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When you write your name in Chinese characters, how do people know whether to pronounce it in Cantonese or Mandarin (or some other Chinese language)? Does that
by tdeck 5y ago
When you write your name in Chinese characters, how do people know whether to pronounce it in Cantonese or Mandarin (or some other Chinese language)? Does that ambiguity ever come up?
- samus 5y agoI guess it depends on the language they are using at the specific moment. People in Hong Kong are probably going to pronounce it in Cantonese. Border guards in Beijing will probably pronounce it in Mandarin. There is actually no good way to tell whether a name is Mandarin or Cantonese, except maybe by looking at the place of birth or residence. Ironically, the romanized form might give clues as there are many different romanization systems in use.
- tyteen4a03 5y agoThere are some limits but other places (especially China) has names that I would find unusual, and I can sort of guess that way. It's definitely not as sure-fire than looking at the romanization for sure.
- bialpio 5y agoI'd expect that people who speak Cantonese would use Cantonese, and people who speak Mandarin would use Mandarin pronunciation. When you see a name "Peter", how do you know which pronunciation to use - Dutch, German, Norwegian, English, or other (there's a couple more)? :-)