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ArchivesRe: name update
in reply to a message by Mike C
It would be interesting if you could also include the pronunciation of (some) chinese names. Eg. Zhon [djON]. Regards.
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That's going to be a bit difficult I think. I know some Chinese people and there is no way i could properly explain the sounds of their names in the way pronunciations are written on this site.
A Chinese girl form my school told me that there are more ways to say sounds, like the Q (like in Qing) and Ch (like in Ching) would both be CH in the transcript, but they are in fact different sounds. (She explained them to me, and after trying several times, I got it right, one of them is more said using the bottom part of the mouth and the other more with the upper part). Also the intonation is not possible then, which could lead to people saying a completely different word.
But if there would be a way to explain them I'd be very interested in seeing all the pronunciations of them :) (maybe the 4 way of intonation could be given a number or something like that?)
A Chinese girl form my school told me that there are more ways to say sounds, like the Q (like in Qing) and Ch (like in Ching) would both be CH in the transcript, but they are in fact different sounds. (She explained them to me, and after trying several times, I got it right, one of them is more said using the bottom part of the mouth and the other more with the upper part). Also the intonation is not possible then, which could lead to people saying a completely different word.
But if there would be a way to explain them I'd be very interested in seeing all the pronunciations of them :) (maybe the 4 way of intonation could be given a number or something like that?)
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I agree, Mar. I know there are many ways to pronounce a letter, specially in Chinese. Anyway, there are some basic rules that we could try to expose, so if not perfectly, unless we could pronounce the nearest way to the right form. In my last book (Mike C, Lumia and Magia have each one) I've included a guide of pronunciation of several languages, included Chinese, but... only for spanishspeakers. Thanks.
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Of course there are always "sounds" that cannot be expressed in a certain language, for example the pronunciations of German or French names on this site here are also a bit (or a lot) off sometimes, but well, that can't be helped...
One can at least include the "major rules" to avoid major mispronunciations due to the Pinyin system. For example that the "Y" is silent and only there because of a "pinyin rule" saying that every chinese syllable must have a consonant and a vowel. Like, Yu is pronounced "u" or "ü". But I wouldn't know how to write that letter in English ;)
One can at least include the "major rules" to avoid major mispronunciations due to the Pinyin system. For example that the "Y" is silent and only there because of a "pinyin rule" saying that every chinese syllable must have a consonant and a vowel. Like, Yu is pronounced "u" or "ü". But I wouldn't know how to write that letter in English ;)
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