Difference in The Phonetic Translation Between Different Regions
Names are sometimes transcribed differently according to official transcription standards used within various regions. For example, "New Zealand" is represented as 纽西兰/ 紐西蘭 Niǔxīlán in Taiwan, and 新西兰/新西蘭 Xīnxīlán within mainland China. Taiwan here uses 紐 Niǔ for "New" phonetically in the same manner as 纽约 Niǔyuē (New York), whilst mainland China uses the semantic transcription 新 xīn which literally means "new" in Chinese. US President Barack Obama's surname is rendered:
- 欧巴马 / 歐巴馬 Ōubāmǎ (Official translation)
- 奥巴马 / 奧巴馬 Àobāmǎ (used mostly in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore)
When transliterating foreign names Mainland China tends to preserve the original pronunciation, while Taiwan tends to transcribe according to the English pronunciation. For example, Putin, the Russian president, is called 普京 （pujing）in Mainland China and 普廷 （putting）in Taiwan.
The city of Sydney is rendered as 悉尼 (Xīní) in mainland China, Singapore, along with Malaysia and as 雪梨 (Xuělí) in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Cantonese speaking residents of Sydney.
Hong Kong and Macau usually transliterate names using Cantonese pronunciation but, since the handover from the British to the Chinese, there is a trend to follow mainland's methods, even if the Cantonese pronunciation becomes more remote from the original. For example, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's surname is transcribed as 梅德韦杰夫 / 梅德韋傑夫 Méidéwéijiéfū, in Cantonese rendered as Muih-dak-waih-giht-fu, which is not phonetical rendering but borrowing from Mandarin spelling.
Read more about this topic: Transcription Into Chinese Characters
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