When I was asking how to pronounce "Yi Jianlian" my focus was on pronouncing "jianlian." If the SportsCenter team is to be believed, however, we're supposed to pronounce "Yi" as "ee" rather than the way that seems natural. Since my own family name begins with a "Y" pronounced like "ee" I won't complain about this, but I do want an explanation.
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Yi
28 Jun 2007 06:06 pm
Comments (88)
Oh, you mean the Y not the I. Nevermind me. I was also unaware that Y has a vowel sound in chinese.
Matt:
"Yi" is a transliteration from the Chinese using a system called "Pinyin." Pinyin involves an approximation between Chinese phonemes and a roughly equivalent English one, but they are not exact approximations. If an English speaker tried to read pinyin to a Chinese speaker, it would not be comprehensible.
You know they don't use the Roman alphabet in China, right?
Apropos of correct pronunciations - Chris Matthews claimed yesterday that our King pronounces his name
CHEE - nee
not
CHAY - nee
Commenter blah has it about right. There are several Chinese transliteration systems, and all of them have a certain number of conventions which are fairly arbitrary. Amongst other fun features, they take some of the less-used letters of the Roman alphabet and recast them as completely different sounds (for example, Pinyin "Qing" is pronounced "ching", Pinyin "Xing" is pronounced, more or less, "shing"). Much of this is not intuitive, as you can see. The big advantage is that, once you learn the system, the pronunciation of the written transliterated form is fairly unambiguous.
Then why isn't Yao pronounced "Ow"? Or why isn't Yi spelled "I"?
Henry Abbott got a peek at the official NBA pronounciation guide, which confirms it is pronounced EE.
JP,
Duh, but that is kind of the point, if your gonna use Roman letters to represent Chinese names why not make them phonetic?
If his names shoudl be pronouced EE wouldn't the easiest thing be simply to spell it EE?
I think Matt is well aware that "Yi" is Pinyin a transliteration of a Chinese character - several different characters actually. The question is how do native speakers of Mandarin pronounce those characters.
I have several Chinese books and language CDs. And unfortunately, I can't give a clear answer. All I can say is that sometimes the speakers on the CDs seem to pronounces the characters transliterated as 'yi' like a straight vowel, approximating the English 'ee'. And sometimes the speaker pronounces 'yi' with a discernible initial semivowel sound. I'm guessing there is some regional variation.
When it is pronounced in the second way, so far as my ear can pick it out, you say it a bit more like 'ee-ih', but pinch the teeth tighter around the tongue on the 'ee' portion, pronounce the 'ih' portion very softly and quickly, and glide it all together so it sounds like one syllable.
I could have it all wrong, but that's what it sounds like to me.
Not all language that use the Roman alphabet pronounce the letters in the same way. It would be impossible to create a transliteration system from the Chinese that was phonetic for all languages that use the Roman alphabet. There is an inevitable arbitrariness in many of the transliterations.
Sheesh, what is our world coming to if you can't even drop a little friendly snark on a blog anymore?
The serious answer? They don't spell it "Ee" because that would look weird. The only words in the English language that begin with two "e"s are "Eephus" and "Eeyore." "Yi" looks less funny and is, at least, a lot closer to the real sound than "Lee" was.
You'd probably also get faux-cosmopolitans trying to pronounce it "eh-eh" or something.
I just took a look at the textbook Integrated Chinese, by Tao-chung Yao and Yuehua Liu. They say:
"A Chinese syllable is composed of an initial and a final. Initials consist of vowels or semi-vowels; finals consist of vowels or vowels plus one of these two nasal sounds" -[n] or -[ng]. In addition to an initial and a final, there is a tone to each Chinese syllable."
So on this account you could never have a true vowel 'ee' as a single syllable. But the natural English pronunciation of 'ee' might better approximate the sound than the natural English pronunciation of 'yi'.
The only words in the English language that begin with two "e"s are "Eephus" and "Eeyore."
There's also "eek," "eel" (and its compounds), and "eerie," along with a few more obscure words. Not to dispute that "Ee" would be a weird name.
In my experience, most Chinese actually say "yee" instead of "ee" but the "y" sound is very, very light. For instance, "yi" means "one" among many other things depending on tone so one hears this word often.
