A Guide to Taiwanese Name Romanization
Have you ever wondered why there are so many Changs when the surname 常 is not actually that common? Have you ever struggled to figure out what sound “hs” is? Well don’t worry! Today we are going to go over some common practices in transliterating names from Taiwan.
With some recent discussion I’ve seen about writing names from the Shang-Chi movie, I thought this was the perfect time to publishe this post. Please note that this information has been compiled from my observations--I’m sure it’s not completely extensive. And if you see any errors, please let me know!
According to Wikipedia, “the romanized name for most locations, persons and other proper nouns in Taiwan is based on the Wade–Giles derived romanized form, for example Kaohsiung, the Matsu Islands and Chiang Ching-kuo.” Wade-Giles differs from pinyin quite a bit, and to make things even more complicated, transliterated names don’t necessarily follow exact Wade-Giles conventions.
Well, Wikipedia mentioned Kaohsiung, so let’s start with some large cities you already know of!
[1] B → P
台北 Taibei → Taipei
[2] G → K
[3] D → T
In pinyin, we have the “b”, “g”, and “d” set (voiceless, unaspirated) and the “p”, “k”, and “t” set (voiceless, aspirated). But in Wade-Giles, these sets of sounds are distinguished by using a following apostrophe for the aspirated sounds. However, in real life the apostrophe is often not used.
We need some more conventions to understand Kaohsiung.
[4] ong → ung (sometimes)
[5] X → Hs or Sh
高雄 Gaoxiong → Kaohsiung
I wrote “sometimes” for rule #4 because I am pretty sure I have seen instances where it is not followed. This could be due to personal preference, historical reasons, or influence from other romanization styles.
Now some names you are equipped to read:
王心凌 Wang Xinling → Wang Hsin-ling
徐熙娣 Xu Xidi → Shu/Hsu Hsi-ti (I have seen both)
黄鸿升 Huang Hongsheng → Huang Hung-sheng
龙应台 Long Yingtai → Lung Ying-tai
宋芸樺 Song Yunhua → Sung Yun-hua
You might have learned pinyin “x” along with its friends “j” and “q”, so let’s look at them more closely.
[6] J → Ch
[7] Q → Ch
范玮琪 Fan Weiqi → Fan Wei-chi
江美琪 Jiang Meiqi → Chiang Mei-chi
郭静 Guo Jing → Kuo Ching
邓丽君 Deng Lijun → Teng Li-chun
This is similar to the case for the first few conventions, where an apostrophe would distinguish the unaspirated sound (pinyin “j”) from the aspirated sound (pinyin “q”). But in practice these ultimately both end up as “ch”. I have some disappointing news.
[8] Zh → Ch
Once again, the “zh” sound is the unaspirated correspondent of the “ch” sound. That’s right, the pinyin “zh”, “j”, and “q” sounds all end up being written as “ch”. This can lead to some...confusion.
卓文萱 Zhuo Wenxuan → Chuo Wen-hsuan
陈绮贞 Chen Qizhen → Chen Chi-chen
张信哲 Zhang Xinzhe → Chang Shin-che
At least now you finally know where there are so many Changs. Chances are, if you meet a Chang, their surname is actually 张, not 常.
Time for our next set of rules.
[10] C → Ts
[11] Z → Ts
[12] Si → Szu
[13] Ci, Zi → Tzu
Again we have the situation where “c” is aspirated and “z” is unaspirated, so the sounds end up being written the same.
曾沛慈 Zeng Peici → Tseng Pei-tzu
侯佩岑 Hou Peicen → Hou Pei-tsen
周子瑜 Zhou Ziyu → Chou Tzu-yu
黄路梓茵 Huang Lu Ziyin → Huang Lu Tzu-yin
王思平 Wang Siping → Wang Szu-ping
Fortunately this next convention can help clear up some of the confusion from above.
[14] i → ih (zhi, chi, shi)
[15] e → eh (-ie, ye, -ue, yue)
Sometimes an “h” will be added at the end. So this could help distinguish some sounds. Like you have qi → chi vs. zhi → chih. There could be other instances of adding “h”--these are just the ones I was able to identify.
