GR Tonal Spelling: Who’s Who (Taiwan Higher Education-1) 國羅名人錄：台灣學界（一）

wentong-syhhae (50)in #cn • 6 years ago

Names that SOUND different should LOOK different! 因漢語拼音不標調產生的假同姓問題，其實拼調式拼音（國羅）90年前就分清楚了。

When Chinese people travel abroad, they often encounter name problems (false homonyms) caused by Hanyu Pinyin, a romanization that makes tone marking in foreign documents extremely difficult.

盧, 魯, 陸, 呂 are four surnames that sound completely different in Chinese. However, on PRC passports, diplomas and other foreign documents (books, periodicals, internet postings) 盧, 魯, 陸, 呂 Lú Lǔ Lù Lǚ are all blended together to become LU. This causes a lot of unnecessary confusion, problems which can be avoided in Taiwan.

In GR Tonal Spelling, the official Chinese government romanization that was promulgated 90 years ago (1918), all four names (盧, 魯, 陸, 呂) are very clearly distinguished. Anybody who spends a few minutes to learn the spelling system can immediately pronounce them correctly. 盧 Lu (2nd tone), 魯 Luu (3rd tone), 陸 Luh (4th tone), 呂 Leu (2nd tone).

In Taiwan, this marvelous #mnemonic spelling system is still marked in most dictionaries, so it is used by well-educated people who take the trouble to look it up. Here are two doctors in Taiwan who have chosen to spell their names in a clear, unambiguous fashion. Both are third tone syllables.

魯 Luu

魯思翁主治醫師 Dr. Sy-Ueng LUU
Tri-Service General Hospital三軍總醫院
https://wwwv.tsgh.ndmctsgh.edu.tw/DocDet/191/10058/25045/1187

呂 LeU

呂良惠 Dr. Lianghuey Leu MD
https://health.usnews.com/doctors/lianghuey-leu-75367

Here are eight more well-educated people (university professors) in Taiwan with the surname 呂 LeU who follow GR Tonal Spelling's rules (Gwoyeu Romatzyh ).

Note that red letters are #mnemonic codes that do double duty: usually a combined semivowel and a tone marker. The hollow portion marks the tone contour: rising (#6 SHyUE, #7 PyNG), fall-rise low dipping (#1 MiiN, #3 Guu) and abrupt falling (#2 JYh #4 JENq).