Amongst other fun features, they take some of the less-used letters of the Roman alphabet and recast them as completely different sounds (for example, Pinyin "Qing" is pronounced "ching", Pinyin "Xing" is pronounced, more or less, "shing").
Pinyin must account for the difference between 'q' and 'ch', the former with the tongue up against the teeth and the latter with the tongue back in the mouth (the English 'ch' is somewhere in between). Same with 'x' and 'sh' and 'j' and 'zh'. Arbitrary, but at least better than Wade-Giles.
Much of this is not intuitive, as you can see. The big advantage is that, once you learn the system, the pronunciation of the written transliterated form is fairly unambiguous.
Agreed, but then I started with Pinyin.
Annnnnnnyway. This is a fascinating discussion, but I'm going to share the fact that I'm not too excited about my Celts picking up Ray Allen.
The franchise basically rides on Jefferson now. If he becomes a legit all-star, things will be interesting. If not...well, Allen and Pierce should win some games in the East, but color me unexcited. I guess Paul Pierce gets his "co-star" and can't complain anymore, at least.
My friends in Beijing say "Yee" too - but the "y" is pretty light. That said, it's fairly difficult to say Yee without a light y to begin with; I would keep saying it the way it looks, and you'll be closer than "ee."
Ray-Ray to Boston!
I guess this means Seattle will re-sign Rashard Lewis.
And is the rest of the league actually going to let Zeke steal Z-Bo for scraps?
Since my own family name begins with a "Y" pronounced like "ee" I won't complain about this, but I do want an explanation.
Yglesias comes from the Spanish Iglesia, meaning church. "I" in Spanish is pronounced "long e", or "ee".
How did a Jewish guy end up with a last name of Church?
Annnnnnnyway. This is a fascinating discussion, but I'm going to share the fact that I'm not too excited about my Celts picking up Ray Allen.
It's definitely a win now move, and as you say depends on Jefferson continued emergence. Allen keeps himself in great shape, but he's getting up there. However, as a native of CT and long-time UConn fan, it's exciting for the C's to get this beloved Husky.
Y'know, I understand the Celtics trading the #5 for Ray-Ray. Makes sense to me. But couldn't they have kept Delonte out of the deal? I'm a fan of his, and it seems to me they should have found a way to hold on to him.
And does this mean the Garnett deal becomes a possibility again? Wouldn't KG be willing to play on a team with Pierce and Ray-Ray?
Can they get it done for Ratliff and Jefferson?
OT -
What the hell was that Seattle-Boston trade about?
Ray Allen? Jeff Green?
Don't get me wrong, Allen is great but he is what, 32?
And Jeff Green? I don't think he was one of the 10 best players, probably not one of the best 15.
Hollnger got to them I think. And now thaddeus Young over Al Thornton for Philly? Ridiculous.
The trouble with "win now" moves is they need to actually help you win now.
Pierce + Jesus + Jefferson = 2nd round team, maybe conference finalist?
Pierce + Garnett - Jeffferson = 1st round team, maybe 2nd round?
Pierce + Garnett + Jefferson = conference finals.
Pierce + Garnett + Jesus - Jefferson = if they don't win the fucking title, and they probably don't, I'm killing someone.
If there's not another deal, ugh. I suspect that maybe the owners made this decision for Ainge.
"A Chinese syllable is composed of an initial and a final" Hmm....
In Taiwan, kids learn Mandarin using a 37-letter alphament called zhuyinfuhao, which, if I recall correctly is translated as National Phonetic system, or colloquially as bopomofo (the names of the first 4 letters - incidentally, I've found that mainlanders are unaware of the existence of this alphabet - if you say "bopomofo" to one, they think you're just talking about Romanization).
Anyway, in zhuyinfuhao spelling, "yi" is just one letter. Other single-letter syllables (here written in pinyin): wu, yu, ou, ao, shr, si, chi, zhi, ci, zi, er. I think that's it.
Pinyin is pretty confusing. Yale is the most intuitive phonetic system, imo.
BTW, unasked is "why do they still use characters?" Answer: lots and lots and lots of homonyms. Christ, what a stupid language.
Just thought of 1 more 1-bopomofo-letter syllable: a.
