Fun Stuff > CHATTER
English is weird
The Seldom Killer:
I did once have a conversation with someone who pronounced somewhere around Bay-zcheing but he had a rather nasally, throaty accent so I think that may have had something to do with it. Being the mimic that I am, I naturally copied him and it probably bled into subsequent usage for a while. Not, I might point out, that I discuss Beijing with any regularity.
As an aside, being a mimic has been very useful in picking up the correct pronounciation of Welsh place names and eastern european surnames.
As an alternative aside, if you ever happen to be in Snowdonia in Wales, keep an eye out for old mileposts and their oddly anglicised spellings of place names. Dolgellau suffers from a multitude of these.
Akima:
--- Quote from: The Seldom Killer on 10 Aug 2015, 12:50 ---I did once have a conversation with someone who pronounced somewhere around Bay-zcheing but he had a rather nasally, throaty accent so I think that may have had something to do with it.
--- End quote ---
In Chinese, there are two sounds that are roughly like the English hard J, and they are romanised in pinyin as J and ZH respectively. Someone actually learning Chinese needs to know how to pronounce them distinctly, but when speaking English I recommend just saying both like the J at the beginning of "jungle".
Method of Madness:
I'm guessing the J one is used in Beijing?
Akima:
Exactly correct. By contrast Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong province, and 3rd largest city in China, is pronounced Gwung-joe
Method of Madness:
Wait, that example confuses me, because the j in "Joe" is the same as the j in "jungle".
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version