Re Bopomofo and Pinyin:
As I understand it Pinyin, either Hanyu or Tongyong,
were intended for use by foreigners who can't read
Chinese characters, ie for street signs and mailing
addresses; it was never intended to replace Bopomofo
as used by Taiwanese.

Bopomofo, or Zhuyinfuhao, is far too pervasive to be
replaced by decree. It's taught to every
schoolchild,is widely used in children's books to ease
them into readying Chinese, and every adult recognizes
it, and uses it when they need to write Chinese
phonetically. Almost no one understands Pinyin in
either form. Among other things, typing in Bopomofo
is the most commonly used method for Chinese character
input on a computer, and is used for entering SMS
messages on cell phones.

AFIK, Pinyin was intended to rectify the chaotic
Romanization system, or rather non-system, previously
in use. Simplified Wade-Giles was the official
standard, but since WG is intuitive to almost nobody,
nobody used it correctly, with the end result that
everyone essentially invented a Roman spelling on the
spot if they needed one. This led to the absurd
situation that you could see three spells for the same
street name standing on one street corner; for
instance, you might see Nanking, Nanching, or Nanjing
based on the whim of the signmaker. I was heartend to
see those signs replace by standard Hanyu Pinyin the
last time I was in Taipei (Taibei?).

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. Since
Hanyu Pinyin is used on the Mainland, many in Taiwan
reflexively think that Taiwan must use something else,
even though Romanization is intended for foreigners,
who are familiar with Hanyu PY if they're familiar
with anything, and so promulgated a slightly modified
version of Hanyu Pinyin which they dubbed Tongyong
Pinyin. I haven't read any news on this recently, but
a few years ago this led to raging debate, including
street demonstrations, over which standard to adopt.
The last I heard, this led to a new absurdity, with
Taipei city officially adopted Hanyu PY and the
Taiwanese national government adopting Tongyong. I
don't know how this morass shook out in the end, but I
fear that they will once again end up with no single
standard, everyone will still be confused, and they'll
be right back where they started.

Sorry, I think I went on a tangent, but you touched on
a sore spot. ;)

P.S. A quick Google search turned up the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongyong_Pinyin

-Weiben Wang

--- Michael Everson <everson@...> wrote:

> At 12:47 +0200 2004-04-02, Marco Cimarosti wrote:
>
> > 1 Tifinagh (still used; recently acquired official
> status in
> >Morocco)
>
> Yes
>
> > 2 Tagbanwa (still used in Palawan, Philippines)
>
> Yes
>
> > 3 Buhid (still used in Mindoro, Philippines)
>
> Yes
>
> > 4 Tagalog (not used anymore: Tagalog is now
> written in Latin script)
>
> Only specialists and enthusiasts
>
> > 5 Buginese (not used anymore. BTW, is it
> "Bugi*s*nese?)
>
> It is still used. It is called Buginese.
>
> > 6 Osmanya (never really caught on: Somali is
> written in Latin
> >script)
>
> There is some specialist interest, but Latin is
> official
>
> > 7 Cherokee (not used anymore: Cherokee is now
> written in Latin
> >script)
>
> This is not true.
>
> > 8 Deseret or Mormon (never really caught on: the
> script is not even
> >used in liturgy anymore)
>
> It's not used.
>
> > 9 Bopomofo (not used anymore: Taiwan officially
> adopted pinyin for
> >transcribing hanzi phonetically)
>
> It's used in scientific works still, at least some I
> have.
>
> >I also have a different question about the Ethiopic
> script: is "Ethiopic"
> >still the preferred name for the script, even after
> the independence of
> >Eritrea?
>
> Yes. It is not the same as "Ethiopian".
>
> >Do alternate names such as "Fidel" or "Ge'ez" have
> any derogatory
> >or discriminatory nuance?
>
> Ask Daniel Yacub. But Ge'ez is the name of a
> liturgical language.
> --
> Michael Everson * * Everson Typography * *
> http://www.evertype.com
>

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