Hey, that one's even 1 syllable in pinyin!
And another one: e.
So there you go.
And also... ah, you get the idea.
Y'know, I understand the Celtics trading the #5 for Ray-Ray. Makes sense to me. But couldn't they have kept Delonte out of the deal? I'm a fan of his, and it seems to me they should have found a way to hold on to him.
I would have rather seen them send Gerald Green than Delonte, but its possible Seattle thought the same thing. Sonics fans will like Delonte a lot. He'll be a strong rotation player coming off the bench...and should push Ridnour for PG minutes. He's a nice, solid combo guard.
It's definitely a win now move, and as you say depends on Jefferson continued emergence.
The only problem with Jefferson is that he's not much of a defensive player (although he's an excellent rebounder). And Doc Rivers isn't much of a defensive coach. Assuming Pierce and Allen stay healthy (a pretty big assumption), the C's will win their share of games in the East, but they still won't stop anyone on D.
"And is the rest of the league actually going to let Zeke steal Z-Bo for scraps?"
Done deal.
Hard to imagine how a Z-Bo / Eddy frontline is going to work. But that's a helluva lotta low-post talent if they can make it function somehow.
I'm really amazed no one was willing to make Portland a better offer. John Paxson is officially an idiot.
Is no one watching the debate? I took this to be an insightful blog. There really is not much live blogging for this one it seems.
The English language is not quite phonetically adept at having analogs for every ethnic pronunciation. But then, what fun would that be?
I am surprised and incredibly pleased with it, as a Knicks fan. In fact, I'm more or less shocked. Channing Frye is a nice player, but not in Randolph's league. And I'm floored that anybody would take Steve Francis for any reason at all.
"I am surprised and incredibly pleased with it, as a Knicks fan. In fact, I'm more or less shocked."
As well you should be. You got a gem on the cheap.
But as Henry Abbot correctly notes, the Knicks need shooters. You've got to find some way to keep teams from the obvious ploy of collapsing 4 or 5 defenders in the lane.
Given the current roster, I don't see who the Knicks have to keep defenses honest. Q will never stay healthy. Jamal and Stephon can't shoot.
That said, the Knicks now have a front-line nucleus that one can imagine contending for a title in a couple of years.
That's okay. You can get shooters. You can't get players like Randolph so easy.
Curry and Randolph need to lay off the Big Macs, and then maybe we could talk about a title!
And Jeff Green? I don't think he was one of the 10 best players, probably not one of the best 15.
His stats don't look great because he played in the Princeton offense. I know I'm ridiculously biased as a Hoya fan, but are you honestly trying to tell me that the guy who led his squad to the Final Four and was conference and regional MVP is not one of the top 15 in the draft?
So which one will play 2 guard? Durant or Green?
Cain:
I am a biased Gator fan and what I saw from Green was a very good college player but not the athleticism or skill to be really good in the NBA.
I tell you what, everybody thinks Noah has no low post game but putting his size and athleticism and energy together and I think Noah is clearly the better pro prospect to Green.
I think Horford went too high. I think Conley was clearly the superior pick there. I know nothing about Yi. I think Brewer is the better pro prospect to Horford.
That's my perception anyway.
Yeah - I don't get the Seattle trade. Durant and Green play the same position, which is also he position that Rashard Lewis plays. (I assume there is zero chance Lewis resigns now.) Seattle's going to be really, really bad next year.
As far as the Portland trade goes - um, HUH? What the hell was Portland thinking??? Does Pritchard think that this is the same Steve Francis that played for Houston?
From the Knicks perspective, the trade is a no-brainer. That said, though, isn't Zach Randolph the same player as Eddy Curry, except a better rebounder? You can't have two guys post up on every play. It's gonna be strange watching the knicks play next year.
The other advantage of Chinese characters is that the characters can stay more or less the same* while writing different languages. A Cantonese speaker, a Wu speaker and a Mandarin speaker can all read the same text and get more or less the same information out of it. Also, Chinese speakers can read texts from over a thousand years ago--try that with Old English.
Cain: are you kidding me? MVP awards don't have squat to do with getting into the NBA. Some of those guys will get drafted high, some of them won't. It's the way it goes. I hardly follow the NCAA at all these days, but it's always been true. It's like the Heismann award.
