Mao Zedong

Off-Topic conversations about what ever you feel like talking about.

Mao Zedong

Postby Lance » Sun Dec 17, 2006 2:50 pm

In this post, KOS wrote:Mao Zedong or Ho Chi Minh?


When did "Tse Tung" become "Zedong"?


KOS: I know you're right. I'm just wondering when it changed.

Reminds me of when the world spelled "Gaddafi" 84 different ways, until he finally signed his name in English and spelled it with a "G".
No trees were killed in the posting of this message.
However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

==========================================

Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a few hours.
Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.
User avatar
Lance
Administrator
Administrator
Cheeseburger Swilling Lard-Ass who needs to put down the remote and get off the couch.
 
Posts: 91394
Joined: Thu May 12, 2005 5:51 pm
Location: Oswego, IL

Re: Mao Zedong

Postby Мастер » Sun Dec 17, 2006 4:17 pm

Lance wrote:
In this post, KOS wrote:Mao Zedong or Ho Chi Minh?


When did "Tse Tung" become "Zedong"?


KOS: I know you're right. I'm just wondering when it changed.


Don't know. I did a quick google on "mao" to see if I spelled it correctly (I think my spelling was pretty close to yours), and "Zedong" is what I found. . .

Lance wrote:Reminds me of when the world spelled "Gaddafi" 84 different ways, until he finally signed his name in English and spelled it with a "G".


His name begins with a sound that is pronounced towards the back of the mouth that doesn't really exist in English. But, maybe they talk funny over in Lybia, I don't really know. . .
They call me Mr Celsius!
User avatar
Мастер
Moderator
Moderator
Злой Мудак
Mauerspecht
 
Posts: 23929
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:56 pm
Location: Far from Damascus

Postby Enzo » Tue Dec 19, 2006 7:41 am

It is that damn Ay-rab talk, it don't transliterate nice.

Somewhere around here I have a letter from the National Geographic Society. There was the big cosmic translation shift some years back, and I asked who decides these things.

Basically my question to them was that it seemed to me that the Chinese people didn;t decide every few years that the rest of the world will spell their words differently phonetically. SO why did Beiping/peiping/peking/beijing change its name. And in the bargain Chairman Mao, not to mention Bombay/Mumbai and others.


I wish I could find it now. there is some sort of international board that sets standards for this stuff. They shifted it around a while back. It is part of the Pinyin process - a transliteration of Chinese characters into western alphabet characters - I believe. Their consonants are not exactly ours, so things shift now and then to try to better approximate the sound of Chinese. or something...

Can you still get Peking duck in Beijing?
User avatar
Enzo
Enlightened One
Enlightened One
Chortling with glee!
 
Posts: 11956
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:30 am
Location: Lansing, Michigan

Postby Мастер » Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:05 am

Enzo wrote:It is that damn Ay-rab talk,


[-X

Enzo wrote:Can you still get Peking duck in Beijing?


Yes. And Peking University stuck with the old spelling.
Last edited by Мастер on Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
They call me Mr Celsius!
User avatar
Мастер
Moderator
Moderator
Злой Мудак
Mauerspecht
 
Posts: 23929
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:56 pm
Location: Far from Damascus

Postby Lance » Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:32 pm

You mean it was just the spelling that changed, not the actual names of the cities?
No trees were killed in the posting of this message.
However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

==========================================

Build a man a fire and he will be warm for a few hours.
Set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.
User avatar
Lance
Administrator
Administrator
Cheeseburger Swilling Lard-Ass who needs to put down the remote and get off the couch.
 
Posts: 91394
Joined: Thu May 12, 2005 5:51 pm
Location: Oswego, IL

Postby Heid the Ba » Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:40 pm

Yep, and only when transliterated. Still the same old name and spelling in Chinese.
User avatar
Heid the Ba
Enlightened One
Enlightened One
Tree hugging, veggie, sandal wearing, pinko Euroweasel
Mr. Sexy Ass
 
Posts: 107531
Joined: Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:20 pm
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Postby Мастер » Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:44 pm

Agree that for China, the only thing that changed was the English spelling of names and places. But in the Indian example Enzo brings up, I believe there have been some actual name changes.
They call me Mr Celsius!
User avatar
Мастер
Moderator
Moderator
Злой Мудак
Mauerspecht
 
Posts: 23929
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:56 pm
Location: Far from Damascus

Postby Enzo » Wed Dec 20, 2006 4:27 am

I believe you are right. In the case of Mumbai, I think they changed it from the Britishized Bombay. But wasn't Bombay just the British attempt to pronounce what they thought the locals were saying in the first place?

Not unlike here in Michigan where the same tribe of native Americans is either Ojibwa or Chippewa depending on whether you listen to the FRench or Inglish settlers.

I think in the Chinese case it is even worse than we think. it is not Englishization, it is romantization. They are transliterating into our Roman alphabet, but the letters themselves are not all pronounced as we do in
English.
User avatar
Enzo
Enlightened One
Enlightened One
Chortling with glee!
 
Posts: 11956
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:30 am
Location: Lansing, Michigan

Postby Superluminal » Sun Dec 24, 2006 8:04 pm

I remember the spelling of Chinese words changed in 1978, when Jimmy Carter broke off official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and recognized the communist gov. on the mainland. Just after the shift in relations, there was a long article in the "Pacific Stars and Stripes" about the change in spelling, Peking to Beijing ect.
I'm not a scientist, but I play one on the internet.
http://www.rrac.org
User avatar
Superluminal
Puppet Master
Puppet Master
 
Posts: 3255
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 1:26 am
Location: +33.6690 94.1755


Return to Here There Be Llamas

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests

cron