Journal of East Asian Libraries

Volume 2003 Number 129 Article 5

2-1-2003

The Switch to Pinyin Romanization: What Library Users Need to Know

Erminia Chao

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Chao, Erminia (2003) "The Switch to Pinyin Romanization: What Library Users Need to Know," Journal of East Asian Libraries: Vol. 2003 : No. 129 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jeal/vol2003/iss129/5

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of East Asian Libraries by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. SWITCH PINYIN romanizatonromanizationROMANIZATON WHAT LIBRARY USERS NEED KNOW erminia chao brigham young university history chinese romanization romanization chinese words writing chinese western latin alphabet dates back early seventeenth century catholic missionaries others came china developed romanization tool help them leamlearn chinese language promote christianity increase trade efforts laterjoinedlater joined westerners variety ways romanizingwomanizingofromanizingromanizing chinese came existence 1867 thomas F wade chinese language secretary british embassy china published book teach yourself chinese used romanization system adapted 1815 system developed english protestant missionary robert morrison forty five years later H giles published chinese english dictionary used thomas wades romanization system slight modifications how famous wade giles system came system predominantly used english speaking people libraries north america until october 2000

1949 newly established government peoples republic china set committee study issue chinese romanization new scheme called hanyu pincinpinyin fanganbangan chinese romanization guideline announced 1958 adopted use teaching pronunciation characters elementary schools china however wade giles continued used romanize chinese english language publications elsewhere world until 1979 international standard organization passed resolution adopting hanyu pincinpinyin international standard chinese romanization even many books written scholars familiar wade giles system

why use romanization library catalogs

long goal scholars well librarians find cataloging system embrace worlds languages total integration bibliographical information however chinese rather complicated language nonnativenon native speakers characters give few clues either pronunciation tones

romanization method using letters roman alphabet recreate sounds language whose writing system may may use roman alphabet since chinese non roman language romanization systems used throughout world indicate pronunciation chinese characters

question might asked why use romanization library catalogs why just characters reason romanization easier faster non chinese speakers

article frigmorigmoriginallyi allyaily presented 2002 annual meeting western conference association asian studies sept 262826 28 provo utah part panel library services asian studies

18 acquired fluency reading yet non chinese speaking scholars able use romanization read titles names places etc while doing research another reason use romanization simply cataloging first started information written either hand typewriter even invention computer still 1983 before possible include chinese characters library catalog record romanization convenient way record information why pincinpinyin instead wade giles

press release library congress november 19 1997 stated Pinpincinpinyinyin used throughout world including united states government news media users american libraries today familiar pincinpinyin romanization chinese names places providing access chinese language system make easier them locate material use pincinpinyin romanization libraries should facilitate exchange data libraries internationally library congress first proposed conversion wade giles system pincinpinyin 1980 coincide introduction computerized cataloging chinese material east asian library community did support change time since then however librarians come realize conversion pincinpinyin necessary american libraries provide adequate service users year survey conducted council east asian libraries east asian librarians indicated strong support conversion pincinpinyin library congress pinvinpinkinpinyin conversion project found htlpwwwhttpwwwlocgovcatdirpinyinannouncehtmlloc govcatdilpinyinannounceh 1 creating standard romanization another reason switch pincinpinyin romanization article RLGs research libraries group bimonthly electronic newsletter focus notes american libraries long odds rest world using wade giles instead pincinpinyin bibliographic records romanize chinese characters even within united states federal agencies mass media scholarly community using pincinpinyin years result researchers looking online bibliographic catalogs citations well known names laczilaozi mao zedongzerong deng xiaoping find them unless knew look under lao tzu mao tse tung teng hsiao pmfocuspingfocuspmping Focus issue 35 major organizations use pincinpinyin romanization united nations chinese government national library australia what main differences between wade giles pincinpinyin

main differences between wade giles WG pincinpinyin PY

spelling each individual syllables

syllables begin letters B D G Q R X Z pincinpinyin while syllables begin letters HS TS wade giles

syllables end letters ONG UE IE IANLAN pincinpinyin while syllables end letters UNG UEH IEH EN IEN wade giles

example

19 pin3jn wade giles bao dao pao tao gao kao xian zai hsien tsai b differences diacritic marks spacing particularly personal names

0 use diacritic marks

common diacritic marks used wade giles ayn umlaut

example

wade giles tsui k aynYJ liliiilii umlaut

pincinpinyin never uses ayn uses umlaut miniinilnti riliililiti differentiate syllables romanizedromaniwomanizedzed nu lu respectively

hyphen

i WG syllables separated hyphen particularly personal geographical names hyphen used PY

example

pin3jn wade giles mao zedongzerong mao tse tung

ii several differences how place names romanizedromaniwomanizedzed

joined syllables PY vs hyphenated syllables WG

example

linvinpin-pinvini wade giles beijing peichingpei ching guangzhouGuangzhou china kuang chou shih china

individual syllables multisyllabicmulti syllabic generic terms separated WG connected PY

example

20 pipin wade giles zhonghuaZhonghua min guo chung hua min kuo elunchunElunchun zizhiqu 0 luniun chun tzu chih chii

comprehensive explanation differences between wade giles pincinpinyin found wwwlocgovcatdilpinyinjdifferencehtmiwwwlocgovcatdirpinyindifferencehtml

I1 forget wade giles forever should I1 still cases use wade giles search peter zhou chair council east asian libraries CEAL pincinpinyin task force discussed issues pincinpinyin conversion RLG forum planning meeting june 27 1999 said wade giles strings converted example place names taiwan well established wade giles subject headings personal names remain unchanged wwwrlgorgeaspinvinforumhtmlwwwrlzorgeaspinyinforumhtml

assume statement knowledge wade giles terms still required assumption confirmed least RUNRLINO users memo issued RLG entitled guidelines cataloging chinese materials RLINRLINO during conversion period hlpwwwrlgorgcaspinyineathtmlhttpwwwrlgorgeaspinyincathtml stated mixture wade giles pincinpinyin records RLG union catalog during conversion period you may retrieve cluster ISBN ISSN LCCN search either wade giles pincinpinyin you do title phrase search known item sure use both wade giles pincinpinyin romanization your search value library users still need use wade giles searching find books written english wade giles words names titles example china memoirs chiang kai shek war against japan owen lattimore selectedpoemsselected poems oglili po translated david hinton

information may helpful found accessing cataloging policy & support office web page httplcweblocgovcatdircpsohtlphlcweb loc govcatdircp

did switch begin done

pincinpinyin conversion project started october 1 2000 currently 141.4 million clusters 333.3 million chinese language records RLG union catalog converted wade giles pincinpinyin few thousand records require individual cleanup completed may 313 1 2002 httpwwwrlgorgeaspinvinstatushtmlhttpwwwrlgorgcaspinvinstatushtml

timeline conversion events available LCs pincinpinyin conversion project web page dates completion conversion chinese language records individual libraries US canada vary depending personnel how projects planned conclusion

library congress announced plans switch pincinpinyin standard chinese romanization scheme bibliographic records 1997 already 2 million chinese language records RLIN database alone further changes chinese authors

21 uniformun orm titles subjects series etc change romanization affect access millions bibliographic records non chinese materials china taiwan hong kong well authors chinese names completion date conversion solely dependent resources each individual library therefore library user searching chinese materials should first consult library catalog order get comprehensive search results

SOURCES information library congress home page fhttpravwwlocgovhttpwww loc gov library congress pincinpinyin conversion project fhttphtlpicwebloclcwebloc govcatdirpinvinovcatdir rv research libraries group home page http wwwrlgorgtochtmltochtlpwwwrlgorgtoehtmltoc

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