*I ignored the whole simplified characters thing. Sue me.
Also, on Seattle, isn't Wally World also a SF? I mean, they are not going to play him at the 2, are they? So now they have Wally, Green AND Durant at the 3, Wilcox and Collison at the 4, nobody at the 2, crap at the 5, and Ridnour/West at the point.
"Yeah - I don't get the Seattle trade. Durant and Green play the same position, which is also he position that Rashard Lewis plays. (I assume there is zero chance Lewis resigns now.)"
Well, they obviously do a sign & trade for a big man in return for Rashard.
Also, with Delonte wearing green, they can now trade Ridinour, who has good trade value.
And they must obviously think they can play Durant and Green in the same lineup. VC and RJ both play the '3', but seem to be able to co-exist.
If you're building around Durant, why not deal a 32 yo Ray-Ray for young talent? Makes sense to me.
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And in the It's Good To Be Rich Department, check out how Paul Allen just bought 2 extra first round picks.
If my recollection is correct, this marks the fourth first rounder that Phoenix has simply sold in the past two years to avoid tax threshold problems involved in giving them the standard first rounder contracts. Anyone still curious why I thought they should've traded Shawn Marion last summer?
Four first rounders...
"Does Pritchard think that this is the same Steve Francis that played for Houston?"
Francis will be bought out and never play a game for the Blazers.
"You can't have two guys post up on every play. It's gonna be strange watching the knicks play next year."
Sure you can. You just need to surround them with 3 players who can knock down open shots, which the Knicks don't currently have.
It will be strange watching them. But if Zeke can find some shooters somehow, they're actually a dark horse to make some real noise.
Second year in a row where the Nets have taken a guy who's fallen in the draft due to character questions.
I think it's a good strategy.
Looking at Portland's salary structure, their three highest paid players for 07/08 and 08/09 are Francis ($16M and $17M), LaFrentz ($11M and $12M) and Miles ($8M and $9M). Yikes - that's $35M of nothing for next year and $38M of nothing for the year after. Good thing Paul Allen's a multi-billionaire.
Second year in a row where the Nets have taken a guy who's fallen in the draft due to character questions.
I think it's a good strategy.
Agreed. You do your homework on them and make sure you have a good feel - Thorn traded away Eddie Griffin to get RJ & Collins, for example - but, geez, smoking dope is a real "character problem"? Please.
Steal of the draft?
Biggest bust?
I want to see some predictions.
"Oh, they'll just trade him."
I love when people say that. Trade him to what team and for what player?
Ray Allen is a 2. Durant, and I hope people realize this, is a 3 and can NOT play the 4 in the NBA at a high level.
Green is a 4? Do people really think Green can play the 4 at a high level?
Let me put it this way. Horford went too high, but he is a 4. There is NO comparison between Green and Horford.
But Green is the 5 pick? Just crazy. Easily the worst pick of the draft imo.
Also, I don't know about their post defense with Curry and Zach. And what does this do to David Lee?
"Steal of the draft?"
Z-Bo for scraps.
And from Portland's point of view, weren't they getting rid of Zach because they already had two bigs in Oden and LMA? But they trade Zach for... another PF? How odd. Why wouldn't they pick up a SF?
Why not Zach for Rashard Lewis in a sign and trade?
"But Green is the 5 pick? Just crazy. Easily the worst pick of the draft imo."
I thought you didn't like Hollinger's draft formula...
That said, though, isn't Zach Randolph the same player as Eddy Curry, except a better rebounder?
Also, I don't know about their post defense with Curry and Zach. And what does this do to David Lee?
It's not like the Knicks shouldn't have dealt basically crap for Randolph because they already have Eddy Curry. Randolph is a better player than anyone on the roster; you do it and then you work out the implications. There's also no reason Lee, Curry, and Randolph can't coexist, especially Lee, who is a hustle rebounder and putback guy. They were never going to run plays for him anyway.
As for the post defense, it's not like they got worse. Besides, defense is largely about giving a crap and moving your feet. You can coach team defense, in other words.
Frankly, I don't expect them to work out all the implications and get a working team on the floor by the start of the year. But finally they have a direction that begins to make sense.