曾之乔 Zeng Zhiqiao → Tseng Chih-chiao
施柏宇 Shi Boyu → Shih Po-yu
谢金燕 Xie Jinyan → Hsieh Jin-yan
叶舒华 Ye Shuhua → Yeh Shu-hua
吕雪凤 Lü Xuefeng → Lü Hsueh-feng
Continuing on, a lot of the conventions below are not as consistently used in my experience, so keep that in mind. Nevertheless, it is useful to be familiar with these conventions when you do encounter them.
[16] R → J (sometimes)
Seeing “j” instead of “r” definitely confused me at first. Sometimes names will still use “r” though, so I guess it is up to one’s personal preferences.
任贤齐 Ren Xianqi → Jen Hsien-chi
任家萱 Ren Jiaxuan → Jen Chia-hsüan
张轩睿 Zhang Xuanrui → Chang Hsuan-jui
[17] e → o (ke, he, ge)
I can see how it would easily lead to confusion between ke-kou, ge-gou, and he-hou, so it’s important to know. I’ve never seen this convention for pinyin syllables like “te” or “se” personally.
柯震东 Ke Zhendong → Ko Chen-tung
葛仲珊 Ge Zhongshan→ Ko Chung-shan
[18] ian → ien
[19] Yan → Yen
I’ve observed that rule 18 seems more common than 19 because I see “yan” used instead of “yen” a fair amount. I’m not really sure why this is.
柯佳嬿 Ke Jiayan → Ko Chia-yen
田馥甄 Tian Fuzhen → Tien Fu-chen
陈建州 Chen Jianzhou → Chen Chien-chou
吴宗宪 Wu Zongxian → Wu Tsung-hsien
[20] Yi → I (sometimes)
I have seen this convention not followed pretty frequently, but two very famous names are often in line with it.
蔡英文 Cai Yingwen → Tsai Ing-wen
蔡依林 Cai Yilin → Tsai I-lin
[21] ui → uei
I have seen this convention used a couple times, but “ui” seems to be much more common.
蔡立慧 Cai Lihui → Tsai Li-huei
[22] hua → hwa
This is yet another convention that I don’t always see followed. But I know “hwa” is often used for 华 as in 中华, so it’s important to know.
霍建华 Huo Jianhua → Huo Chien-hwa
[23] uo → o
This is another example of where one might get confused between the syllables luo vs. lou or ruo vs. rou. So be careful!
罗志祥 Luo Zhixiang → Lo Chih-hsiang
刘若英 Liu Ruoying → Liu Jo-ying
徐若瑄 Xu Ruoxuan → Hsu Jo-hsuan
[24] eng → ong (feng, meng)
I think this rule is kinda cute because some people with Taiwanese accents pronounce meng and feng more like mong and fong :)
权怡凤 Quan Yifeng → Quan Yi-fong
[25] Qing → Tsing
I am not familiar with the reasoning behind this spelling, but 国立清华大学 in English is National Tsing Hua University, so this spelling definitely has precedence. But I also see Ching too for this syllable.
吴青峰 Wu Qingfeng→ Wu Tsing-fong
[26] Li → Lee
Nowadays a Chinese person from the Mainland would probably using the Li spelling, but in other areas, Lee remains more common.
李千那 Li Qianna → Lee Chien-na
[27] Qi → Chyi
I have noticed this exception. However, I’ve only personally noticed it for this surname, so maybe it’s just a convention for 齐.
齐秦 Qi Qin → Chyi Chin
齐豫 Qi Yu → Chyi Yu
[28] in ←→ ing
In Taiwanese Mandarin, these sounds can be merged, so sometimes I have noticed ling and lin, ping and pin, etc. being used in place of each other. I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect this is why singer A-Lin is not A-Ling (her Chinese name is 黄丽玲/Huang Liling).
[29] you → yu
I personally haven’t noticed these with other syllables ending in “ou,” only with the “you” syllable.
