How to pronounce this name "Jianhua Li"
lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com
How do you pronounce the first name and last name respectively?
How to pronounce the Chinese young pianist's name "Yundi Li"?
Thank you.
CyberCypher
> Is "Jianhua Li" a suitable name for a boy?
>
> How do you pronounce the first name and last name respectively?
The English pronunciation would be pretty close to the Chinese
pronunciation, or maybe a little like "John-Hwa Lee".
> How to pronounce the Chinese young pianist's name "Yundi Li"?
The English pronunciation would be either "Yoon" (rhymes with "soon" or
"spoon") or "Yun" (rhymes with "fun" or "gun" or "sun" but with a
/y/-sound at the beginning) plus "-Dee Lee".
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
CDB
"Li" is a family name, suitable for anybody. You haven't included the
characters, or even the tones, for the given name, and I'm not good
enough to get it without those; but googling gives four "Jianhua"s on
the first page, confirmed as male by their photos or in the
accompanying text, so it's a pretty safe bet.
>> How do you pronounce the first name and last name respectively?
>
> The English pronunciation would be pretty close to the Chinese
> pronunciation, or maybe a little like "John-Hwa Lee".
I would rhyme the first syllable with the "Dien" of Dienbienphu:
"j'yEn".
>
>> How to pronounce the Chinese young pianist's name "Yundi Li"?
>
> The English pronunciation would be either "Yoon" (rhymes with
> "soon" or "spoon") or "Yun" (rhymes with "fun" or "gun" or "sun"
> but with a /y/-sound at the beginning) plus "-Dee Lee".
Yes, but the vowel of "Yun" is like the French "u" or German "ü", with
a kind of y-glide to the "n": "yü(i)n". If you want to get even
fancier, the "n" at the end of a syllable is very lightly pronounced,
as I have heard it: almost, but not quite, reduced to a nasalization
of the vowel. And if you want to pronounce it really correctly,
you'll have to get the intonation right too.
Peacenik
news:1167313608.0...@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> Is "Jianhua Li" a suitable name for a boy?
Are you naming your kid? Are you Chinese? Chinese people (in Taiwan at
least) generally consult astrologers in order to choose auspicious names for
their kids.
"jian" means "to build" or "to found"; "hua" means "China". Yes, it's a
masculine name.
> How do you pronounce the first name and last name respectively?
The surname Li is pronounced "Lee" (with a low tone). The given name
"Jianhua" is like "jyen" (a "j" followed by the Japanese currency "yen";
pronounced with a sharply falling tone) and "hwa" (with a rising tone, as if
followed by a question mark).
> How to pronounce the Chinese young pianist's name "Yundi Li"?
Yundi (the given name) is pronounced like the French word "une" followed by
"dee". Both syllables have a rising tone. Li (just as above) is his surname,
and it comes first in Chinese: Li Yundi.
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
CyberCypher
> CyberCypher wrote:
> > lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com wrote:
> >> Is "Jianhua Li" a suitable name for a boy?
>
> "Li" is a family name, suitable for anybody. You haven't included the
> characters, or even the tones, for the given name, and I'm not good
> enough to get it without those; but googling gives four "Jianhua"s on
> the first page, confirmed as male by their photos or in the
> accompanying text, so it's a pretty safe bet.
>
> >> How do you pronounce the first name and last name respectively?
> >
> > The English pronunciation would be pretty close to the Chinese
> > pronunciation, or maybe a little like "John-Hwa Lee".
>
> I would rhyme the first syllable with the "Dien" of Dienbienphu:
> "j'yEn".
That's only because you know how to pronounce Mandarin Chinese. Most (>
250 million) native anglophones don't. Again, I assumed the OP was
asking for an English pronunciation of each name and not a Chinese
pronunciation, else why come to an English usage group? Maybe an
American-speaker would pronounce it "Jen" (rhymes with "pen")-"Hwa". My
father would probably look at it and say "Gee"-"Anne" or "Gy"(sounds
like the first syllable of "giant")-"Anne".