"And what does this do to David Lee?"
My first inclination is to start David Lee at the '3' and see how that works.
Even if it doesn't, Eddy is only a 35 mpg player, so there should still be minutes for Lee.
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"Frankly, I don't expect them to work out all the implications and get a working team on the floor by the start of the year. But finally they have a direction that begins to make sense."
Yup.
They need shooters and folks who can feed the post. Jamal can feed the post, but he can't really shoot. Stephon can't really do either thing.
It was amazing how after Jamal got hurt last year, they didn't have a single guard who could get the ball to Eddy.
New York's over/under on Finals appearances over the next 8 years just went higher than Chicago's. To repeat myself, John Paxson is an idiot.
It's not like the Knicks shouldn't have dealt basically crap for Randolph because they already have Eddy Curry.
Absolutely. The whole game is about accumlating talent, and the Knicks pulled a major talent upgrade. It's just going to be a weird team to watch.
The Atlantic division is going to be different, and I think better, next year.
"The Atlantic division is going to be different, and I think better, next year."
Ya think?
Boston and New York should both be greatly improved. New Jersey should be minor improved, as long as J-Kidd can keep holding off father time.
Two borderline all-stars just walked into the division.
My first inclination is to start David Lee at the '3' and see how that works.
I'd be surprised if Lee were as effective in getting rebounds if he has to get around both Curry and Randolph to corral them. I guess you just don't play Lee as many minutes. Frankly, I think Lee is a better player than Curry, but you're not going to see Curry benched in favor of Lee.
And I'll get started on my Zeke I Told You So's right now.
He's not the best GM in the league by a long shot. He's shown some definite weaknesses. And with the Dolan Dollars, he has an advantage shared only by the ruling junta in Dallas.
But along with his weaknesses, he shown some definite strengths. He may not be the best GM in the league, but he's above the median.
"I'd be surprised if Lee were as effective in getting rebounds if he has to get around both Curry and Randolph to corral them. I guess you just don't play Lee as many minutes. Frankly, I think Lee is a better player than Curry, but you're not going to see Curry benched in favor of Lee."
Like I mentioned, Curry's not a 48mpg guy.
Play Curry 32 minutes, play Randolph 38 minutes, and you've got 26 minutes for Lee without any overlap. Play him another 5 or 10 minutes overlapping with Z-Bo/Eddy, and you've got him up to 31 - 36 minutes.
Curry shouldn't be out there when you're not running the offense through him. Give him lots of rest when you're not.
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If I were the Knicks, I'd have guys like Balkman, Jeffries, and Morris take a million 3 point shots a day in practice. If they could get one of their defense/energy big guys to knock down the open 3 at 35%, they'd start to become a really interesting team.
horford is legit- as close to a fully developed skill set for a big man you'll see in a draft, and big/athletic enough for it to transfer to the league, pretty much right away. to me he was a no brainer at #3. as someone else said in the context of the knicks, you deal with the implications of how he fits on your team later.
as for sean williams, as a bc grad I can say with confidence he's the best shot blocker to come out of college of my lifetime (admittedly short - I'm 29) but his baggage is real. it wasn't just smoking weed - it was selling, and getting caught up in the shit that sometimes goes with it. and it was multiple times - there was a lot of talk skinner was being way too lenient with him. that said, it's a good pick at #17 - the upside is there. he was a top five pick if he stayed out of trouble.
i agree that the knicks got a steal of randolph, and i agree that i'd go ahead and start lee at the 3, and i agree that there's enough minutes for curry, randolph, and lee, but....
until curry becomes a better rebounder and defender, they aren't a dark horse threat for anything.
PS. i can't help but note that long ago and far away, when thomas first acquired crawford, i criticized the trade. petey responded by praising the trade and saying that crawford was going to be another larry hughes. larry hughes, i said, perfect example: when i compared crawford's career stats at the moment the knicks acquired him to those of hughes after the same number of career games played, it was perfectly evident that neither of these guys was a good enough shooter (petey then went on, in conceivably his worst moment ever, to call hughes one of the top 6 players in the league under 6' 10"). anyhow, i'm happy to see that between petey discovering in this year's playoffs that hughes is a very nice player who can't shoot and with his recognition that crawford ain't much of a shooter either.
petey doesn't make many mistakes in basketball judgement, but when he's wrong, he's really wrong: welcome to reality on hughes and crawford, petey!
