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onomatopoeia in Mandarin and how to write it in Hanyu Pinyin
Today’s selection from Yin Binyong’s Chinese Romanization: Pronunciation and Orthography is onomatopoeic words (340 KB PDF). Yin Binyong makes a distinction between onomatopoeic words that originate in...
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-r endings, their pronunciation, and Pinyin spelling
Arrr! In recognition of International Talk Like a Beijinger Pirate Day, here are the rules for how to spell those -r endings in Hanyu Pinyin and how those endings affect the pronunciation of syllables....
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ɑ vs. a
About a year ago (which is roughly how overdue this post is), a commenter noted that some Chinese publishers “are convinced that Pinyin must be printed with ɑ (single-story „Latin alpha“, as opposed to...
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important book on Pinyin to be excerpted on this site
Xīnhuá Pīnxiě Cídiǎn (《新华拼写词典》 / 《新華拼寫詞典》), is the second of Yin Binyong’s two books on Pinyin orthography. The first, Chinese Romanization: Pronunciation and Orthography, is in English and Mandarin;...
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How to write verbs in Hanyu Pinyin (Mandarin text)
Here’s the first of several selected readings from Yin Binyong’s Xīnhuá Pīnxiě Cídiǎn (《新华拼写词典》 / 《新華拼寫詞典》). It covers the writing of verbs. This reading is available in two versions: simplified...
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How to write numbers and measure words in Hanyu Pinyin
Today’s selection from Yin Binyong’s Xīnhuá Pīnxiě Cídiǎn (《新华拼写词典》 / 《新華拼寫詞典》) is about writing numbers and measure words. This reading is available in two versions: simplified Chinese characters:...
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How to handle ‘de’ and interjections in Hanyu Pinyin
Today’s selection from Yin Binyong’s Xīnhuá Pīnxiě Cídiǎn (《新华拼写词典》 / 《新華拼寫詞典》) deals with how to write Mandarin’s various de‘s, mood particles, and interjections. This reading is available in two...
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How to write adjectives in Hanyu Pinyin
Today’s selection from Yin Binyong’s Xīnhuá Pīnxiě Cídiǎn (《新华拼写词典》 / 《新華拼寫詞典》) deals with how to write Mandarin’s adjectives. This reading is available in two versions: simplified Chinese characters:...
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Pinyin sort order
The standard for alphabetically sorting Hanyu Pinyin is given in the ABC dictionary series edited by John DeFrancis and issued by the University of Hawaii Press. Here’s the basic idea: The ordering is...
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PRC’s official rules for Pinyin: 2012 revision
In 2012 China revised its official guidelines for writing Pinyin. These are the Hanyu Pinyin Zhengcifa Jiben Guize (official translation: “Basic Rules of the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet Orthography”),...
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PRC’s official rules for Pinyin: 2012 revision — in traditional Chinese...
Last week I put online China’s official rules for Hanyu Pinyin, the 2012 revision (GB/T 16159-2012). I’ve now made a traditional-Chinese-character version of those rules for Pinyin. Eventually I’ll...
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Taipei to spend NT$300 million making MRT signage worse
Commonwealth Magazine (Tiānxià zázhì) recently interviewed me for a Mandarin-language piece related to the signage on Taipei’s MRT system. As anyone who has looked at Pinyin News more than a couple of...
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ChatGPT writes poetry in Pinyin, sort of
I asked ChatGPT to “write a poem in Mandarin using Pinyin.” Its first response took the form of a sonnet: qīngchūn yǒu tài duō de mèngxiǎng, xīwàng yǒu yīgè xiǎng zhù de dìfāng. yīgè rén zài huáshān...
View ArticleMandarin words with more than one apostrophe
qīng’ěr’értīng 傾耳而聽 listen attentively As I often note, apostrophes are used in only about 2 percent of words as written in Hanyu Pinyin. But when they’re needed, they’re needed. Don’t skip them. A few...
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