Pronouncing and Using Chinese Personal Names
draft-deng-chinese-names-02

Network Working Group                                            H. Deng
Internet-Draft                                              China Mobile
Intended status: Informational                                    Z. Cao
Expires: April 25, 2015                             Leibniz Uni-Hannover
                                                              P. Hoffman
                                                          VPN Consortium
                                                        October 22, 2014

              Pronouncing and Using Chinese Personal Names
                      draft-deng-chinese-names-02

Abstract

   This document gives general rules for how to pronounce Mandarin
   Chinese names in conversation, and how to determine which name is
   someone's surname.  It also covers some other related topics about
   Chinese names.  The intent is to allow IETF participants who are not
   familiar with Chinese to communicate better with Chinese
   participants.

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 25, 2015.

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   Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   2.  Pronouncing Chinese Names  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     2.1.  Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     2.2.  Introduction to the Pinyin System  . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     2.3.  Pronouncing Pinyin Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
       2.3.1.  Pronouncing the Initial Sound  . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       2.3.2.  Pronouncing the Final Sound  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       2.3.3.  Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   3.  Using Chinese Personal Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   4.  Difference Between Written and Spoken Order  . . . . . . . . .  9
   5.  Women's Names  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   6.  Use of English Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   7.  Writing the Four Tones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   8.  Using Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   9.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   10. IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   11. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   12. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

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1.  Introduction

   In typical conversations in the IETF, people's names are used
   heavily.  In face-to-face meetings, people will speak about other
   participants by name both formally and informally ("Mr. Smith
   says..." or "Bob says..."), and the same is true about how people
   sometimes refer to each other on working group mailing lists.  Most
   times, people want to use other people's names correctly, to be both
   more precise and more polite.

   The number of Chinese participants in the IETF, both in face-to-face
   meetings and on mailing lists, has greatly increased in recent years.
   Many non-Chinese participants have a difficult time knowing how to
   pronounce a Chinese name that they from a mailing list, RFC, or name
   badge.  In fact, many people don't know how to tell which of the two
   names in a printed Chinese name is the surname and which is the
   personal name.  And yet most people want to be able to use each
   others' names correctly.

   This document covers general rules for Mandarin Chinese names.  The
   rules are widely applicable, especially to those whose names are
   based on the pinyin romanization.  The rules do not necessarily
   apply, however, to Cantonese, Hakka, or the dialects native to Taiwan
   or Shanghai.  They also do not apply to non-Han ethnic groups, even
   where those ethnicities use romanizations based on pinyin.

   There are many other documents that cover similar material, such as
   [ChineseNames].  Also, this document mostly discusses Chinese
   personal names, but the pronunciation section applies to Chinese
   company names as well.  It is hoped that this document makes typical
   communications between non-Chinese and Chinese in the IETF easier and
   more natural.

2.  Pronouncing Chinese Names

2.1.  Background

   Nearly all Chinese people normally spell their names with Han
   characters, which are non-phonetic ideographic characters.  However,
   many Chinese people also spell their names using Latin characters.
   Converting Han characters to Latin character equivalents is called
   romanization [Romanization].

   Non-Chinese speakers seeing the romanized spelling of Chinese names
   often have a difficult time pronouncing them correctly.  The
   essential problem is that there have been two major standards for
   romanization from Chinese.  An older system, "Wade-Giles", was widely

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   used until the "pinyin" system was adopted in the mid-1960s, but
   pinyin is now much more common.  This document focuses on pinyin
   spellings [Pinyin].

2.2.  Introduction to the Pinyin System

   Pinyin is the official phonetic system for transcribing the sound of
   Chinese characters into Latin script in China.  It is often used to
   teach Standard Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign
   publications and may be used as an input method to enter Chinese
   characters (Hanzi) into computers.  "Pinyin" literally means
   "spelled-out sounds."

   Pinyin was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised
   several times.  The International Organization for Standardization
   adopted pinyin as the international standard in 1982.

   Note that there are many ways to learn to pronounce Chinese words.
   Some methods are tailored for English speakers, many others are
   tailored for other languages.  There are numerous resources online
   for those who want to explore beyond what is given here.