刘冠佑 Liu Guanyou → Liu Kuan-yu
曹佑宁 Cao Youning → Tsao Yu-ning
There is a lot of variation with these transliterated names. There are generally exceptions galore, so keep in mind that all this is general! Everyone has their own personal preferences. If you just look up some famous Taiwanese politicians, you will see a million spellings that don’t fit the 28 conventions above. Sometimes people might even mix Mandarin and another Chinese language while transliterating their name.
Anyway, if any of you know why 李安 is romanized as Ang Lee, please let me know because it’s driving me crazy.
Note: The romanized names I looked while writing this post at were split between two formats, capitalizing the syllable after the hyphen and not capitalizing this syllable. I chose to not capitalize for all the names for the sake of consistency. I’m guessing it’s a matter of preference.
257 notes
·
View notes
reed do u know of any asian actors and actresses that could pass as 20s - 40s? i'm drawing a blank trying to think of any. :( ty.
I’ll be including everyones ethnic background as well so no one accidentally gets racebent!! All of this is going under the cut, because there is a total of 162 different actors & actresses listed below.
If anyone sees any mistakes feel free to send me a message so I can correct it!!
Actresses
Alia Bhatt (26, Indian)
Angel Locsin (33, Filipina)
Angela Yeung Wing (30, Chinese)
Anushka Sharma (30, Indian)
Arden Cho (33, South Korean)
Ariel Lin (36, Taiwanese)
Aya Ueto (33, Japanese)
Bea Alonzo (31, Filipina)
Bae Suzy (24, South Korean)
Baek Jin-hee (29, South Korean)
Celina Jade (33, Chinese-White)
Claudia Kim (Kim Soohyun) (34, South Korean)
Constance Wu (37, Taiwanese)
Davika Horne (26, Thai-Belgin)
Dee Hsu (40, Taiwanese)
Deepika Padukone (33, Konkani Indian)
Dilraba Dilmurat (26, Uyghur)
Doona Bae (39, South Korean)
Emma Wu (29, Taiwanese)
Gemma Chan (36, Chinese)
Guan Xiaotong (21, Chinese)
Go Ara (29, South Korean)
Ha Ji-won (40, South Korean)
Han Hyo-joo (32, South Korean)
Haruna Kawaguchi (24, Japanese)
Heart Evangelista (34, Filipina)
Im Yoon-ah (28, South Korean)
Ivy Shao (28, Taiwanese)
Jamie Chung (35, South Korean)
Jing Tian (30, Chinese)
Joanne Tseng (30, Taiwanese)
Jolin Tsai (38, Taiwanese)
JuJu Chan (30, Chinese)
Julia Ling (36, Chinese)
Karen Fukuhara (21, Japanese)
Kathryn Bernardo (22, Filipina)
Kimiko Glenn (29, Japanese-White)
Kim Chiu (28, Chinese-Fillipina)
Kim Ji-won (26, South Korean)
Kristine Hermosa (35, Filipina)
Lana Condor (21, Vietnamese)
Li Jun Li (35, Chinese)
Liu Shishi (32, Chinese)
Lee Ji-eun(IU) (25, South Korean)
Lee Sung-kyung (28, South Korean)
Maggie Q (Vietnamese-White)
Maine Mendoza (24, Filipina)
Maki Horikita (30, Japanese)
Mao Xiaotong (31, Chinese)
Masami Nagasawa (31, Japanese)
Mini Tsai (31, Taiwanese)
Nadine Lustre (25, Filipina)
Namthip Jongrachatawiboon (36, Thai)
Natapohn Tameeruks (30, Thai)
Ni Ni (30, Chinese)
Nittha Jirayangyurn (28, Thai)
Park Bo-young (29, South Korean)
Park Shin-hye (29, South Korean)
