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Post by andrewAU on Apr 24, 2015 22:58:19 GMT -5
Hi everyone
I am researching a Siyi migrant to HK, then to Australia. I am looking for romanisation of Chinese names - the Cantonese version that is common in HK and other Bristish colonies. For example the HK film star 周潤發 is Chow Yun Fat the current HK CEO is 梁振英 Leung Chun Ying. There seem to be a standard - but I was not able to find a definitive list or dictionary of this. Can you help, please
Andrew
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Post by lachinatown on Apr 24, 2015 23:15:18 GMT -5
So isn't a Cantonese dictionary is what you are looking for?
So when I input the names from your post, it came up with these:
周潤發 Jau Yeun Faat and 梁振英 Leung Jan Ying. It all depends on the author's spelling.
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Post by andrewAU on Apr 24, 2015 23:34:11 GMT -5
hi lachinatown
周潤發 pronounced as is 'Jau Yeun Faat'. This is based on the Cantonese pronouciation system called (粵拼) Jyutping. However his written name on official papers (in birth cert, migration records, trades documents) is Chow Yun Fat. That is, you will not find Jau Yeun Faat on document search, but will find Chow Yun Fat.
I am looking for the written romanization. Have you come across a list of this romanisation ?
Andrew
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Post by helen on Apr 25, 2015 6:08:46 GMT -5
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Post by Doug 周 on Apr 25, 2015 13:38:50 GMT -5
Andrew,
There was no formal romanization prior to 1950 (after which is pinyin). Some people claim Wade-Giles, but that was more for academic purposes and was for the Mandarin dialect.
The translation of Chinese names into English words was dependent on the phonetic spelling of various English speaking enumerators as immigrants boarded boats, were counted in census’ or for some reason interacted with a record keeper. These enumerators were of various level of English literacy, and their only concern was to fill a manifest list.
Considering that each dialect had differing pronunciations, the surname 周 could be spelled Chow, Joe, Jow, Chau, and now Zhou. Many enumerators mixed the surname with the given names, since the Chinese custom is surname first. The wealthy Chinese American entrepreneur’s official American name is Joe Shoong. His family from then on uses Shoong as their western surname.
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Post by tyuti1668 on Apr 28, 2015 8:42:47 GMT -5
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Post by andrewAU on Apr 28, 2015 23:09:16 GMT -5
Hi tyuti1668, Doug 周, Helen, lachinatown
I came across this problem of romanisation, as I was translation an old family tree into an online system. Eg I want to be 'correct' when translating 周家尹 into Chau Kar Ye
Thanks for your input and here is a few updates and what I have found.
1) yes you are all correct, there is no standard for Chinese name romanization
2) even that is an informal system within a country, it varied by host country and dialect (HK, SG/MY, US and AU )
3) i have contacted the HKLanguage society. They confirmed this, but said somewhere in the government machinery there will be a written document (as new babies are born and have to have a romanised name). HKLanguage society is more interested in promoting the use for Pyutpin
4) I have also spoken with Sophie Coachman - Curator of Chinese Museum in Melb. Confirm pretty much the same story.
So there is really no standard solution. Thanks for all your input.
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