Weili Zhang ... or ... Zhang Weili ??

[IvanEmelianenko]

Son Wukong

Wukong?

 

[Sweater of AV]

Both, yet neither.

 

[babycart]

Jacky Chan, or Chan Jacky?

Bruce Lee, or Lee Bruce?

 

[ocfightfan]

In Japan the GOAT was called Emelianenko Fedor. True story.

 

[DamonX]

I have seen this great woman competitor's name both forwards and backwards … but I don't know which orientation is correct.

As the old, great, boxing announcer Jimmy Lennon Sr. said, decades ago, when asked why he meticulously rehearsed the correct pronunciation of each fighter's name, the Senior fight announcer responded, "Every man has the right to the dignity of his own name."

The same is obviously true for women in our modern age.

I am a huge fan of this blossoming MMA female superstar, and I would like to display her name correctly, if possible. Does anyone know how this woman's name is properly oriented, as well as the proper pronunciation?

I would be grateful for any feedback + references cited, if possible.

Thanks.

Saying "orientation" is racist.

 

[MMAart]

If we were in China we'd say Zhang Weili and in the West we're more likely to say Weili Zhang. Zhang, her family name, is pronounced almost like John, but with an "ng" at the end. Don't even worry about the tones.

Just curious, if it's pronounced almost like "John", then why is it anglicized with "Zh" instead of "J". "Jang" instead of "Zhang"?

Also, I have seen last name spelled "Ng" and it is pronounced "ing". Why isn't it spelled "Ing" instead of just "Ng"?

 

[DamonX]

In Chinese culture the family name is placed before the given name. Zhang is the surname.

 

[babycart]

Just curious, if it's pronounced almost like "John", then why is it anglicized with "Zh" instead of "J". "Jang" instead of "Zhang"?

Also, I have seen last name spelled "Ng" and it is pronounced "ing". Why isn't it spelled "Ing" instead of just "Ng"?

Ask the CCP. They thought they're so fucking special enough to assign arbitrary pronunciations to English letters.

 

[Fitch]

Just curious, if it's pronounced almost like "John", then why is it anglicized with "Zh" instead of "J". "Jang" instead of "Zhang"?

Also, I have seen last name spelled "Ng" and it is pronounced "ing". Why isn't it spelled "Ing" instead of just "Ng"?

Modern pinyin, which is the system by which the common dialect of Chinese is transliterated to the Western alphabet, kind of just does its best to use the available letters to represent a bunch of sounds that are strange in English. There are words spelled ji and zhi. To my ear, the "j" and "zh" make the same sound, but they inform how we pronounce the vowel in the word.

I think the folks who spell their name "Ng" are all from southern China, and that this last name comes from a different dialect and is written using a different system of transliteration. Based on the pronunciation, in pinyin we might write it as "ying", but still say something like "ing". And if the same character were read aloud by a Mandarin speaker it would be pronounced "wu". This could all be completely wrong though. I'm no expert.

 

[lagofala]

Zhang Weili.
It's what a chinese name is.

Swapping it around just for a western audience doesn't make sense.
That's like saying in China, Rampage = Jackson Quinton.

Use it the way it's supposed to.

 

[Ying Li]

Hong Kong

 

[lagofala]

Ask the CCP. They thought they're so fucking special enough to assign arbitrary pronunciations to English letters.

Dude. CCP is not the be all end all of chinese culture. There are tons of us all over the world.

 

[MMAart]

Ask the CCP. They thought they're so fucking special enough to assign arbitrary pronunciations to English letters.

I don't think it has anything to do with that. Case in point: In French, certain words are not pronounced, such as the "s" in "Paris" (which pronounces as "Pari"). Another case is the "R" in Portuguese is pronounce as a "H" at the beginning of a word.

 

[Lubaolong]

Just curious, if it's pronounced almost like "John", then why is it anglicized with "Zh" instead of "J". "Jang" instead of "Zhang"?

There are many sounds in Chinese that don't exactly exist in English. J, Z, Zh all have different pronunciations. Zhang, Jiang, Zang would probably all sound similar to you, but they are all different.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

TheCreamofSomeYoungGuy

 

[JarlSkuld]

If I'm not mistaken, in many East Asian countries the family name is said first.

In Japan and China, the family (last) name is said first. So, this kind of thing happens a lot. If you asked her what her name is, instinctively, she would likely respond "Zhang Weili". But, Zhang is her family name and Weili is her first name. Just think of her name as: Zhang, Weili. There has been a little bit of a shift in Japan recently to just make other countries use their way of saying names (i.e. My name is Fuji Megumi) and not really explaining it.

Jarl

 

[ejazahmednit]

She is chinese, so her name would be ZhangWeili , have worked with the chinese for 9 years

 

[Chas]

China isn't the only country where it's common to use surname before given name. Japan would be another example, as well as South Korea, Albania, and Hungary, none of which are Communist nations. Enough with the "collective is greater than the individual" bullshit.

I can tell who never watched PRIDE from this thread.

 

[Credo]

Bruce Leeroy or...

 

[kirsky]

I don't know vs I don't care...