Thursday, February 01, 2007

A Modest Challenge for Non-Parisians

The below is a challenge problem from John Derbyshire. For any who have to contend with Pinyin, ya know it's as Russia Friendly as it is English Phobic...hope that helps

"I think by now we are all pretty well used to seeing the names of Chinese people and places written using the pinyin system for transcribing the sounds of Mandarin, right? You know, “Beijing” for “Peking,” “Deng Xiaoping” for “Teng Hsiao-p’ing,” and so on.

Well, for reasons having nothing to do with NRO I’ve been spending some time looking up Western writers in Chinese encyclopedias. Every writer has his or her name transcribed into Chinese characters, chosen to approximate the proper pronunciation of the name. Those characters can in turn be written out in pinyin.

O.K., here are 30 Western writers:
(1) Camus. (2) D.H. Lawrence. (3) Bunyan. (4) Trollope. (5) Pushkin. (6) Edgar Allen Poe. (7) Donne. (8) Rousseau. (9) Yeats. (10) Cervantes. (11) George Bernard Shaw. (12) Wells. (13) Dante. (14) Chaucer. (15) Dostoyevsky. (16) Kipling. (17) Goethe. (18) Kafka. (19) Dos Passos. (20) James. (21) Fitzgerald. (22) Keats. (23) Aristophanes. (24) Gogol. (25) Hardy. (26) Charlotte Brontë. (27) Johnson. (28) Thackeray. (29) Flaubert. (30) Shelley.

Now here, in a different order, are the pinyin transcriptions of their Chinese names.
(a) Guogeli. (b) Xiaobona. (c) Alisituofen. (d) Saiwantisi. (e) Zhanmeisi. (f) Gede. (g) Danding. (h) Yuehansheng. (i) Puxijin. (j) Qiaosou. (k) Duosi-Pasuosi. (l) Jiamiao. (m) Tangen. (n) Tuosituoyefusiji. (o) Yezhi. (p) Fuloubai. (q) Feicijielade. (r) Xialuoti-Bolangte. (s) Jici. (t) Kafuka. (u) Sakelei. (v) Jibulin. (w) Ailun-Po. (x) Xuelai. (y) Teluoluopu. (z) Hadai. (aa) Lusuo. (bb) Banyang. (cc) Weiersi. (dd) Laolunsi.

Your task is to match off the second list with the first. You have five minutes to do this, starting… now."

3 comments:

Tecumseh said...

Piece of cake. Puximiao.

(1) Camus. (l) Jiamiao.
(2) D.H.Lawrence. (dd) Laolunsi.
(3) Bunyan. (bb) Banyang.
(4) Trollope. (y) Teluoluopu.
(5) Pushkin. (i) Puxijin.
(6) Edgar Allen Poe. (w) Ailun-Po.
(7) Donne. (m) Tangen
(8) Rousseau. (aa) Lusuo.
(9) Yeats. (o) Yezhi.
(10) Cervantes. (d) Saiwantisi.
(11) George Bernard Shaw. (b) Xiaobona.
(12) Wells. (cc) Weiersi.
(13) Dante. (g) Danding.
(14) Chaucer. (j) Qiaosou.
(15) Dostoyevsky. (n) Tuosituoyefusiji.
(16) Kipling. (v) Jibulin.
(17) Goethe. (f) Gede.
(18) Kafka. (t) Kafuka.
(19) Dos Passos. (k) Duosi-Pasuosi.
(20) James. (e) Zhanmeisi.
(21) Fitzgerald. (q) Feicijielade.
(22) Keats. (s) Jici.
(23) Aristophanes. (c) Alisituofen.
(24) Gogol. (a) Guogeli.
(25) Hardy. (z) Hadai.
(26) Charlotte Brontë. (r) Xialuoti-Bolangte.
(27) Johnson. (h) Yuehansheng.
(28) Thackeray. (u) Sakelei.
(29) Flaubert. (p) Fuloubai.
(30) Shelley. (x) Xuelai.

Arelcao Akleos said...

Hen hauda, Lau-ren

Mr roT said...

fun!