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Lau Lei (1) wrong name

PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 7:55 am
by Michael Kistner
http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?i ... ay_set=eng

The Lei in the name should be changed. If you search for ? in the web it is in Mandarin Ni and in Cantonese it is Nei:

https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary ... =%E5%B0%BC

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%B0%BC

If you search the character ? in the hkmdb you find some results with Lei and some with Nei:

http://hkmdb.com/db/search/results/f64J ... nw-1.mhtml

Re: Lau Lei (1) wrong name

PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 2:56 pm
by bkasten
Do NOT change this (yet).

This statement is wrong:
"Mandarin Ni and in Cantonese it is Nei"

"Mandarin" and "Cantonese" are spoken languages represented by various romanizations - not just ONE. Perhaps an argument could be made that pinyin has become the standard for romanization in mainland China since 1960. But not Cantonese. It, in particular, has used numerous romanizations in the 20th century. Frequently romanizations are mixed. And frequently they are misspelled. Including all of this in our credits is very important. Always use "AS CREDITED".

This case is a particularly good example - Lei and Nei are phonetically nearly indiscernible to non-Cantonese speakers. Even to Cantonese speakers. Cantonese, as a 9 tone language will do that.

I am very glad you brought this up, Michael. Always remember - do not change names without discussion here first.