Apr 11, 2004 23:13
21 yrs ago
7 viewers *
Chinese term

spelling for Taiwanese names

Chinese to English Other Printing & Publishing
Does anyone know where I can find some online database or some sort that can find out te spelling of taiwanese names. Thank you.

Proposed translations

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spelling for Taiwanese names

Try this, the new "official" spelling system in Taiwan: http://www.romanization.com/tongyong/crosschart/tongyong.htm... It also gives the MPS2 system, which was the previous official system.

The problem here in Taiwan is that there is no one single standard that is being uniformly applied, regardless of whether or not it is said to be the official standard. Most commonly, a bastardized versoin of the Wade-Giles system is used, but you can see the strangest spellings. For the spelling of names of better-known people, your best bet is to rely on Google or the Taipei Times, which gives both Chinese and the English spelling the person actually uses for his/her name.
Peer comment(s):

agree Will Matter : good reference!
52 mins
Thanks
agree Edward LIU : Very useful
2 hrs
Thanks
agree Wenjer Leuschel (X)
6 hrs
Thanks
agree Peter Smith : Absolutely right. You also see the non-lamented Gwoyeu Romatzyh system used, particularly in the south. Street names sometimes have different Romanizations on successive signs; it's all an encouragement to learn to read Chinese.
7 hrs
Thanks. Yes, the Gwoyeu Romatzyh - just a look at that spelling tells you all you need to know...
agree ysun : Very useful! However, another problem is that people in Taiwan may pronounce the same name quite differently, therefore, spell it differently. There is no such a problem in the mainland.
2 days 3 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Graded automatically based on peer agreement."
33 mins

=> Google search on Wade-Giles romanisation

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