Chinese leaders' names

外国語の発音、とくに人名や地名などはその言語を学ぶ人にはheadacheです。中国共産党の新しいPolitburo Standing Committeeの名前もまた、われわれにheadacheを与えてくれました。面白い記事です。（UG）

How to Say: Chinese leaders' names

An occasional guide to the words and names in the news from Jo Kim of the BBC Pronunciation Unit.

The 18th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China has drawn to a close and China has appointed a new generation of leaders.

The new Politburo Standing Committee, which is made up of the top leadership of the Communist Party, was led to the stage by newly appointed CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping as the final showpiece.

Here are our recommendations for pronouncing the names of the Standing Committee members.

Unlike English names, Chinese names do not appear in the Western order, i.e. given name first. Chinese names, like Korean, Vietnamese and Hungarian names, appear family-name first in the original language. Stressed syllables are shown in upper case, -uh as 'a' in sofa.



Xi Jinping: SHEE jin PING (-sh as in ship, -j as in Jack, -i as in sit, -ng as in sing)
Li Keqiang: LEE kuh chee-AANG (-ee as in street, -aa as in father, -ch as in church, -ng as in sing) 
Zhang Dejiang: JAANG duh jee-AANG (-j as in Jack, -aa as in father, -ng as in sing) 
Zhang Gaoli: JAANG gow LEE (-j as in Jack, -aa as in father, -ng as in sing, -ow as in now) 
Wang Qishan: WAANG chee SHAN (-aa as in father, -ng as in sing -ch as in church) 
Liu Yunshan: LYOH yuen SHAN (-ly as in million, -oh as in no, -ue as in French vu) 
Yu Zhengsheng: YUE jung SHUNG (-ue as in French vu, -j as in Jack, -u as in bun, -ng as in sing)

The Pronunciation Unit's advice is anglicised so that any word, name or phrase, in any language, is pronounceable by broadcasters and intelligible to audiences. Some of our previous blog posts have discussed why Mandarin Chinese presents challenges in the process of anglicisation. Not only does Mandarin Chinese have a number of vowels and consonants that do not exist in English and have no obvious equivalent but it is also a tone language. Mandarin Chinese has four tones - high level, high rising, fall-rise, falling (and a fifth null-tone) - which are vital, just like vowels and consonants, to differentiating meaning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2012/11/how_to_say_chinese_leaders.shtml