Pronunciation / terminology

[Alexandra]

This is not strictly a genealogy question but hope people will not mind me posting this query.
I have been looking on web sites for the pronunciation of different Chinese words. However when my husband looks at the way they are spelt in English he does not recognize all of them. He is originally from Jiangmen and speaks Cantonese fluently, however does not read Chinese writing.

I believe that several years ago changes were made in the way Chinese words were spelt in English. Does anyone know if there is a site which would give the spelling in the older form.

Thank you to anyone who might be able to help.







and as he does not read Chinese characters

[twoupman]

I believe you are talking about the Pinyin that is used today for pronuncing Mandarin, called Putonghua in China. The old system is Wade-Giles (of English origin) which is only used in Taiwan today. The Cantonese transliteration have not changed although it is not standardized.