Chinese respelling of the English alphabet
In China, letters of the English alphabet are pronounced somewhat differently because they have been adapted to the phonetics (i.e. the syllable structure) of the Chinese language. The knowledge of this spelling may be useful when spelling Western names, especially over the phone, as one may not be understood if the letters are pronounced as they are in English. (The letters that are pronounced differently – not counting tone differences – according to different sources are given in bold.)
| Letter | Spelling 1[1] | Spelling 2[2] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 诶 | ēi | 诶 | ēi |
| B | 必 | bì | 比 | bǐ |
| C | 西 | xī | 西 | xī |
| D | 弟 | dì | 迪 | dí |
| E | 衣 | yī | 伊 | yī |
| F | 艾付 | àifù | 艾弗 | àifú |
| G | 记 | jì | 吉 | jí |
| H | 爱耻 | àichǐ | 艾尺 | àichǐ |
| I | 挨 | āi | 艾 | ài |
| J | 宅 | zhái | 杰 | jié |
| K | 开 | kāi | 开 | kāi |
| L | 饿罗 | èluó | 艾勒 | àilè |
| M | 饿母 | èmǔ | 艾马 | àimǎ |
| N | 恩 | ēn | 艾娜 | àinà |
| O | 呕 | ǒu | 哦 | ó |
| P | 披 | pī | 屁 | pì |
| Q | 酷 | kù | 吉吾 | jíwú |
| R | 耳 | ěr | 艾儿 | àiér |
| S | 艾斯 | àisī | 艾丝 | àisī |
| T | 踢 | tī | 提 | tí |
| U | 忧 | yōu | 伊吾 | yīwú |
| V | 维 | wéi | 维 | wéi |
| W | 大波留 | dàbōliú | 豆贝尔维 | dòubèiěrwéi |
| X | 埃克斯 | āikèsī | 艾克斯 | yīkèsī |
| Y | 歪 | wāi | 吾艾 | wúài |
| Z | 再得 | zàide | 贼德 | zéidé |
Notes
The respelling of H mimics the standard aitch /eɪtʃ/ rather than the regional haitch /heɪtʃ/.
The respelling of Z mimics the British English zed /zɛd/ rather than the American English zee /ziː/ or the Hong Kong English variant izzard /ˈɪzərd/.
gollark: There seems to be horrible lag around the drops now.
gollark: That's a good quote.
gollark: First they came for the song-lyric people, and I did not speak out, because I did not post song lyrics.Then they came for the linkers, and I did not speak out, because I did not post links.Then they came for the people asking for an offer they accidentally declined, and I did not speak out, because I did not ask for offers I accidentally declined.Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
gollark: Replace "socialist", "trade unionist", "Jew" etc with "person who does X, Y, Z".
gollark: ``` First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.```
References
- Mandarin Phrasebook and Dictionary. Lonely Planet 2012, ISBN 9781743211977, p. 16
- Chinese Alphabet (MyLanguages.org)
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