Like Scratching a Blackboard

America has a plethora of broadcasters who can’t correctly pronounce anything in Chinese.

This is evident as the Olympics in Beijing continue. That is Bei as in Bay, Jing as in J-ing. Everyone seems to think they are in the know when they say Beizhing.

Reporters (on air and in writing) take this a bit further. A Chinese athlete whose name is Li Xiaopeng automatically becomes Mr. Xiaopeng to many American journalists, who believe that a family name always comes last.

Well, “last names,” are not really last names. Rather they are surnames that come first in Chinese. If reporters don’t know, they should ask: Which of the names Li Xiaopeng is the surname?

When Deng Xiaoping visited the United States in 1979, too many reporters referred to him as Mr. Xiaoping. The mistake continues 30 years later.

One further point. When China and the United States formalized relations in 1979, many publications had a note on pronunciation. Instead of adopting the Chinese pinyin Romanization for Beijing, many publications said they would continue with the better-known Peking.

Peking is in the Wade-Giles system of Romanization. In Wade-Giles, Ps are pronounced as Bs and Ks are pronounced as Js. So the correct pronunciation of Peking is Beijing.

While these are simple errors, the troubling aspect is the lack of thoroughness on the part of American journalists. When a broadcaster says Beizhing, he loses credibility. When a reporter writes Mr. Xiaopeng, he loses credibility.

Pronunciation and word order are not rocket science. You don’t need an advanced degree in international relations to get this right.

One might say the word order issue isn’t all that important. Yet it is. What kind of culture would put the surname first rather than last? It is the difference between understanding a collectivist culture (China) as opposed to an individualist culture (the U.S.).

The danger is that, without the credibility that comes from a more thorough knowledge of even these basics, reporters help their audience lose the understanding of another culture. That understanding is so important in avoiding conflict.

For the sake of just my nerves, not to mention cultural understanding, I hope broadcasters learn to say Beijing and not Beizhing.

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