiguó xuésheng láishuō, xuéxí Zhōngwén de dònglì shì yīnwèi Zhōngwén zhújiàn biànchéng qiángshì yǔyán, gōutōng duì tāmen ér yán zuì zhòngyào. Xiàofāng de kǎoliáng bù nán lǐjiě.
Zhìyú pīnyīn fāngshì jiù gèng bùyòng shuō le, jiùsuàn yǒu lǎoshī cǎiyòng ㄅㄆㄇ jiāoxué, zuìzhōng háishi huíguī dào Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, zhìyú Tōngyòng Pīnyīn, gēnběn méiyǒu rén shǐyòng.
Wālái’ālōnggōng huángjiā dàxué (ed.: Walailak University) de Zhōngwén lǎoshī Liú Yǎ-píng shuōchū tā de kǎoliáng: “Zhīqián méiyǒu xiān jiāo ㄅㄆㄇ, tāmen zhíjiē jiēchù Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, jiù huì bèi Yīngwén de niàn fǎ wùdǎo, suǒyǐ hòulái zhǐyào líng chéngdu, wǒ jiù huì xiān jiāo ㄅㄆㄇ, bǎ fāyīn wěnzhù, wěnzhù zhīhòu jiù zhuǎn guòlai jiāo Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, bìjìng Hàn pīn zhēn de shì xiànzài Ōu-Měi guójiā, bǐjiào pǔbiàn de gōngjù.”
Lìngyī wèi yóu Tái-Shī-Dà péixùn qiánwǎng Tàiguó jiāo Zhōngwén de lǎoshī Lín Hóng-zhèng yě zhǐchū, gāng dào Tàiguó shí, yǒu xǔduō Zhōngwén lǎoshī duìyú gāi shǐyòng Hànyǔ Pīnyīn háishi Tōngyòng Pīnyīn ér zhēngzhá, dàjiā zuìhòu dōu xuǎnzé le Hànyǔ Pīnyīn. Bìjìng guójì dà huánjìng shǐyòng de shì Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, tāmen bùnéng ràng Tàiguó xuésheng xuéxí yī tào bùnéng yòng de pīnyīn xìtǒng. Lín Hóng-zhèng yě rènwéi, shǐyòng nǎ yī tào xìtǒng, qíshí gēnběn bìngbù zhòngyào: “Yòng Hànyǔ Pīnyīn jiùshì hóngmàozi jiùshì róng gòng, zhè gēnběn méiyǒu guānxi. Wǒmen kěyǐ yòng Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, yòng fántǐzì qù tuīxíng Táiwān wénhuà, zhè shìbu chōngtū de. Wǒ yòng jiǎntǐzì jiǎng Táiwān, dàjiā dōu rènshi Táiwān le, wǒmen yòng Hànyǔ Pīnyīn jièshào Táiwān, dàjiā dōu rènshi Táiwān le.”
Cóng Tàiguó tuīdòng Huáyǔ kèchéng de jīngyàn lái kàn, guónèi jìnxíng Hànyǔ Pīnyīn Tōngyòng Pīnyīn zhīlèi de zhēngbiàn, qíshí xiāngdāng kěxiào. Yóuqí xiàng Táiwān zhèyàng yī ge xiǎo dǎoguó, zhèngfǔ lǎoshi xiǎngzhe zhèngmíng, xiǎngzhe yào yǔ Zhōngguó dàlù qūgé de xìtǒng, bùguò ràng zìjǐ de guójì kōngjiān gèngwéi xiá’ài. Zěnyàng cáinéng ràng Táiwān zǒu chūqu, nándào zhèxiē yǔ qítā guójiā hùdòng de jīngyàn, hái bù zúyǐ gěi diǎn jǐngxùn ma?
source: Cóng Tàiguó tuīdòng Huáyǔ kèchéng kàn guónèi Huáyǔ yìshi xíng tài zhī zhēng (從泰國推動華語課程看國內華語意識型態之爭), 中廣新聞網 (BCC), March 3, 2007
Taipei MRT stations — a list giving Hanyu Pinyin with tone marks
When Taipei’s MRT system — which is mainly a subway system but which also has elevated portions and even sections at ground level — opened, most of its signage was in bastardized Wade-Giles, with the “English” pronunciation of the station names broadcast in the cars resembling a hideous parody of the speech of an especially clueless foreign visitor. Fortunately, the romanization was switched to Hanyu Pinyin and the English announcements were re-recorded to give pronunciations that much more accurately reflected the Mandarin station names.
Unfortunately, English announcements have been added in recent months that feature a high-pitched voice that is probably intended to be ke’ai (“cute”) but which is actually cloying. These must die, die, die! But I’m straying from the main topic.
Anyway, the MRT’s current signage, nicely designed as most of it is, does not give any tone marks. Nor does it provide Pinyin for the station names that are translated into English. And there are also a few mistakes that really need to be corrected in the official forms of the names.
So, I have updated and added some minor corrections to the lists I put up long ago on my first Web site, Romanization.com. The new versions, here on Pinyin Info, are here: Taipei MRT stations in Chinese characters, Hanyu Pinyin, and some English.
Adso now available for download
David Lancashire’s wonderful Adso — which I tend to use primarily for conversions into Pinyin (under Style, select Pinyin) but which can handle much, much more — is now available for download as a Unix binary. A Windows version is expected soon.
This is fully-featured non-crippleware and should run on most modern linux distributions. To my knowledge, it is also the first reasonably-functional and freely-downloadable machine translation and NLP engine in the world.
If I were even half the programmer I ought to be, I’d snap this up in an instant.
spelling out whole numbers in Hanyu Pinyin
By request, here’s the pattern.
Pay particular attention to the cases of wàn (萬 / 万) and yì (億 / 亿). When the numbers quantifying those are greater than ten, wàn and yì are written separately.
8 | bā |
58 | wǔshíbā |
658 | liùbǎi wǔshíbā |
5,658 | wǔqiān liùbǎi wǔshíbā |
35,658 | sānwàn wǔqiān liùbǎi wǔshíbā |
435,658 | sìshísān wàn wǔqiān liùbǎi wǔshíbā |
9,435,658 | jiǔbǎi sìshísān wàn wǔqiān liùbǎi wǔshíbā |
79,435,658 | qīqiān jiǔbǎi sìshísān wàn wǔqiān liùbǎi wǔshíbā |
379,435,658 | sānyì qīqiān jiǔbǎi sìshísān wàn wǔqiān liùbǎi wǔshíbā |
6,379,435,658 | liùshísān yì qīqiān jiǔbǎi sìshísān wàn wǔqiān liùbǎi wǔshíbā |
Still higher units follow the pattern of wàn and yì.
Note: When líng (zero) is a medial, it is always written separately.
507 | wǔbǎi líng qī | 五百零七 |
40,507 | sìwàn líng wǔbǎi líng qī | 四萬零五百零七 |