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广州市
| May 22nd, 2014 at 2:08:21 AM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 | The name of this city is called Guangzhou but for most of the 20th century was romanized as Canton. In a similar manner Chongqing's former official name was Chungking and Beijing was formally known as Peking. My question is how the h. do you confuse Guangzhou with Canton? They don't sound close to one another. |
| May 22nd, 2014 at 2:22:20 AM permalink | |
| 1nickelmiracle Member since: Mar 5, 2013 Threads: 24 Posts: 623 | Common errors in languish I guess. |
| May 22nd, 2014 at 4:51:13 AM permalink | |
| Beethoven Member since: Apr 27, 2014 Threads: 18 Posts: 640 | I think it may have more to do with them just being different names than having a similar sound phonetically. Kind of like when 'Madras' became 'Chennai' in India. Boron Boron Boron rhymes with moron, moron, moron |
| May 22nd, 2014 at 6:55:37 AM permalink | |
| Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545 |
Same way, perhaps, as Deutschland becomes Germany or Alemania?
Exactly. Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER |
| May 22nd, 2014 at 6:56:11 PM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
Cantonese is the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese (60 million). Mandarin (standard Chinese) is spoken by almost a billion people. Perhaps you are correct. The word "Beijing/Peking" is Mandarin while "Guangzhou/Canton" is Cantonese. The romanization of the different languages must have been varied. |
| May 22nd, 2014 at 9:16:51 PM permalink | |
| Evenbob Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 146 Posts: 25011 |
For years I thought Mandarin was a duck, not a language. Imagine my surprise.. If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose. |
| May 22nd, 2014 at 10:00:39 PM permalink | |
| Wizard Administrator Member since: Oct 23, 2012 Threads: 239 Posts: 6095 | I think that Chairman Mao's communist government changed the names of some cities, like Peking to Beijing and Canton to Guangzhou. There may be others. Recall that the USSR did the same thing, changing St. Petersberg to Leningrad. Also, communist Vietnam changed Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City. Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber |
| May 23rd, 2014 at 6:44:17 PM permalink | |
| Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 |
Yes, but those are different words. Peking and Beijing are just different "romanizations" of the same word in Chinese characters. Regarding the great city in India, the city was referred to as Mumbai or Mambai in Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Kannada and Sindhi, and as Bambai in Hindi, Persian and Urdu. The English name Bombay was a variation on the Hindi word. When the Marathi nationalist Shiv Sena party came to power, they insisted that the English name be officially changed to Mumbai (November 1995). If Canton & Guangzhou are supposed to be the same word in Chinese characters, they sure don't look anything alike. Chongqing and Chungking at least resemble one another (Chinese: 重庆). |