From Xinhua
大柵欄的4個公交站牌的拼音都為“DAZHALAN”，這讓許多路人納悶：不是讀“DASHILAN”嗎？
昨天，家住大柵欄、年逾七旬的張大爺說：“我讀了一輩子‘DASHILAN’，從來沒人說我讀錯，是不是站牌寫錯了？”
北京市公交總公司運營部的李女士表示，站牌的拼音是按正確的中文拼音來標注的。
到底哪個讀音是對的？北京師范大學中文系研究現代漢語的週一民教授認為：大柵欄的讀音屬於地名的特殊讀音，歷史悠久的“DASHILAN”讀法屬於保留古音。雖然目前國家還沒有專門的地名名詞規範，但播音教材中都專門談到應讀為“DASHILAN”。從保留民俗民情的角度來說，他更傾向於讀為“DASHILAN”。
From Xinhua
????4??????????“DAZHALAN”?????????????“DASHILAN”??
???????????????????“??????‘DASHILAN’???????????????????”
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???????????????????????????????????????????????????????“DASHILAN”??????????????????????????????????????????“DASHILAN”?????????????????????“DASHILAN”?
Taipei is going to host the “2004 Taipei Chinese character festival.” This begins with various exhibitions and children’s activities but will conclude with the International Academic Conference on Chinese Characters and Globalization, to be held January 28-30 at the National Library.
Accoring to Liao Hsien-hao (寥咸浩), the head of Taipei’s Cultural Affairs Bureau and one of the main people behind Taipei’s adoption of Hanyu Pinyin:
the most important task for the conference was to identify and discuss the threats facing the Chinese writing system. Scholars and professionals from various fields will discuss the status of Chinese characters in the “Confucian sphere of influence,” which extends throughout East and Southeast Asia. Although Japan is the only non-Chinese society that still uses Chinese characters in its writing system, both Korean and Vietnamese were written using Chinese (or Chinese-based) characters in the recent past.
What are the benefits or drawbacks of switching to Latin or phonetic scripts (as Korea and Vietnam) did or simplifying characters as China has? As the Chinese script that can be used to write very different languages, it has historically been a symbol of China’s will to unite and rule “all under heaven.” But in today’s very different world, is the use of this ancient script still practical or meaningful?
I suspect this conference is not going to be as probing as this article makes it sound. But I could be wrong. I’ll be out of the country then, so I won’t be able to find out in person.
I keep seeing vague references to “ICT” software, whose boosters like to make claims such as the following: “Usually students take six years to master 2,500 characters. With ICT they can learn 2,000 characters in a year. With this they can spend less time learning Chinese and more time on other subjects like English, Music and Science. With ICT, six-year-olds can write essays within a month!”
While I believe computers can help people learn Chinese characters, that’s roughly 10 characters every school day. I just don’t believe that all of those would be learned and fully retained. Where are the scientific studies? Does anyone know anything more about this?
On the other hand, Hanyu Pinyin can most definitely be learned within a month. Once that is done, people, including six-year-olds, are limited in what they can write only by the extent of their vocabulary.
Taiwan’s Bible Association recently released “Good News for the Hakka: Proverbs, Psalms and the Gospel According to John” in one volume. Association General Secretary Lai Chun-ming said, “This book makes use of the contemporary Hakka vernacular as it is spoken on the street. Insofar as it was possible the translation was made so as to put the Bible into an idiom that can easily be grasped and passed along.”
Mr. Lai said that the publication was aided by a donation from the Rev. Jerry Cole, a missionary from the Southern Baptist Convention. Of the 7,000 volumes published, Mr. Cole advance-purchased 4,000 for use in mission work. Remaining funding came through the Hakka Gospel Association and the Hakka Bible Translation Committee.
Rev. Peng Der-kuei, specialized minister for Hakka mission at Taipei’s Shuang-lien Presbyterian Church, said that the special features of this new volume include combined use of Chinese characters and Romanization accompanied by a preface in which the Romanization system for Hakkanese is clearly explained.
The Hakka Gospel Association has 2,000 volumes available for sale. Those wishing a copy can contact the group in Taiwan at 03 5945546.
Twenty years ago a few young aboriginal men established Taiwan’s first organization dedicated to the rights of the aboriginal people….
Launched in the early 1980s, the movement aimed to empower aborigines and to heighten their awareness of self-identity. In the early stages, the movement urged indigenous people to use their aboriginal names in their original languages, instead of taking Chinese-language names.