> >> How to pronounce the Chinese young pianist's name "Yundi Li"?
> >
> > The English pronunciation would be either "Yoon" (rhymes with
> > "soon" or "spoon") or "Yun" (rhymes with "fun" or "gun" or "sun"
> > but with a /y/-sound at the beginning) plus "-Dee Lee".
>
> Yes, but the vowel of "Yun" is like the French "u" or German "ü", with
> a kind of y-glide to the "n": "yü(i)n". If you want to get even
> fancier, the "n" at the end of a syllable is very lightly pronounced,
> as I have heard it: almost, but not quite, reduced to a nasalization
> of the vowel. And if you want to pronounce it really correctly,
> you'll have to get the intonation right too.
Yes, you're right about the Chinese pronunciation, but this is an
English usage group, not a Chinese pronunciation group, and American
speakers don't do that kind of /u/ because, as a former French
girlfriend of mine used to say, they hate to pucker up their lips so
that they form an asshole, which is exactly the shape needed to
pronounce the French "u".
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
"...the human population is 90% gullible, violence-prone dipshits, ..."
Scott Adams, The Dilbert Blog, December 06, 2006
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/
lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com
CyberCypher wrote:
> CDB wrote:
> > CyberCypher wrote:
> > > lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com wrote:
> > >> Is "Jianhua Li" a suitable name for a boy?
> >
> > "Li" is a family name, suitable for anybody. You haven't included the
> > characters, or even the tones, for the given name, and I'm not good
> > enough to get it without those; but googling gives four "Jianhua"s on
> > the first page, confirmed as male by their photos or in the
> > accompanying text, so it's a pretty safe bet.
> >
> > >> How do you pronounce the first name and last name respectively?
> > >
> > > The English pronunciation would be pretty close to the Chinese
> > > pronunciation, or maybe a little like "John-Hwa Lee".
> >
> > I would rhyme the first syllable with the "Dien" of Dienbienphu:
> > "j'yEn".
>
<snip>
> Again, I assumed the OP was
> asking for an English pronunciation of each name and not a Chinese
> pronunciation, else why come to an English usage group? Maybe an
> American-speaker would pronounce it "Jen" (rhymes with "pen")-"Hwa". My
> father would probably look at it and say "Gee"-"Anne" or "Gy"(sounds
> like the first syllable of "giant")-"Anne".
Thank you.
Yes, I want to know whether original English speakers feel this name
"Jianhua Li" a comfortable English name, and how would original English
speakers pronounce it. In fact, this name comes from the Chinese PinYin
corresponding to the Chinese characters. I am a Chinese, and couldn't
make my words as beautiful as yours. Thank you for your time.
CDB
Ooh, I'm probably not going to be allowed to send this without cutting
something, and it all seems to be needed for comprehension.
I agree with what you say. My intention in appending my comments to
your post, instead of directly to the OP's, was to make it clear that
I agreed, but wanted to provide more detail in case the OP could use
it.
Maybe I should have been more explicit; it's a balancing act I have
sometimes found difficult here, to provide enough detail for
comprehension without boring people or insulting their intelligence.
Anyway, Peacenik has now posted a definitive answer.
lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com
Peacenik wrote:
> "lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com" <lovecrea...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1167313608.0...@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
> > Is "Jianhua Li" a suitable name for a boy?
> Are you naming your kid?
No, I am a young man and have no kids currently.
> Are you Chinese? Chinese people (in Taiwan at
Yes, I am a Chinese in mainland.
> least) generally consult astrologers in order to choose auspicious names for
> their kids.
> "jian" means "to build" or "to found"; "hua" means "China".
Exactly. How knowledgeable are you, how could you know so much about
these meaning of the Chinese words:)
Now I use the English name: Joe, or Joshua. The later one is similar to
"Jianhua" in spelling. I will work in another American company in
China, and want to use the Chinese PinYin "Jianhua" of my Chinese name
as my English name like the young pianist Yundi Li.
Will original English speaker feel "Jianhua Li" a suitable English
name?
