HOW TO PRONOUNCE CHINESE NAMES.
Northwestern Christian Advocate. AN acknowledged authority on the pronunciation of Chinese names as transliterated into English assures us that there need be no serious difficulty in sounding the many Chinese names now appearing in the newspapers if the speaker will remember that the vowels in these names are uniformly those of the Italian or Continental alphabet; namely, (1) a always about as a in far; e always approximately as e in they or them; i very like i in machine or pin; o as either the o of song or how; and u always as the u of rule; (2) also, it should be remembered, every syllable has an independent value, and should be given that value in pronunciation; (3) as for consonants, they are pronounced exactly as written. These three rules will secure as correct a pronunciation of Chinese names as can be secured without oral instruction. For example, under the first rule, one would say tah-koo for Taku, not take-you, as one frequently hears the word pronounced; lee-hoong-chang for Li Hung Chang, not lie-hung-chang; peh-king for Peking, not peek-in; shahng-hah-ee for Shanghai, not shang-high; tsoong-lee yah-men for tsung lie yamen, not tsung lie yaymen; and so on. Under the second rule Tien-tsin is pronounced teeyen-tsinn, accenting the yen syllabic; not teen-tsin. General Nieh’s name is Nee-yeh. The Chinese coin tael is not tale, but tah-ale, pronounced quickly. Yun-nan-fu is yon-nahn-foo, not yunan-fyu. In like manner, all words are pronounced with syllabic distinctness and with uniform vowel sound. Under the third rule the province named Szechuan is sounded not zekuan, but nearly as zehchooahn, touching the choo very lightly; Nganhwei as ing-gahnggoowayee, dropping the initial i sound; Liau tong peninsula is leeahao-tong, and the German possession Kiau Chau is Keahoo Chahao. However, without multiplying examples, the reader of news from the much-troubled far East will, with sufficient safety, find his way through the many difficult names he is to meet in his reading, if he will but observe the three simple rules here given for their correct pronunciation.