Re: OT: Mandarin help sought

The standard Mandarin would be [j&n.nan] -- as this isn't a very
common name, and as Mandarin names could be literally anything
bisyllabic, to know the correct tones would require knowing the
characters he uses in his name. It is, however, likely that both are
pronounced with a rising tone.

(一直以来)把你的名字念错，真不好意思
(ji_F.tS1_R.ji_L.laI_R.)pa_R.ni_L.d3.miN_R.tsM_F.nj&n_F.ts_hwO_F
tS3n_H.pu_F.hAo_L.ji_F.s1

the toneless syllables are pronounced lightly. I might be wong about
the SAMPA symbols due to my unfamiliarity with them. The Chinese of
your sentence is more longwinded for the sake of politeness, and the
sorry here literally means I'm embarrassed.

Eugene

2006/10/31, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>:
> I have a coworker whose name it turns out I've been mispronouncing for years.
>
> I was not the only one, mind.  His name is Yannan, and the entire
> office has been pronouncing it ['ja.n@n] since day one, and he has
> never corrected anyone.  But somehow someone found out that was wrong,
> and asked him in a meeting, and he told us it was actually [j&'n&n].
>
> I don't know exactly what part of China he is from, but I do know that
> he grew up speaking Mandarin as his everyday language.  That struck me
> as odd, since I had previously considered Mandarin to be a sort of
> national second language.
>
> So two questions:
>
> 1) Anyone familiar with the name "Yannan"?  If so, what are the tones
> on the 'a's?
> 2) How do you say "I'm sorry I mispronounced your name" in Mandarin? :\
>
> Xie xie.
>
>
> --
> Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
>

Reply