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Article on early Tongyong Pinyin on Taipei street signs

Pīnyīn News - Wed, 01/30/2019 - 12:29








Friday, May 8, 1998

It’s all Roman
By Ian Lamont













Unnecessarily wordy sign

Pīnyīn News - Tue, 01/29/2019 - 12:00



Nánqū Guóshuìjú
Táidōng Fēnjú]

Taitung Branch, National Taxation
Bureau of the Southern Area,
Ministry of Finance




A fundamental of good signage is to keep it simple.




Dungan-English Dictionary published

Pīnyīn News - Thu, 10/25/2018 - 14:50






This work is available through Camphor Press and Amazon.


Chinese Southern Charm

Laowai Chinese - Fri, 10/05/2018 - 06:04

In the United States, the charming southern accent is all about vowels that get swapped around or changed. I still remember this great game of Catch Phrase where the southern belle mother gave this clue “It’s long and thin” and someone guessed “pin!” She was delighted and passed the thing to the next player (her own child). “Mom! This is ‘pen’ not ‘pin’.” But the mom didn’t understand, “That’s what they said!”

It was funny to everyone because her own children (growing up in Arizona) had lost the southern accent but their mother pronounced “pen” and “pin” exactly the same.

In Southern China, the accent comprises not vowel differences, but rather consonants that the locals can’t distinguish. There are many vocabulary differences between the North and the South (and everywhere in China, for that matter), but the biggest challenge to learning Mandarin in the South is the pronunciation.

One example is: “s” and “sh” sound different to me because in my native language (English) they are different sounds (it matters very much which one you use when you tell some to “sit.”). But in Southern China “s” and “sh” sound the same to them (they are what linguists call allophones).

This makes for many misunderstandings, but also some cute jokes that are only possible in the South. For example this fruit shop’s name:

The hanzi is 随果 suí guǒ which is a mispronounciation of 水果 shuǐ guǒ (meaning fruit). You can see the “s” and “sh” switcharoo. But there’s one other thing that makes the joke possible: “shui” in the real word for fruit switched to sound like a 2nd tone because of the “double 3rd tone rule.” So these two words would sound exactly the same with a Southern Chinese accent. Clearly this is a tongue in cheek mocking of Southern pronunciation that most Chinese people I’ve talked to find pretty cute.

There are several other features of the Southern accent (enough for a whole post or book chapter just on that), but I’ll give just one more, this time, unintentional evidence of a 分不清楚 fēn bù qīng chu sound: “-n” and “-ng” at the end of a word. In English this is important because we want the church choir to “sing” not “sin,” right? But in Southern China they can’t always tell the difference. Look at the login info for a local “Lanzhou” restaurant’s WiFi:

The really interesting thing about this is: Lanzhou is in the north and you would think those running the restaurant would be too. We can only surmise that the internet was installed by a local.

If you live in Southern China, and you have some printed material showing the local pronunciation of Mandarin, please feel free to leave a comment and tell us about it!

Reasons Gwoyeu Romatzyh never caught on, part 39

Pīnyīn News - Mon, 09/03/2018 - 11:56

Eel Chyi




  1. ēr = el
  2. ér = erl
  3. ěr = eel
  4. èr = ell


  1. qī = chi
  2. qí = chyi
  3. qǐ = chii
  4. qì = chih


Reasons Gwoyeu Romatzyh never caught on, part 39


Eel Chyi




  1. ēr = el
  2. ér = erl
  3. ěr = eel
  4. èr = ell


  1. qī = chi
  2. qí = chyi
  3. qǐ = chii
  4. qì = chih


US postsecondary enrollments in Mandarin fall

Pīnyīn News - Fri, 03/09/2018 - 15:20




MLA’s table






MLA undercounts enrollments in ‘Chinese’ classes

Pīnyīn News - Fri, 03/09/2018 - 12:54











Top 10 Most Feared Questions for Chinese New Year

Laowai Chinese - Sat, 02/10/2018 - 08:44

Testing… 1, 2, 3… does this still work? Great! I still have a blog. Let me see if I can remember how to work this thing…

Walking through the Guangzhou subway the other day I saw this advertisement for real estate. it’s one of those priceless looks into Chinese culture that is so valuable because it’s Chinese people critiquing themselves.

Here’s a direct translation (with pinyin) and my commentary.