Patcharapa Chaichua (40, Thai)
Radhika Apte (32, Indian)
Rila Fukushima (30, Japanese)
Rinko Kikuchi (38, Japanese)
Satomi Ishihara (32, Japanese
Shruti Haasan (33, Indian)
Sei Ashina (35, Japanese)
Seol In-ah (23, South Korean)
Shaina Magdayao (29, Filipina)
Shen Yue (22, Chinese)
Shin Min-a (34, South Korean)
Sonam Kapoor (33, Indian)
Shraddha Kapoor (32, Indian)
Suzu Hirose (20, Japanese)
Tao Okamoto (33, Japanese)
Tian Jing (30, Chinese)
Urassaya Sperbund (26, Thai)
Yang Mi (32, Chinese)
Yifei Liu (31, Chinese)
Yū Aoi (33, Japanese)
Yui Aragaki (30, Japanese)
Zhao Liying (31, Chinese)
Zheng Shuang (27, Chinese)
Actors
Alex Landi (26, South Korean-White)
Aaron Yan (33, Taiwanese)
Jing Boran (29, Chinese)
Bai Yu (28, Chinese)
Baron Chen (40, Taiwanese)
Barry Nadech Kugimiya (27, Thai)
Caesar Wu (22,Chinese)
Charles Melton (28, South Korean-White)
Chen Xiao (31, Chinese)
Choi Min-ho (27, South korean)
Chris Pang (34, Chinese)
Christopher Larkin (31, South Korean)
Daniel Henney (39, South Korean-White)
Darren Chen (24, Taiwanese)
Deng Lun (26, Chinese)
Dev Patel (28, Gujarati Indian)
Do Kyungsoo (26, South Korean)
Dylan Wang (20, Chinese)
Gerald Anderson (Filipino-White)
Godfrey Gao (34, Taiwanese)
Gong Yoo (39, South Korean)
Harry Shum Jr. (36, Chinese)
Haruma Miura (28, Japanese)
Henry Golding (32, Malaysian-White)
Hiro Mizushima (34, Japanese)
Huang Xiaoming (41, Chinese)
Huang Zitao (25, Chinese)
James Ma (25, Thai-Chinese)
James Reid (25, Filipino-White)
Ji Chang-wook (31, South Korean)
Jin Goo (38, South Korean)
Jirayu Tangsrisuk (25, Thai)
Jung Kyung-ho (35, South Korean)
Kanata Hongō (28, Japanese)
Kentarô Sakaguchi (27, Japanese)
Kento Yamazaki (24, Japanese)
Ki Hong Lee (32, South Korean)
Kim Ji-soo (25, South Koreran)
Kim Soo-hyun (31, South Korean)
Kim Woo-bin (29, South Korean)
Kōji Seto (30, Japanese)
Kris Wu (28, Chinese)
Lee Jong-suk (29, South Korean
Lee Min-ho (31, South Korean)
Li Yifeng (31, Chinese)
Liu Haoran (21, Chinese)
Ludi Lin (31, Chinese)
Lu Han (28, Chinese)
Mackenyu Arata (22, Japanese)
Ma Ke (29, Chinese)
Masaki Okada (29, Japanese)
Masaki Suda (26, Japanese)
Mikael Daez (31, Filipino)
Nadech Kugimiya (27, Thai)
Nam Joo-hyuk (25, South Korean)
Park Bo-gum (25, South Korean)
Park Hyung-sik (27, South Korean
Park Seo-joon (30, South Korean)
Paulo Avelino (30, Filipino)
Ranbir Kapoor (36, Indian)
Ranveer Singh (33, Indian)
Ryan Potter (23, Japanese, Ashkenazi Jewish)
Ryosuke Yamada (25, Japanese)
Sidharth Malhotra (34, Indian
Shahid Kapoor (38, Indian)
Shawn Dou (30, Chinese)
Song Seung-heon (42, South Korean)
Sota Fukushi (25, Japanese)
Steven Yeun (35, South Korean)
Takeru Satoh (20, Japanese)
Tanawat Wattanaputi (36, Thai)
Tomohisa Yamashita (33, Japanese)
Warintorn Panhakarn (33, Thai)
Wesley Wong (32, Chinese)
Wi Ha-joon (27, Korean)
Xian Lim (29, Filipino-Chinese)
Yang Yang (27,Chinese)
Yudai Chiba (30, Japanese)
Yuke Songpaisan (30, Thai)
Zhang He (34, Chinese
Zheng Yecheng (25, Chinese)
7 notes
·
View notes