{"id":8538,"date":"2023-05-07T16:41:42","date_gmt":"2023-05-07T08:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/?p=8538"},"modified":"2023-05-07T21:14:55","modified_gmt":"2023-05-07T13:14:55","slug":"if-you-ever-find-yourself-stuck-on-how-to-pronounce-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/2023\/if-you-ever-find-yourself-stuck-on-how-to-pronounce-english\/","title":{"rendered":"If you ever find yourself stuck on how to pronounce English"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s times like this I especially miss John DeFrancis. How he would have loved this! It’s partially an example of what he dubbed “Singlish” — not Singapore English<\/em> but Sino-English<\/em>, the tortured attempt to use Chinese characters to write English. He details this in “The Singlish Affair,” a shaggy dog story that serves as the introduction to his essential work: The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy<\/em><\/a>. (And I really do mean essential<\/em>. If you don’t have this book yet, buy it<\/a> and read it.)<\/p>\n

Here are some lyrics from a popular song, “Count on Me,” by Bruno Mars, with a Mandarin translation. The interesting part is that a Taiwanese third-grader has penciled in some phonetic guides for him or herself, using a combination of zhuyin fuhao (aka bopo mofo)<\/a> (sometimes with tone marks!), English (as a gloss for English! and English pronunciation of some letters and numbers), and Chinese characters (albeit not always correctly written Chinese characters — not that I could do any better myself). Again, this is a Taiwanese<\/em> third-grader and so is someone unlikely to know Hanyu Pinyin. <\/p>\n

\"lyric<\/a><\/p>\n

“If you ever find yourself stuck”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\nIf<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\nㄧˊㄈㄨˊ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n yífú<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
you\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n
\n \n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n ever<\/span>\n <\/td>\n\nㄟㄈㄦ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n\n ei-f’er<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n find<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n5<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n five<\/span><\/i>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n yourself<\/span>\n <\/td>\n\nU<\/span>ㄦㄒㄧㄦㄈㄨ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n\n U<\/span><\/i>’er xi’erfu<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n stuck<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\nㄙ打可<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n s-dake<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

“I’ll be the light to guide you.”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n I’ll<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\nㄞㄦ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ài’er<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n be<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\nㄅㄧ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n bi<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n the<\/span>\n <\/td>\n\nㄌ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n\n l[e]<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n light<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n賴特<\/span>*<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n laite<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n to<\/span>\n <\/td>\n\n兔<\/span>\n <\/td>\n\n tu<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n guide<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n蓋<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n gai<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n you<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\nyou<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n you<\/span><\/i>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

“Find out what we’re made of”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n Find<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ㄈㄞ<\/span>ˋ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n fài<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n out<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ㄠㄊㄜ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ao-t’e<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n what<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n 花得<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n huade<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n we’re<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ㄨㄧㄚ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n wi’a<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n made<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n 妹的<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n meide<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n of<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n 歐福<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n oufu<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

“When we are called to help our friends in need”<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n What <\/span><\/s>when<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n 花<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n hua<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n we<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ㄨㄧ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n wi<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n are<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ㄚ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n a<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n called<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n 扣<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n kou<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n to<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n 兔<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n tu<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n help<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n 嘿ㄜㄆ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n hei’e-p[e]<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n our<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ㄠㄦ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ao’er<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n friends<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ㄈㄨㄌㄣˇ的ㄙ<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n fulen-de-s<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n in<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n 硬<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n ying<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n need<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n [?]<\/span>\n <\/td>\n
\n [?]<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s times like this I especially miss John DeFrancis. How he would have loved this! It’s partially an example of what he dubbed “Singlish” — not Singapore English but Sino-English, the tortured attempt to use Chinese characters to write English. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,110,78,12,15,41,97,28,95,55,32,20,3,105,31,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alphabet","category-banqiao","category-bopomofo","category-chinese","category-chinese-characters","category-english","category-john-defrancis","category-languages","category-linguistics","category-literacy","category-mandarin","category-pinyin","category-taiwan","category-tone-marks","category-writing-systems","category-zhuyin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8538"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8581,"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8538\/revisions\/8581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}