Billboard Title

xīn chūn shí lián wèn 新春十连问 = New Year’s 10 Connected Questions

My Commentary
  • Interesting they used the words “xīn chūn” for “New Year’s.” The other ways to say it are “xīn nián” 新年 and “chūn jié” 春节. I’m not entirely sure what the difference is besides combing both of them.
  • The “connected” bit means sort of “non-stop.” This is the cultural commentary. Young people heading home for the holidays are dreading the barrage and wèn huà 问话 from their family members about their economic, marital, and child-bearing progress. So this real estate company is trying to establish credibility with struggling, young workers by showing they sympathize with how NOT-fun it is to face these questions. “So why not let our real estate company help you answer at least one of them?” (the 2nd one in my list).
The (Dreaded) Questions
  1. nǐ jīn nián shōu rù duōshao a? 你今年收入多少啊？= What’s your yearly income this year?
  2. shénme shíhòu mǎi fáng a? 什么时候买房啊？= When will you by a house?
  3. mǎi chē le ma? 买车了吗？= Have you bought a car?
  4. shénme shíhòu jiéhūn a? 什么时候结婚啊？ = When will you getting married?
  5. shénme shíhòu yào háizi a? 什么时候要孩子啊？= When do you want to have kids?
  6. shénme shíhòu shēng èr tāi a? 什么时候生二胎啊 = When will you have your 2nd child?
  7. shénme shíhòu jiǎn féi a? 什么时候减肥啊？ = When will you lose weight?
  8. xīn nián méi qù guó wài wán ma? 新年没去国外玩吗？= You didn’t go travelling abroad for New Year’s?
My Commentary

I’m going to talk mostly about culture here.

Questions 1-3

  • You can see these are mostly about money. I’ve been asked all three of these by taxi drivers, so I can imagine that family members would be even more interested. It’s very common in China to talk openly about personal finances. But, as this billboard implies: just because it’s common doesn’t mean Chinese people enjoy it.
  • It’s commonly thought that men have to have their own house and car before getting married, so I put these questions at the top of the list.
  • The BIGGEST question on the billboard is question number one. Does that mean it’s the most feared of them all, or that it’s the most important for the remaining questions?

Questions 4-6

  • This is the order the questions will get asked. This billboard is implying that no matter what your current situation is (single, married, have one kid already) there is still one more dreaded question waiting for you.
  • Question 6: starting in 2016, the famous “One Child Policy” was officially updated to be the “Two Child Policy.” Hence, the chance to get asked about a second child. By just observing the Chinese mom’s around me, it seems like a whole bunch of families are making use of the new law!

Question 7

  • This is a hilarious and awkwardly realistic question to be asked by family members and friends. But again, just because talking openly about weight problems is common in China doesn’t mean they all enjoy it. Otherwise, why would it be on the “10 Dreaded Questions” list?

Question 8

  • There is an interesting tension in China: come home for the holidays vs. go travel for the holidays. With the growing popularity and status associated with “international” experience, I can imagine young people going home for the holidays and getting mixed messages about “nice to have you home but why aren’t you out traveling?”


  • I could only find 8 questions. Can anyone look at the picture and find the other 2…?

Gǒu Nián Kuài Lè! 狗年快乐! Happy Year of the Dog! 

Google commemorates Zhou Youguang

Pīnyīn News - Sun, 01/14/2018 - 08:13






Thanks to Alex for the tip.

Pinyin-friendly display faces at Google Fonts

Pīnyīn News - Sat, 01/13/2018 - 08:19


Pinyin-friendly handwriting faces at Google Fonts

Pīnyīn News - Fri, 01/12/2018 - 11:51


  • Itim
  • Sriracha

Pinyin-friendly monospace faces at Google Fonts

Pīnyīn News - Thu, 01/11/2018 - 11:17


Pinyin-friendly sans serif faces at Google Fonts

Pīnyīn News - Wed, 01/10/2018 - 12:03


Pinyin-friendly serif faces at Google Fonts

Pīnyīn News - Tue, 01/09/2018 - 12:14


More Americans studying in Japan

Pīnyīn News - Sat, 01/06/2018 - 09:13




source: IEE Open Doors Study Abroad Destinations

China attracting fewer and fewer U.S. study-abroad students

Pīnyīn News - Wed, 01/03/2018 - 11:16







Additional reading:

How to add tone marks to Pinyin automatically, sort of

Pīnyīn News - Fri, 06/30/2017 - 16:12




The answer is a qualified yes.




(Click any image to enlarge it.)

Alas, there are some problems with the system.


  • capital letters
  • the letter ü (use “v” instead)
Up to 160 characters is fine



  • apostrophes
  • spaces
  • punctuation



Attitudes in Hong Kong toward Mandarin and Cantonese

Pīnyīn News - Thu, 06/29/2017 - 10:13




Attitudes in Hong Kong toward Mandarin and Cantonese, 2012-2016

Detail of the above chart, 2012-2016


sources and further reading:


Pīnyīn News - Tue, 04/25/2017 - 11:57



Here’s the sign.



(NT$50 is about US$1.50.)


Su-pâng ê

To̍k-ka kháu-bī
50 îⁿ









dújiā kǒuwèi
50 yuán

But what to do with this?


Probably this:

Sīfáng ê
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