 anybody speak Chinese?, pronunciation? |
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 Oct 22 2007, 04:15 AM
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#1
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Moving Target  Group: Members Posts: 560 Joined: 4-March 06 From: Pueblo Corporate Council Member No.: 8,332  |
How do you pronounce "Wuxing"?
And if nobody here speaks Chinese, how do you pronounce "Wuxing"? |
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Oct 22 2007, 05:35 AM
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#2
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Immoral Elf Group: Members Posts: 15,247 Joined: 29-March 02 From: Grimy Pete's Bar & Laundromat Member No.: 2,486 |
Personally, I pronounce it WOOX-ing. But I have no clue if that is correct or not. :D
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Oct 22 2007, 02:28 PM
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#3
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ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
Oi. I speak Mandarin, but unfortunately the best way to show you how to pronounce it also requires your knowing Pinyin.
It's sorta like oo shing. oo like in cool and shing rhyming with thing. Also, I have no idea what the tones would be. I say it Wu3xing4 (low tone and falling tone), but that's just because I like saying it that way. I suppose you could reverse engineer the tones if you knew what it was supposed to mean in English (if anything; I can't remember if they ever say in the books). This isn't great, but here's audio of the two syllables as I say it. http://www.mandarintools.com/sounds/wu2.aif http://www.mandarintools.com/sounds/xing4.aif (she's really emphasizing the ng sound; doesn't necessarily have to be that pronounced) |
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Oct 22 2007, 02:31 PM
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#4
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Manus Celer Dei Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 17,008 Joined: 30-December 02 From: Boston Member No.: 3,802 |
"Scumbags".
~J |
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Oct 22 2007, 02:43 PM
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#5
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The Dragon Never Sleeps Group: Admin Posts: 6,924 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,667 |
Which dialect?
In HK it will be Cantonese, which will sound very different to western ears then the Mandarin pronunciation, though Cantonese and Mandarin speakers will probably be able to figure out what each other is saying easily enough. Try Wu Shing or Wu Tsing which would be the old romanized way of spelling in English |
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Oct 22 2007, 02:53 PM
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#6
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ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
Wade-Giles is quite possibly the worst way of representing Chinese sounds. Ever.
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Oct 22 2007, 03:00 PM
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#7
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Technomancer Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,638 Joined: 2-October 02 From: Champaign, IL Member No.: 3,374 |
That's the beat I dance to. Then I have native Chinese speakers give a social indicator (rolling eyes, big sigh, etc.) regarding the mangling of their language. |
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Oct 22 2007, 03:06 PM
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#8
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,009 Joined: 25-September 06 From: Paris, France Member No.: 9,466 |
The "easily enough" is a bit optimistic here. A mandarin friend of mine used a whiteboard to 'talk' with her cantonese roommate for a few days before being more or less able to understand and be understood. |
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Oct 22 2007, 03:16 PM
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#9
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,174 Joined: 13-May 04 From: UCAS Member No.: 6,327 |
Aye, that is VERY VERY optimistic. My parents speak both cantonese and mandarin so I am familiar with both dialects. Though I mainly speak cantonese since that's what they spoke to me as a kid.
'easily enough'... heh |
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Oct 22 2007, 03:19 PM
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#10
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The Dragon Never Sleeps Group: Admin Posts: 6,924 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,667 |
Exactly, once you map and get used to the tonal shifts it becomes easier. Then you just get messed up by the fact one has 7 tones and the other 9, which don't quite go directly so you get odd drops in the translation. When the relatives get going in Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, and English all at once it does get a bit confusing admittedly. |
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Oct 22 2007, 03:46 PM
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#11
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The back-up plan Group: Retired Admins Posts: 8,423 Joined: 15-January 03 From: San Diego Member No.: 3,910 |
I grew up in a house where Tagalog and English were regularly intermixed. The worst part was when family from the PI came over and started speaking "dialects" of Tagalog which are actually separate languages.
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Oct 23 2007, 12:52 AM
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#12
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,640 Joined: 6-June 04 Member No.: 6,383 |
I thought it was "woo-shing".
"Whooshing" if you want to make an ironic joke about bad pronounciations. "You approach the whooshing facility and..." "Why is the facility whooshing?" "Because they own the land." "Oh, I thought you meant there was a whooshing noise coming out of it or something." |
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Oct 23 2007, 01:25 AM
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#13
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 718 Joined: 10-September 05 From: Montevideo, in the elusive shadows of Latin America Member No.: 7,727 |
oh god :D
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Oct 23 2007, 01:26 AM
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#14
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 718 Joined: 10-September 05 From: Montevideo, in the elusive shadows of Latin America Member No.: 7,727 |
sorry -double post- :sleepy:
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Oct 23 2007, 01:31 AM
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#15
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
Wu3Xing2.
I assume that Wuxing takes its meaning from the 5 elements, if so, then it is how it should be pronounced. |
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Oct 23 2007, 02:42 AM
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#16
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ghostrider Group: Retired Admins Posts: 4,196 Joined: 16-May 04 Member No.: 6,333 |
Xing2 isn't nearly as evil-bad-corp sounding as Xing4 though. ;)
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Oct 23 2007, 12:10 PM
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#17
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
But xing4 sounds positively stupid to me, it sounds like the company has had 5 sex changes.
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Oct 24 2007, 02:02 AM
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#18
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 718 Joined: 10-September 05 From: Montevideo, in the elusive shadows of Latin America Member No.: 7,727 |
Didn't get that. However, I will take this excellent opportunity to ask my chinese masters fellows here:
how do you say "Nobody saw anything" in cantonese? Cheers! Max |
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Nov 22 2007, 06:12 AM
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#19
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 560 Joined: 4-March 06 From: Pueblo Corporate Council Member No.: 8,332 |
Figures I'd post a question, and forget to look for answers.
So I gather that no matter what dialect, the English "ks" sounding X does not happen. That was my understanding, previously. Thanks for the confirmation of that, at least. I will try to restrain myself from smacking those who say "Wucksing." And thanks for the further help with pronunciation, though since I will continue to associate with people who will give me that look if I try to approximate the actual pronunciation of any non-English word, I will not actually be putting this knowledge into practice. Thanks all! |
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Nov 22 2007, 07:39 AM
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#20
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Horror Group: Members Posts: 5,322 Joined: 15-June 05 From: BumFuck, New Jersey Member No.: 7,445 |
I always thought it was "WUX-ing".
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Nov 22 2007, 04:02 PM
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#21
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Prime Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,577 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Gwynedd Valley PA Member No.: 1,221 |
So what is the answer then? I always went with "Woo-sing" but my Cantonese is incredibly limited. |
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Nov 22 2007, 06:44 PM
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#22
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 718 Joined: 10-September 05 From: Montevideo, in the elusive shadows of Latin America Member No.: 7,727 |
and what about "nobody saw anything"? :please:
cheers! Max |
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Nov 23 2007, 09:02 AM
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#23
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,009 Joined: 25-September 06 From: Paris, France Member No.: 9,466 |
http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/scripts/w...rch.php?level=0
Search for "nobody", "see" and "anything", write down the Jyutping and look it up in a pronunciation guide. Grammar shouldn't have any impact. And watch some Hong Kong movie to get the overall tone to use when speaking cantonese (such as speaking fast but making ending vowels last longer than usual), that's the most important thing. |
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