And I'll get started on my Zeke I Told You So's right now.
Whoa there hoss. Let's see a .500 season first. I'll grant that Isiah just pulled a great one, but he's got a lot of really dumb ones to live down. What, for example, was the point of buying out Jalen Rose when the guy's only value was as an expiring contract?
What explains the deterioration of Francis? He used to be a two-time Western conference All-Star Game starter, and now he's scraps. And he's only played 8 years. (I'm not disputing that he is scrap, but just wondering what was the causal force)
I think Hughes career trajectory has suffered due to his inability to stay healthy. It's not uncommon for players to develop a more reliable outside shot mid-career, and I think Hughes fragility has impeded that from taking place.
He's an above-average defensive player when healthy, and his inability to be even an average offensive player is what kills him as an overall player.
Even Bruce Bowen would suck if he hadn't learned how to knock down the open 3. You can't leave your team playing 4 on 5 on offense.
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As far as Jamal goes, he's definitely been a disappointment. He makes good decisions with the ball, as his ability to feed Curry showed. But given that he's not the defensive player Hughes is, he really needs to be able to shoot, which he can't.
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"until curry becomes a better rebounder and defender, they aren't a dark horse threat for anything."
Disagree there.
Curry is never going to be Tim Duncan, but there's nothing wrong with having an elite post scoring specialist on your team. If he gets a bit better at passing well out of the double, he'll be a devastating player even without any rebounding and defensive improvement.
"What explains the deterioration of Francis?"
Ballhogging combo guards need to be really elite to not hurt your team.
The Stevie story is much like the Stephon story. Once they lose a step, they can't dominate any more. And once they can't dominate, they really don't help you win more than you lose.
I think Hughes career trajectory has suffered due to his inability to stay healthy.
Hughes had one great year. It happened to be his contract year. No mystery at all there.
"Hughes had one great year. It happened to be his contract year. No mystery at all there."
Even during his last year in Washington, he still couldn't shoot. TS% of 52% that year, which although high compared to his career average, ain't exactly burning up the league.
He got the Cleveland contract for defense, which he has mostly supplied.
But the amazing thing about his career is his fragility. He's played 62+ games only 3 out 9 seasons.
Petey, actually, i think at this point curry is an excellent complementary part, but if the current knicks are going to be a low-post team on the one end, they need to make stops on the other, and that requires the 5 to play like a 5 on that end.
speaking of francis and marbury, smallish 1s take a lot of pounding, which uses them up fairly quickly in many cases, especially, as petey notes, if speed is their game.
Yi: like the "ee" sound in lee
Jian: just like saying GM quickly - but substituting N for M; or say "gee" (like BeeGees) - with a strong N sound at the end
Lian: say "lee" and add a strong N
Ahh but you have to get the tones right - Yi is fourth, Jian is fourth and Lian is second. So Yi has to have a downward tone (think of telling your dog to sit in a firm manner), so does Jian, but Lian has to rise (think of making it a question "Lian?").
None of which is relevant to how he says his own name as he is Cantonese.
I'm a bit baffled how folks could be still talkin' Chinese pronunciation the morning after the draft and a bunch of blockbuster trades.
You folks need to get your priorities straight. Let the good people of Milwaukee sort out the pronunciation issue. Given how often the Bucks appear on TV, the rest of us won't need to worry about it.
It's one of those halfway letters, like the Spanish b/v. Basically, pronounce it as if you're saying "aiieee!" but without the "aii".
The Jian and Lian also rhyme, and as noted, Jian is pronounced like the letters G and N said together in one syllable.
Chinese pronunciation, ignoring tones, is actually very easy - which is why it stuns me how incredibly bad the names are pronounced on TV, particularly during the olympics. I've yet to hear Liu Xiang's (the top hurdler) name said correctly.
It's Lee-oo (one syllable) Shee-ang (also one syllable, and the "ee" in Shee should be said with the lips pursed wide). His family name is certainly not pronounced "Loo" and his given name is not "Shang".
