Re: Bopomofo and pinyin

> BP Jonsson wrote:
>
> > but how render an initial velar nasal in (Mandarin)
> > Chinese?
>
> IIRC, initial N in Cantonese matches initial w in Mandarin,
> so Wa Wang Jin Ba.  What that might *mean* I have no idea.
>
> But hey, /n@g&g d@b&N s@bjIn pA/ sounds cool too.  :-)
My initial reaction to Wa Wang Jin Ba (as a Chinese name) was adverse, and
my partner, a native speaker of Chinese, also really found it 'nan2ting1'
(unpleasant to the ear). I dunno, perhaps it ties in to "wang2ba1dan4"
(turtle egg: a major insult) (just consulted the native speaker: my
intuition is right...yea!!!). "Ba" really sounds uncomplimentary for the
above reference (also: Sanba = three-eight = a ditz). I thought Wang Jin
sounded cool (king gold: but as in a previous post, surnames don't hinge on
meaning). Again, tried it out on the native speaker and he likes my choice.
The four character stuff is tricky unless you deliberately want to sound
'exotique'. Dalailama works, but you're not that, of course. Other options?

Kou