2.3.  Pronouncing Pinyin Words

   This section describes a simple way to pronounce a syllable in
   pinyin.  The basic steps are to divide the pinyin syllable into an
   initial sound and a final sound, and combine the two sounds together.

   The examples of the sounds are all from spoken American English.  Of
   course, there are variations in that, but it is maybe the most
   recognizable to readers of this document.  Also, there are many
   regional variations in China on pronunciation of some of the sounds,
   so these tables cannot be considered definitive.

   Spoken Chinese also has inflections (usually called "tones") within a
   syllable.  The four tones of Chinese are "level" (no inflection),
   "rising", "down then up" (sometimes called "departing"), and
   "falling" (sometimes called "entering").  These four tones are used
   to clarify the meanings of words.  Since many characters have the
   same sound, tones are used to differentiate words from each other.
   The tones are sometimes difficult to learn, just as it is often
   difficult for non-native speakers of many languages to learn
   intonations and pitches.  Many non-Chinese speakers just pronounce
   all syllables with the level tone.  The four tones are covered in
   great detail in other documents, such as [FourTones].

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2.3.1.  Pronouncing the Initial Sound

   The following table lists the initial sounds.

   Pinyin  |  English approximation
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   b       |  unaspirated "p", as in "spit"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   p       |  strongly aspirated "p", as in "pit"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   m       |  as in English "mummy"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   f       |  as in English "fun"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   d       |  unaspirated "t", as in "stop"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   t       |  strongly aspirated "t", as in "top"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   n       |  as in "nit"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   l       |  as in "love"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   g       |  unaspirated "k", as in "skill"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   k       |  strongly aspirated "k", as in "kill"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   h       |  as in "hay"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   j       |  no equivalent in English; like "ge" in garage
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   q       |  no equivalent in English; like "pun*ch y*ourself"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   x       |  no equivalent in English; like "wi*sh y*ou"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   zh      |  like "ch" (a sound between "*ch*oke" and "*dr*ew", but
           |  with the tip of the tongue curled more upwards
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ch      |  as in "chin", but with the tongue curled upwards; similar
           |  to "nur*tu*re" in English, but more strongly aspirated
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   sh      |  as in "shoe", but with the tongue curled upwards; similar
           |  to "marsh" in American English
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   r       |  similar to the "z" in "azure" and the "r" in "reduce"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   z       |  similar to something between "su*ds*" and "ca*ts*"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   c       |  like the "ts" in "cats"

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   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   s       |  as in "sun"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   w       |  as in "water"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   y       |  as in "yes"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

                   Figure 1: Pronouncing Pinyin Initials

2.3.2.  Pronouncing the Final Sound

   Final sounds are generally more difficult to pronounce than initial
   sounds.  But unlike English where there are often many ways to
   pronounce a final (such as the "ough" sound in "cough" and "rough"
   and "though" "through"), final sounds in Chinese are more regular.

   Pinyin   |  English approximation
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   a        |  as "a" in "father"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   i        |  as "ee" in "see"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   e        |  as "er" in "her"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ai       |  similar to "eye", but a bit lighter
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ei       |  as "ey" in "hey"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ao       |  approximately as "ow" in "cow"; the "a" is much more
            |  audible than the "o"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ou       |  as in "so"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   an       |  as "on" in "con"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   en       |  as "en" in "taken"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ang      |  as "ong" in "monger"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   eng      |  like in "en" above with "g" added
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   er       |  similar to the sound of "ar" in "bar"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ia       |  as "ya" in "yard" but with a brighter beginning
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ie       |  as "ye" in the slang "yep" but with a brighter beginning

