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Chinese Research and Bibliographic Methods for Beginners: Romanization

Main Systems of Chinese Romanization

Romanization is the representation of the pronunciation of languages using the Latin alphabet. The romanization of Mandarin Chinese, or Mandarin romanization, is the use of the Latin alphabet to write Chinese.

Chinese is a tonal language with a logographic script; its characters do not represent phonemes directly. The two main systems used by English speakers are Pinyin (拼音) and Wade-Giles (韦氏拼音).

ALA-LC Romanization Rules

ALA-LC rules are standards for romanization, or the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin alphabet developed by American Library Association - Library of Congress. ALA-LC romanization of ideographic characters used for the Chinese language follows the principles of the Pinyin ("spell sound") system.

Rules:

Separate the romanization of each Chinese character with a space.

  • 明清小说比较研究 Ming Qing xiao shuo bi jiao yan jiu

Connection of syllables

  • Multi-character surnames and given names: 司马相如 Sima Xiangru
  • Forenames, given names, courtesy names: 孔子 Kongzi
  • multi-character geographic names: 西藏自治区文物管理委员会 Xizang Zizhiqu wen wu guan li wei yuan hui
  • Names of countries: 朝鲜民主主义人民共和国 Chaoxian Minzhu Zhuyi Renmin Gongheguo

Capitalization

  • Capitalize the first word of a proper noun.
  • Capitalize the first word of a name: 查良镛 Zha liangyong
  • Capitalize the first word of the title of a book: 射雕英雄传 She diao ying xiong zhua

 

More reading from Library of Congress

Wade-Giles

Wade–Giles was a common system of transcription in the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century, used in several standard reference books and in all books about China published in Western countries before 1979. In mainland China, it has been entirely replaced by the pinyin system, which was developed by the Chinese government and approved during 1958. Outside mainland China, it has mostly been replaced by the pinyin system but remains common in history books, particularly those about Imperial China. Additionally, its legacy can be felt in the common English names of certain individuals and locations (e.g. Mao Tse-tung, Peking).

More reading from Wikipedia

Pinyin

Hanyu Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into Latin script in the People's Republic of China, Republic of China (Taiwan), Singapore, and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into computers. Although Pinyin was adopted as the official standard in Taiwan in 2009, it is generally referred to as the New Phonetic System and is used for romanization alone rather than for educational and computer input purposes.

Beginning with the normalization of Sino-American diplomatic relations in 1979, Pinyin began to gain popularity in the United States. Now it is the most common system used in both the mass media and scholarship.

More reading from Wikipedia

Comparision among Different Romanization Systems