Marco Cimarosti wrote:

>
> I was talking yesterday about a table of Chinese characters used to
> transliterate foreign names into Chinese, which I have seen on
> [Coulmas 1999].
>
> I think it lays within the limits of fair usage of that book to quote
> part of the relevant entry and to upload a low-resolution scan of the
> table.
>
> "Chinese transliteration - [...] Since every Chinese syllable can be
> represented by a multiplicity of Chinese characters, a selection must
> be made for the use of certain characters rather than others for
> certain syllables. Transliterating non-Chinese proper names into
> Chinese hence involves two steps: (1) choosing a string of Chinese
> syllables that approximate the sound of the original name; and (2)
> assigning those syllables Chinese characters. Since both steps allow
> for many different options, a convention must be established. The
> Chinese standard list of transliteration character which is used in
> mainland China is given in table 3. No comparable list exists in
> Taiwan or Hong Kong, [...]"
> (from Florian Coulmas, "The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing
> Systems", Blackwell Publishers, 1999, 640 pages, ISBN 063121481X,
> entry "Chinese transliteration", page 75)

Typically mis- or underinformed statement from that book (1996, BTW, not
1999). Quite a few (well-known) foreign names are rendered in Chinese
with characters that not only have a relevant pronunciation, but also
have meanings that are literally, metaphorically, or ironically
relevant. Examples can be found in most of the semi-introductory books
on Chinese writing or even the Chinese language. This table would only
be for quotidian usage.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...