Well, if Mike Breen can't pronounce "Oberto" properly, do you think he's going to master "Yi Jianlian"?
Well, if Mike Breen can't pronounce "Oberto" properly, do you think he's going to master "Yi Jianlian"?
"You folks need to get your priorities straight. Let the good people of Milwaukee sort out the pronunciation issue. Given how often the Bucks appear on TV, the rest of us won't need to worry about it."
That's assuming he isn't dealt. He doesn't sound enthused about playing in Milwaukee, and the pick seems like an odd fit. The descriptions I've read - a soft 7-footer who can shoot - don't really fill a need for the Bucks. I thought Milwaukee should have taken Brewer to shore up their defense. They've got plenty of shooters but nobody who defends particularly well. Would have been nice to have a shot blocker like Brewer.
Yi sounds like "ee" depending on how you emphasize it. There are four sounds from Yi. If you're Chinese and you can read his name then you'll know the proper pronunciation. As for the dumbass who said that Chinese uses the Roman alphabet. Pure Chinese does not have anything to do with the roman alphabet. PingYing (or your roman alphabet) is something the government thought up to help elementary kids learn Chinese and also to help foreigners try to pronounce the language. Only people in China that needs PingYing to read are still in diapers, retarded, illiterate or foreigners.
Oh and by the way. For all you experts in all things Chinese who's not actually Chinese... I present the following for you:
你们中的每一个人是愚笨的饭锅
Posted by Haywood Jablomi | June 29, 2007 11:29 AM:"Yi sounds like "ee" depending on how you emphasize it."
Well I have always said it with a distinct "Y" sound at the front, like "Yee" rather than "Ee". People seem to understand me.
Posted by Haywood Jablomi | June 29, 2007 11:29 AM:"There are four sounds from Yi. If you're Chinese and you can read his name then you'll know the proper pronunciation."
You mean like his grandparents who almost certainly pronounce it Yik? Mustn't be Chinese right?
Posted by Haywood Jablomi | June 29, 2007 11:29 AM:"As for the dumbass who said that Chinese uses the Roman alphabet. Pure Chinese does not have anything to do with the roman alphabet. PingYing (or your roman alphabet) is something the government thought up to help elementary kids learn Chinese and also to help foreigners try to pronounce the language. Only people in China that needs PingYing to read are still in diapers, retarded, illiterate or foreigners."
Actually it was to make sure that everyone used a proper Beijing-accent and not their own local dialect. And it is pinyin. As in 漢語拼音. You see how useful pinyin is even to people like you?
Grown ups also need pinyin for things like using a keyboard or texting their friends. It is useful really. Call me retarded.
Posted by Haywood Jablomi | June 29, 2007 11:29 AM:"Oh and by the way. For all you experts in all things Chinese who's not actually Chinese... I present the following for you:
你们中的每一个人是愚笨的饭锅"
I have to say the quality of insults is going down around here. Stupid, OK, but do you think anyone here really objects to being called a rice pot?
HeiGou, yo mama is so fat, she uses a king sized mattress as a tampon. Is that more your level?
Rice pot? Man, those web based translators can't translate everything, eh?
Well, if Mike Breen can't pronounce "Oberto" properly, do you think he's going to master "Yi Jianlian"?
This is a good point. The announcer malaprops are just going to get more and more entertaining as the game gets more international. Hopefully the Thais will start sending basketball players over someday. "Narkhirunkanok - for the win!"
就是因為我在以前的話裡沒打漢字，那不算我不會。否則你的中文雖然可能比我好，我的老外老二大概比你長。
互相侮辱好好玩，是不是？
And, BTW, as long as I'm being obnoxious,check this out: http://www.taiwannation.org.tw/republic/rep31-40/no35_19.htm
Yeah, godoggo. I agree, China should definitely invade Taiwan. Such a piss ant country. Started by a bunch of inbreed farmers.
As for penis size. You were born with a mangina. So you see, there's really no need to compare. Even an infant is more hung than you. You stupid taiwanese yokels always want to have penis competitions. Gay pole smokers.
Comments closed July 12, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
I == "ee" in pretty much every language not called English, I think.
Posted by Chuck | June 28, 2007 6:12 PM