Past rulers of the island tended to adopt an assimilation policy under which they tried to “refine” what they saw as the “savage” aborigines. Both the Japanese colonial government and the subsequent Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government respectively required aborigines to adopt Japanese and Chinese names.
Over the years, numerous activists attempted to change their names from Chinese language to aboriginal, but were refused by the Household Registration Administration. It was not until 1995, after continuous lobbying by activists, that the government allowed the use of aboriginal names, but still insisted that Chinese characters must be used….
Voyu Yakumangana, chairman of Association for Taiwan Indigenous People’s Policies, who also has a Chinese name, Yang Chi-wei, said the rectification campaign now aims to have all aborigines proudly claim their names in their original languages….
Payen Talu (巴燕達魯), one of the initiators of the rights movement twenty years ago, is however not totally satisfied with the progress being made.
“So far, less than one percent of the total aboriginal population have changed their names from Chinese to their aboriginal languages,” Payen said, though he allowed that there have been some gains, such as acceptance for the “aborigine” identity.
“Most indigenous people now would proudly admit that they are aborigine, which is very different compared to 20 years ago when the term “aborigine” carried a stigma in the wider society,” Payen said.
“But when you see most aboriginal politicians today still using their Chinese names, then you know that the movement still has a long way to go,” he added.
The Examinations & Assessment Authority released today the results of the September Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers. Some 29% of English teachers have acquired the basic requirement in writing, with 43% and 64% of candidates attaining the basic requirement in English speaking and listening.
For Putonghua papers, 43% of teacher candidates attained the basic requirement in listening and recognition, 63% in Pinyin and 42% in speaking.
It’s interesting that people do so much better in Pinyin than in not only listening and recognition but also speaking. Moreover, compare those with the figures for English. Hmm.
I spent much of the weekend revising and correcting the list of Taipei’s street names that I have on an old Web site on romanization. (I’m afraid I’ve almost completely neglected that site since getting Pinyin.info running. I’m trying to rectify the situation some because the new edition of the Taiwan Lonely Planet is to mention both sites.)
The street names (632 in all) are almost exclusively disyllabic. The only monosyllabic name is 後街 (Hou St.), unless people want to count a few others like 安東街 (Andong St.) and 安西街 (Anxi St.); but even those wouldn’t work because people in Taiwan see those names as single units rather than as distinct parts: “Andong Street” and “Anxi Street,” not “An East Street” and “An West Street.” And I’m not so sure that Hou St. isn’t a typo, because it doesn’t really pass the “sounds OK” test.
The list has only three names longer than two syllables. But two of these are not “Chinese” but loan words: 羅斯福路 ([Franklin Delano] Roosevelt Rd.) and 凱達格蘭大道 (Kaidagelan Blvd., which is from one of Taiwan’s indigenous tribes). And the final example, 竹子湖路 (Zhuzihu Rd.), is a good example of the exception proving the rule, because the road is named after a lake (hu) with a disyllabic name (Zhuzi); I’ve written the name solid (i.e., with no space before “hu”) only because there’s no longer any lake there alongside the road.
Yet misunderstandings about Mandarin and the other Chinese languages persist, despite refutations of the monosyllabic and other myths.
For the sake of comparison, let’s look at the 20 most common street names in the United States:
Second, Third, First, Fourth, Park, Fifth, Main, Sixth, Oak, Seventh, Pine, Maple, Cedar, Eighth, Elm, View, Washington, Ninth, Lake, and Hill.
All but five of those are monosyllabic, but no one goes around claiming English is predominantly monosyllabic.
An examination of the street names reveals a few other interesting points.
Another myth is that Chinese characters are needed to resolve the supposed problem of homophony in the language. So, let’s look at the street names. Would anyone care to guess how many of the 632 names are homophonous?
The answer is zero. For that matter, just a handful would need tone marks to distinguish themselves from similar — but not identical — sounding names: Jinghua St. (Jǐnghuà and Jǐnghuá), Tong’an St. (Tōng’ān and Tóng’ān), Wanqing St. (Wànqīng Wànqìng), Wuchang St. (Wǔchāng Wǔcháng), and Xiangyang Rd. (Xiāngyáng Xiàngyáng).
Finally, I want to note that not even one ü (u with an umlaut) is needed in any of the street names.