Yandzy and Dinping. Belarusian language changed norms for rendering Chinese names — new spelling more accurately conveys Chinese pronunciation

The name of the city Wuhan, which everyone learned thanks to the coronavirus, Belarusian scholars now propose to write in Belarusian closer to its original pronunciation — Vukhany. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Recently, the almost thousand-page "Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary" was published, a collaborative effort by the Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences and the Confucius Institute of Sinology of BSU. This is a fundamental work of 30,000 words, compiled by Belarusian linguists Nikita Baravik, Yauheniya Volkava, Ihar Kapylov, Uladzimir Koshchanka, and Maryna Yaromka.

It published a new normative table for the transcription of Chinese syllables (Pinyin) into Belarusian. This is not merely a recommendation but a new standard, approved by the Academic Council of the Center for Research of Belarusian Culture, Language, and Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus and the Council of the Republican Confucius Institute of Sinology of BSU, which is intended to ensure uniformity in education, official documents, scientific works, media, and cartography.

Along with the table, a normative list of the most important and frequently used geographical names of China, standardized according to the new rules, was also published. The Belarusian language has finally received its own self-sufficient tool for working with Chinese toponyms and proper names.

Until now, the transcription of Chinese proper names into Belarusian occurred exclusively through calquing the Russian transcription, which was created in the mid-19th century. It was then that the Russian Orthodox missionary Archimandrite Palladius (secular name Pyotr Kafarov) developed and later popularized, through his dictionary, a system for transcribing the Chinese language.

Neither during the Russian Empire nor during the Soviet Union, naturally, did anyone consider a separate system for the Belarusian language. Only now, with Belarus having gained independence and maintaining close ties with China—not only economic and political but also cultural—has mutual interest from both sides led to the necessity of its own system for rendering Chinese proper names into Belarusian without foreign mediation.

Павялічыць

New Chinese-Belarusian dictionary

One should not look for politics here. The real reason is that Belarusian phonetics differ significantly from Russian, and the Belarusian language is capable of conveying some Chinese sounds better.

For example, Russian lacks the affricates "dz" and "dzh," which are present in Belarusian. Have you ever tried to quickly and clearly pronounce the word "Jiangsu" or "Zedong"? The sound combination "tsz" (цз) in Belarusian is absolutely unpronounceable; it doesn't sound at all like it's written. To correctly write it by ear is even harder. The same applies to Palladius's "chzh" (чж), as in the name of the province Zhejiang.

A Belarusian here hears and pronounces the natural affricates "dz" and "dzh" respectively. And, as the Belarusian linguists who compiled the dictionary themselves emphasize, it is precisely these that allow the Chinese sounds 'z' and 'zh' to be rendered much more accurately and closer to the original pronunciation. Why, then, must we write some "tsz" or "chzh" instead?

Another fundamental flaw of Russian transcription is hardness where Chinese speakers pronounce soft (palatalized) sounds. Take, for instance, the Chinese syllable 'qi'. In Palladius's Russian system, it is historically rendered by the letter "ts" (ц) — for example, in the name of the province "Qinghai" or the city "Chongqing". This sound [ts] is always hard in Russian, so when further calquing the transcription into Belarusian, harsh-sounding Tsynkhai and Chuntsyn result, although in Belarusian, this sound can also be soft — Tsinhai, Chuntsin.

As the authors and compilers of the publication themselves emphasize, such means of Belarusian phonetics allow for a much more accurate rendering of the original Chinese pronunciation than was done previously.

Places where the pandemic originated and where iPhones are made — how to call them now

A special appendix to the dictionary provides a comprehensive list of Chinese geographical names recorded according to the new system.

The southern industrial hub and one of China's largest cities, which we all knew as Guangzhou, should be written in Belarusian as Huandzhow. The place from which the coronavirus spread worldwide is no longer Wuhan — now it's Vukhany (because the Chinese Pinyin Wuhan starts specifically with the labial sound [w], which was historically omitted in Russian transcription). The metropolis where the giant Foxconn factory is located and most iPhones in the world are assembled, is written in Russian as Zhenzhou, but in Belarusian, the phonetically more accurate form is Dzhendzhow.

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Transcription of names of main administrative units of PRC into Belarusian. Photo: Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary

Павялічыць

Transcription of names of main administrative units of PRC into Belarusian. Photo: Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary

Changes also affected province names. The eastern region, known for its economic miracle and Alibaba's headquarters, should correctly be written not Zhejiang, but Dzhedzyan.

Qinghai Province, known for its eponymous high-altitude lake, will now be written Tsinhaj.

And the vast autonomous region in the northwest will now be written Sindzyan-Uyghur (instead of the previous Xinjiang), which also corresponds more closely to Chinese pronunciation.

For syllables pronounced with aspiration by Chinese speakers, the Belarusian system uses a separating apostrophe after hard consonants. Thus, the giant centrally administered city near Beijing has correctly become not Tianjin, but T'yendzin.

Remember the normative spelling of famous natural objects. The longest river in Eurasia is now officially Yandzy (in Russian Yangtzy), and the mighty mountain system is T'yenshan (in Russian Tyan-Shan).

Some names remained unchanged, either due to tradition or due to the coincidence of Belarusian and Russian phonetics: Pekin, Shanghai, Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, and also the Huang He river.

Dinping and Dzedun

While the spelling of geographical objects is explicitly fixed in the dictionary's appendix, the names of politicians, historical figures, and celebrities are not listed there. However, with the official normative table for syllable transcription at hand, one can derive them independently to maintain consistency.

Changes will affect the spelling of names. The current Chairman of China, Xi Jinping, who was previously transliterated via the Russian calque as Xi Tszinpin, will be correctly written in Belarusian as Si Dinping. The Chinese leader Mao Zedong should be written according to pronunciation: Dzedun. The current Premier of the State Council Li Qiang should be written as Li Tsyan (in Russian: Li Tsyan).

The ancient Chinese philosopher, who in Russian tradition is written Zhuang-tzy (Чжуан-цзы), should be written in Belarusian as Dzhuang-dzy, and the author of the famous treatise "The Art of War" — Sun-dzy (with a hyphen because Chinese "-zi" (子) is a title meaning teacher or sage).

Belarusian Toponyms in Chinese

Another interesting aspect of the dictionary: for the first time, it has standardized the Chinese spelling of Belarusian toponyms not from their Russian spelling, but directly from Belarusian.

Historically, our geographical names came into other languages, not just Chinese, through Russian. In Chinese, Gomel was transliterated as Gēméilì (from Russian Gomel), Grodno as Géluódénuò (Grodno), and Mogilev as Mòjíliàofū (Mogilev).

Павялічыць

Names of regional and district centers of Belarus, rendered into Chinese from Belarusian spelling. Russified variants are given in parentheses. Photo: Chinese-Belarusian Dictionary

Now, linguists propose a different transcription, which is based on Belarusian spelling and pronunciation. In the academic dictionary, it is placed first as the primary norm, while some older transcriptions from Russian are given only in parentheses.

Now the name Hrodna is written and pronounced in Chinese as Hèluódénà, and Homel is recorded as Huòméilì, reflecting the Belarusian fricative "H". Mahilyow is recorded as Mǎjíliàowū, attempting to convey the Belarusian "-yow" at the end. This same principle has affected dozens of other cities — for example, Hantsavichy is now officially transliterated as Hàncháwéiqí (instead of the Russified Gāncǎiwéiqí).

Chinese students and scholars who will study Belarus and use this dictionary will learn the names of Belarusian geographical objects that are based directly on Belarusian pronunciation, without the mediation of other languages.

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