Thank you for your time.
<snip>
CyberCypher
CDB wrote:
[...]
> Anyway, Peacenik has now posted a definitive answer.
Yep, but there's nothing more pointless than trying to tell a native
speaker of Chinese how to pronounce Chinese, is there? Jest lookit whut
happens when we native anglophones try to tell each other how to
pruhnounce Inglush.
rzed
in news:1167405060....@h40g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
[...]
> Now I use the English name: Joe, or Joshua. The later one is
> similar to "Jianhua" in spelling. I will work in another
> American company in China, and want to use the Chinese PinYin
> "Jianhua" of my Chinese name as my English name like the young
> pianist Yundi Li.
>
> Will original English speaker feel "Jianhua Li" a suitable
> English name?
It's not an English name, but that doesn't matter. It's a perfectly
suitable name.
You may have to help out people you meet with the spelling and
pronunciation, but those of good will (which is most people, I
believe) will be perfectly happy to try both to spell and pronounce
it correctly. Spelling shouldn't be a problem, but you may have to
get used to odd pronunciations of what is to most English speakers an
unfamiliar name.
--
rzed
lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com
rzed wrote:
> "lovecreatesbea...@gmail.com" <lovecrea...@gmail.com> wrote
> in news:1167405060....@h40g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
>
> [...]
>
> > Now I use the English name: Joe, or Joshua. The later one is
> > similar to "Jianhua" in spelling. I will work in another
> > American company in China, and want to use the Chinese PinYin
> > "Jianhua" of my Chinese name as my English name like the young
> > pianist Yundi Li.
> >
> > Will original English speaker feel "Jianhua Li" a suitable
> > English name?
>
> It's not an English name, but that doesn't matter. It's a perfectly
> suitable name.
Thank you for the confirmation :)
> You may have to help out people you meet with the spelling and
> pronunciation, but those of good will (which is most people, I
> believe) will be perfectly happy to try both to spell and pronounce
> it correctly. Spelling shouldn't be a problem, but you may have to
> get used to odd pronunciations of what is to most English speakers an
> unfamiliar name.
I am aware that it's not a common English name for most native English
speakers. I am worry about this.
Thank you very much for helping me.
CDB
> CDB wrote:
> [...]
>> Anyway, Peacenik has now posted a definitive answer.
>
> Yep, but there's nothing more pointless than trying to tell a native
> speaker of Chinese how to pronounce Chinese, is there? Jest lookit
> whut happens when we native anglophones try to tell each other how
> to pruhnounce Inglush.
Yes. The exercise would have been less pointless if the OP had
explained himself better. His post made no mention of his native
language and asked whether the name was suitable for a boy (something
a Chinese ought surely to know) and how you pronounce it (ditto).
A foreigner might be excused for not realising that the natural
interpretation of "How do you pronounce it?" is "How is it
pronounced?" and not, as he claims to have meant, "How do you people
pronounce it?"; but his header, "How to pronounce this name..." puts
even that excuse in doubt.
Have we been being tested?
DJ
I heard my other colleagues, and my manager, called him "john" or
"ji-en", but never one that sounded like Chinese "jian"(not including
the tone).
I'm Chinese and I had no idea how to pronounce his name, so I asked him.
He gave me yet another weird ji...whatever.
What I'm trying to say is a foreign name is a foreign name. You won't
hear native speakers (in your next company) just call you
"jian"(Chinese, a sharp drop tone).
(Well, except those who know how to speak Chinese.)
-- DJ
Oleg Lego
I once worked in an office with a Chinese woman and two Chinese men.
The woman's name was (not sure of the 'official' transliteration
spelling) <family name> Shu Shun, one of the men was <family name> Wai
Lam, and the other man was <family name> King Tak.
Shu Shun, we called Sue, and sometimes Susan.
Wai Lam, we called Bill, and sometimes William.
King Tak, we called King Tak.
We were quite comfortable calling them by these names, and they were
as well, having initially told us what they would like to be called.
