Chinese Genealogy - Translation of grandfather's headstone

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May 24, 2013, 8:25pm

Chinese Genealogy :: Shop Talk :: Chinese genealogy :: Translation of grandfather's headstone

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Topic: Translation of grandfather's headstone (Read 781 times)

dong
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Re: Translation of grandfather's headstone
« Reply #15 on May 23, 2012, 11:19pm »

I am finding mostly Tsang, Tseng, Tzeng, & Zeng as the Latinized family names with the character 曾.

Dong is most frequently coming up as 董 (Dong, Dung, Tong, Tung.)

I suppose I am wondering, then, if it really matters which Latinization is used for a Chinese surname in America; or does the Latinization also tend to indicate place of origin?

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Doug
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Re: Translation of grandfather's headstone
« Reply #16 on May 24, 2012, 12:25am »

dong,

It matters little the Latinization/Romanization method of names. The beginning Chinese genealogist wrongly depends on the phonetic spelling. To precisely trace their ancestors back to China, they must use the Chinese characters. Clarifying my footer statement below, using Chinese characters absolutely does not mean Chinese literacy. Chinese language skills, while useful, are unnecessary to study Chinese genealogy.

It is fun and coincidental when the same phonetic spelling of a surname is from the same Chinese region. It is more likely that similarities in phonetic spelling correlate with the region within the host country, and only for a specific period of time (ie the career-span of an immigration official).

IMHO

« Last Edit: May 24, 2012, 12:29am by Doug »

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Lack of Chinese language skills should not deter one from studying their Chinese Family Heritage~^click

dong
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Re: Translation of grandfather's headstone
« Reply #17 on May 24, 2012, 5:31am »

Hello, Doug,

Thank you for that info; I was beginning to suspect as much.

Quote:

"It is more likely that similarities in phonetic spelling correlate with the region within the host country, and only for a specific period of time (ie the career-span of an immigration official)."

I was beginning to suspect, that, too.

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laohuaqiao
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Re: Translation of grandfather's headstone
« Reply #18 on May 24, 2012, 9:10am »

Ts in Tsang and Z in Zeng are different romanization of the same phonetic sound. Ts is used in Hong Kong and Taiwan and Z is used in the pinyin system in China.

The ts or z sound in other Chinese dialects turning into a d, is a special characteristic of the Taishanese dialect, hence Dong. In my area of Taishan, it's Dang; perhaps in Shangge Heung it's closer to Dong.

100 years ago there was no standard.

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dong
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Re: Translation of grandfather's headstone
« Reply #19 on Jun 10, 2012, 1:25pm »

I have now found my grandfathers signature in Chinese. I also found paperwork in which he states that he changed his name from Bing Wing to Gee Wo upon the event of his marriage in China (he went back in 1929 to marry, had a son, and returned in 1931.)
My grandmother did not get to the USA until the latter 1960's...and I do not yet know if my uncle, Wee Lim, came over with her.
[image]

Is there anything that can be learned from his signature, or does it confirm what is previously known?

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