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   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   iao      |  similar to the slang "yow" but with a brighter beginning
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   iu       |  similar to the slang "yo" but with a brighter beginning
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ian      |  similar to "yen" but with a brighter beginning
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   iang     |  like "ian" above with a "g" added
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   in       |  as "een" in "seen"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ing      |  as in "sing"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   u        |  as "oo" in "soon"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   v        |  like "you"  ### Paul thinks this should be removed
            |              ### because it doesn't appear in other tables
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ua       |  as "wa" as in "water" but with the "w" lighter
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   uo       |  as in "woe", but with the "w" lighter and the "o" shorter
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   uai      |  as in "why" but with the "w" lighter
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ui       |  as in "way" but with the "w" lighter
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   uan      |  as in "wan" but with the "w" lighter
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   un       |  as in "won" but with the "w" lighter
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   uang     |  as in "wrong" without the "r" and the "w" lighter
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   ong      |  starts with the vowel sound in "book" and ends with the
            |  nasal sound in "sing"
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------

                    Figure 2: Pronouncing Pinyin Finals

2.3.3.  Examples

   One of the authors of this document has the first name "Zhen" and the
   last name "Cao".  For the first name, divide "Zhen" into initial "zh"
   and final "en", looking them up in Figure 1 and Figure 2,
   respectively.  From the tables, "zh" pronounces like "ch", and "en"
   follows its pronunciation in "taken".  "Cao" is broken into "c" and
   "ao".  Another of the authors has the first name "Hui" and the last
   name "Deng".  "Hui" can be divided into "h" (initial) and "ui"
   (final), while "Deng" is divided into "d" and "eng".  (The third

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   author's name is not in pinyin, of course.)

3.  Using Chinese Personal Names

   In China, when giving somebody's full name, usually his or her family
   name is put first, and the given (personal) name last.  One of the
   Chinese authors of this document has the given name "Hui" and the
   family name "Deng", and the other Chinese author has the given name
   "Zhen" and the family name "Cao"; when one speaks of them in China,
   they say "Deng Hui" and "Cao Zhen".  (Because this document is in the
   IETF, the authors cannot show their names using the Chinese
   characters that they would normally use.)

   Almost all family names have only one Chinese character, with only a
   few having two characters.  For given names, however, both one-
   character names and two-character names are common.

   Thus, most Chinese people's names have two to three Chinese
   characters (although a few people's names have four characters).
   When saying the name of someone whose name has two characters, it is
   normal to say both names, with the family name first.  However, when
   saying the name of someone whose hame has three or more characters in
   informal conversation, it is normal to only say the given name.

   For example, "Hui Deng" has two characters, and in China is normally
   called "Deng Hui".  Another example would be a name such as "Xiaodong
   Duan".  This is a name of three characters ("Xiaodong" is the given
   name and has two characters, and "Duan" is the family name and has
   one character).  In this case, Chinese people speaking his name in
   informal conversation would normally family name, and just call him
   by using his given name, Xiaodong.

   If people are not familiar with each other, or are introducing each
   other for the first time, it is common to use the full name,
   regardless of the number of syllables.

   As a side note, the discussion above points out a problem with IETF
   protocols that only have one field for a person's name, instead of
   multiple fields for given name, family name, and so on.  A Chinese
   person has to decide which order to put their name in the single
   field: they order they would normally put them in China, or the order
   that they want people outside of China to understand them.  Future
   revisions of these protocols might allow for better distinctions in
   the names of people who do not follow the European customs of "given
   name comes first".

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4.  Difference Between Written and Spoken Order

   Because both Chinese and English speakers might try to conform with
   other cultures, Chinese people will often write their given name
   first and their family name second, like the use of "Hui Deng" and
   "Zhen Cao" in this document.  Non-Chinese speakers will then say the
   names in the order they read them in the written document, but that
   will be the reverse of the way that Chinese people would say them.

   A useful and growing convention is to write the family name in all
   capitals.  Thus, you might see "Hui DENG" or "DENG Hui" instead of
   "Hui Deng".

5.  Women's Names

   Few Chinese women change their family names to their husband's family
   name when they marry; normally, they just keep their family name.
   Today, some Chinese children have both their father's and mother's
   family name, then given name.

6.  Use of English Names

   Some Chinese people have informally adopted English given names for
   use in business.  The name might be one that sounds like the Chinese
   name (such as "Sheldon" for "XiaoDong" or "Lisa" for "Lixia") or
   might be a name whose meaning is similar to the Chinese meaning (such
   as "Lilly" for a Chinese woman's name that means a type of flower).
   These names are rarely the legal name of the person, and Chinese
   people usually don't use the English name when speaking to other
   Chinese people.