The point, I think, to bear in mind, is that someone with a foreign
(to co-workers) name, has the choice of sticking with their name as
pronounced, changing the pronunciation to a less foreign-sounding
name, or changing it to a common English name.
The first option could cause problems for a while, less so as people
become used to the name, but, as with King Tak, allows you to keep
your name, and can actually help people to remember you.
The OP might consider "John" instead of "Joe" as a nickname, keeping
the spelling of "Jian", and separating the two syllables into "Jian
Hua".
Ian Noble
<lovecrea...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Yes, I want to know whether original English speakers feel this name
>"Jianhua Li" a comfortable English name, and how would original English
>speakers pronounce it. In fact, this name comes from the Chinese PinYin
>corresponding to the Chinese characters. I am a Chinese, and couldn't
>make my words as beautiful as yours. Thank you for your time.
In the absence of any knowledge of PinYin I'd pronounce it "JiAN-hwa
Lih" - I suspect a fair number of people would smear that out as
"JAnwa Lee". As to whether it's "comfortable" or male? It's
comfortable enough - "Lee" is quite common here in the UK, both as
given and family names, whilst I come across given names I've never
heard before all the time in any case. Though it's possible I'd be
tricked by the final vowel sound of the given name into thinking the
owner likely to be female.
Cheers - Ian
(BrE: Yorks., Notts., Hants.)
Ian Noble
<lovecrea...@gmail.com> wrote:
I work in Britain for a multinational, and my department quite often
works with teams of people in other countries (right now we're working
with teams in Shanghai, Karachi, Moscow and Silicon Valley, for
example). What your're describing is something that always seems
slightly strange to me, and which until recently I thought was unique
to China - picking an "English" name by which to be known. The team in
Shanghai with which we're currently working have "names" varying from
the obviously Chinese to the obviously adopted. I'd have to say that
we take it in our strides, and use whatever names people give us. If
people want to be called by something that sounds "English" we're fine
with that, but we're equally happy to try our best with the more
exoctic and unfamiliar ones as well.
(I said "until recently" because until a year or so ago I'd never met
the phenomenon expect amongst Chinese colleagues; the closest I'd come
was having Japanese colleagues reverse their given and family names to
follow the western pattern (which was actually very confusing, as not
everyone did it - so one was never sure which was which,). However, a
couple of the Moscow team we're currently working with have adopted
the same approach, so perhaps it's more common thatn I thought.)
Cheers - Ian
CyberCypher
> CyberCypher wrote:
> > CDB wrote:
> > [...]
> >> Anyway, Peacenik has now posted a definitive answer.
> >
> > Yep, but there's nothing more pointless than trying to tell a native
> > speaker of Chinese how to pronounce Chinese, is there? Jest lookit
> > whut happens when we native anglophones try to tell each other how
> > to pruhnounce Inglush.
>
> Yes. The exercise would have been less pointless if the OP had
> explained himself better. His post made no mention of his native
> language and asked whether the name was suitable for a boy (something
> a Chinese ought surely to know)
Not if he's asking about it as an English name.
> and how you pronounce it (ditto).
Ditto.
> A foreigner might be excused for not realising that the natural
> interpretation of "How do you pronounce it?" is "How is it
> pronounced?" and not, as he claims to have meant, "How do you people
> pronounce it?"; but his header, "How to pronounce this name..." puts
> even that excuse in doubt.
>
> Have we been being tested?
Not at all. It's just the way that most native speakers of Chinese ask
questions in English. I suppose I'm more sensitive to it after having
lived and worked in Taiwan for more than ten years as an English
teacher and editor, and having a Taiwanese wife and child with whom I
communicate almost exclusively in English (if I spoke Chinese to my son
and his mother, he'd speak only Chinese and Taiwanese and would never
have learned English. I've seen that "Daddy and Mommy speak Japanese to
each other, so why should I bother to learn another language?"-thing
happen in the families of native anglophone friends married to Japanese
women). Knowing the language doesn't necessarily mean knowing how
native speakers of Chinese speak and write English as a foreign
language. That's one of my specialties.