About the spelling of my name
Sometimes I was asked why I spell my name like this -- Jenq-Haur Wang.
(especially the 'q', which is uncommon in names...)
Even I myself was often wondering why...
The truth is that, when I was still in junior high school,
I just browsed through an old Chinese dictionary for the transcription
of my name in English.
But I wasn't realizing why.
In fact, there are other (more common) ways to spell, for example:
Jeng-Hau Wang (in MPS2, Mandarin Phonetic Symbols 2),
or Cheng-Hao Wang (in WG, Wade-Giles).
Until recently, I found the answer.
Transcriptions
In order to write down the pronunciation of Chinese words, there're many
different ways of transcriptions.
For example, Wade-Giles, Pinyin, and Zhuyin are among the most
commonly used.
What I have been used is the Gwoyeu rwomaatzyh (國語羅馬字) transcription.
It was created in 1928, but not widely used because it's too complicated.
But "it is the only system reflecting the tone pitches not by marking the
tones with numbers or accents, but by inserting the tone pitch into the
transcription" [1].
That means you know how to read my name in Chinese simply by reading the
transcription...
Returning to the case of my name,
- Jenq -- the 'q' means the falling tone
- Haur -- the 'r' means the rising tone
- Wang (the lastname) -- it's the rising tone.
- Footnote: This is also a sound that most non-Chinese speakers would speak
incorrectly, although it's also a very common last name in Chinese.
Some people would read like 'wen', or even 'vange'.
(as the 'Wand' in the name of the famous German conductor Geunter Wand! I heard this
pronunciation once by a German in Dusseldorf Airport...)
Also, it's different from 'uang' (which has the high tone).
- There are 5 tones in Mandarin Chinese:
- Tone 1: High tone
- Tone 2: Rising tone
- Tone 3: Dipping tone
- Tone 4: Falling tone
- (Tone 5: Neutral tone)
Now you know why I spell my name like that... :)
References
Created: Sep. 14, 2005
Last Updated: Sep. 26, 2005