The
text below is done by the famous poet and Sung dynasty official Su Shih
(Tung-P'o). The romanization is in "National Roman Characters"
Gwoyeu Romatzyh (Kuo-yu Lo-ma Tzu/Guoyu Loma Zi), invented by the famous
Chinese linguist Chao Yuen-ren (in the twenties of the last century) or
at least most closely associated with his name. It is a finely crafted
system of romanization that shows his handiwork and insights in many places.
Although Gwoyeu Romatzyh, IMHO, doesn't at all seem too complicated for
people really interested in (and - like myself - able to get familiar
with in a couple of hours), it never had been a widely used system. After
having been adopted by the Nationalist government early on, it was soon
followed by the Pinyin system introduced and spread by Communist China.
Taiwan had been using GR until recently, but now is also turning toward
Pinyin, which isn't too bad a system for modern purposes. But shouldn't
"the better" always be the enemy of "the good"? The
great value of Romatzyh is that tonal distinctions are ineradicably built
into the spelling of all syllables, and so anyone who can remember the
letters of the alphabet can remember the tones of the words, which seems
to be much easier for many Westerners than remembering diacritic marks.
Unlike with Pinyin which allows to drop the diacritic marks or tone numbers,
one is forced by GR to remember the tones when writing, otherwise
the words cannot be expressed. Chao Yuen-ren proved to be a real ingenious and inventive scholar dedicated to linguistic "fieldwork" on phonology. Unlike e.g. the famous Swedish linguist Karlgren, "his" system of romanization is to give the pronunciation of modern "Mandarin" (Guo yu/Putonghua) rather than providing orthographic hints on historical language. So, just try to learn the couple of Gwoyeu Romatzyh rules - and you'll see, they're all pretty clever and well-founded, e.g. the exception for words with the sonorant initials m-, n-, l- and r-: Their basic forms have second tone instead of first tone! Why? Please go and count that kind of words in first tone in the text below! Yet, remember, Gwoyeu Romatzyh can't be nothing else than a tool. Good
to still having the unique beauty of the Chinese characters ! |
Chyan Chyhbih Fuh - Su Shyh (Dongpo)
renshiu jy chiou Shao yan, yueh
chu yu Dongshan jy shanq Yushyh
yiinjeou lehshenn, kowshyan erl ge jy. "Gueyjaw
shi... lanjeang, Keh
yeou chuei dongshiau jee, yii ge erl heh jy.
ru yuann ru muh Su
Tzyy cheauran, jenqjin wei tzuoh, erl wenn keh iue: Yueh
ming shing shi
Shi wanq Shiahkoou
tsyy fei Menqder jy kuenn yu Jou Lang jee hu?
jwulu chian lii
Guh ishyh jy shyong yee. erl jin an tzay tzai?
jiah iyeh jy beanjou Su Tzyy iue: "Keh yih jy, fwu shoei yeu yueh hu? Shyh
jee ru sy, erl weicharng woang yee. Gay jiang tzyh
chyi biann jee erl guan jy erl yow her shiann hu? Chieefwu, Tiandih
jy jian
Keh shii erl shiaw |
... AND STILL ANOTHER EXAMPLE?
This page was mainly inspired by David Prager Branner of
whose
opinion I share. The GR-version was typed in by myself, though, following
the character text in order to get familiar with the system.
Hints on typos are welcome!
For the GR rules visit the site on