7.  Writing the Four Tones

   The four tones introduced in Section 2.3 are sometimes indicated in
   Chinese names as the numbers 1 though 4.  Even is 1, rising is 2,
   down then up is 3, and falling is 4.  Thus, a name such as "Deng"
   might be written as "Deng2" to indicate a rising tone.

   The four tones are also sometimes indicated with Latin punctuation
   that is meant to show the movement of the sound.  Even is with a
   macron (a horizontal bar), rising is with a acute accent, down then
   up is with a caron (like a small raised "v"), and falling is with a
   grave accent.  (Because RFCs still cannot contain non-ASCII
   characters, these characters cannot be shown here.)

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   The use of digits and punctuation to show tones is not very common,
   but it is seen in some academic journals and sometimes on business
   cards.

8.  Using Titles

   Most Chinese people are called by different names according to the
   relationship between them and the person addressing them.  For
   example, parents call their child by one name, but his or her friends
   may use a different name, and work colleagues might use yet a
   different name.  These different names include titles (terms of
   respect), nicknames, and so on.  In Chinese culture, it is extremely
   common to show respect to someone by using a proper title according
   to their occupation or status in society.

   These days, there are many commonly used titles.  Two generic titles
   that have similar meanings to "Mr." and "Ms./Mrs." are "Xiansheng"
   and "Nvshi" (pronounced as "Xian1sheng1" and "Nv3shi4"). ### Is this
   really Nu3shi4? ### These two titles are widely used either between
   people who are unfamiliar with each other, or during the formal
   situations like a conference.

   Another two commonly used titles are "Jiaoshou" and "Laoshi"
   (pronounced as "Jiao4shou4" and "Lao3shi1") which indicate that
   someone is a professor or instructor.  For example, if the surname of
   that person is "Zhang", then you could call him or her "Zhang
   Jiaoshou" or "Zhang Laoshi".  Other titles which also have been
   widely used include "Laoban" (pronounced "Lao3ban3") for a high-level
   manager in a company, "Zhuxi" (pronounced "Zhu3xi2") for the
   chairman, and "Zong" for the president.  In most cases, the title
   comes after just the surname, but occasionally, the title comes after
   both the given name and surname.

9.  Acknowledgements

   Many people contributed to this document by offering initial
   encouragement and ideas of what should be covered.  The two Chinese
   authors were also encouraged by some non-Chinese people who made an
   effort to pronounce their names correctly before this document was
   even published.  Some of the people who contributed include: Aaron
   Ding Cameron Byrne, Fred Baker, Haibin Song, Ida Leung, Jari Arkko,
   John Klensin, Margaret Wasserman, Melinda Shore, Mikael Abrahamsson,
   Noel Chiappa, Randy Bush, S. Moonesamy, Simon Perreault, Sri Gundave,
   Stephen Sprunk, Ted Hardie, Ted Lemon, Vero Zheng, Wes George, Will
   Liu, Yu Juan, and Yuanchen Ma.  We apologize for others whose names
   we may have misplaced.

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10.  IANA Considerations

   None.

11.  Security Considerations

   None.

12.  Informative References

   [ChineseNames]
              Wikipedia, "Chinese Names", August 2013,
              <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name>.

   [FourTones]
              Wikipedia, "Four Tones", August 2013,
              <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_tones>.

   [Pinyin]   U. S. Library of Congress, "Chinese Rules of Application",
              August 2013,
              <http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/chinese.pdf>.

   [Romanization]
              U. S. Library of Congress, "ALA-LC Romanization Tables",
              August 2013, <http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html>.

Authors' Addresses

   Hui Deng
   China Mobile
   Xuanwumenxi Ave. No.32
   Beijing,   100053
   China

   Email: denghui@chinamobile.com

   Zhen Cao
   Leibniz Uni-Hannover

   Email: zhencao.ietf@gmail.com

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   Paul Hoffman
   VPN Consortium

   Email: paul.hoffman@vpnc.org

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