On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 02:49:20 -0500, Alex Malinovich <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> I apologize in advance as this is about as OT as you can get, but I've > found a great diversity of backgrounds and languages on this list so > I'm hoping someone might have more information on this for me as most > of the stuff I've found through googling seems to be geared towards > linguists and not casual users. > > So, getting onto the actual question. This all started with the search > for the proper pronunciation of "chi". (As in life-force, etc.) > Whether it's "che(eseburger)" or "key". In looking around, I've > learned about Pinyin, Wade-Giles, Lessing-Othmer, EFEO, et al. > romanizations. Unfortunately, I've learned a whole lot of nothing. I'm > finding "chi" referred to as "qi" and as "chi" with no consensus on > either pronunciation or spelling. I think a big part of the problem is > that I'm finding a number of old English references done in the Yale > style, which has very conflicting characters with Pinyin. > > So the first and easy question is, what's the story on ch/qi. And > second, is there any easy way to tell which romanization is being used > for a particular word in order to more easily figure out the > pronunciation? (I'm guessing that it's "che(eseburger)" as "q" in > Pinyin seems to be a ch and not a k sound. > > Also, any simpler references to more on the subject would be > appreciated. I'm actually finding all of this very interesting. :) > ..in _which_ Chinese language do you want the correct pronounciation of "ch|k|qi"? It would not be wrong to think of China and India as "continents", in the same sense as "europeans" call themselves "continental europeans". ;-) http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/china_ling_90.jpg -- ..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt... ;-) ...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry... Scenarios always come in sets of three: best case, worst case, and just in case. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
