[The bayonet used by the French fusiliers marins during the Battle of Fisherman's Wharf - on display at Danshui Fishball/History Museum - come and see for yourself.]A message from 登峰魚丸博物館:
淡水現至少有2個正式英文名稱, Tamsui 及 Danshui (註:還有比較少用的Danshuei):
1. 淡水鎮公所,真理大學,淡水文化基金會,及傳統上舊地圖像清法戰爭的法軍都使用Tamsui這個名稱;
2. 淡水古蹟博物館的Wikipedia和本部落格則使用Danshui.
這是因為拼音方法不同, 漢語通用Wade-Giles三種拼法並存. Danshui這個地名只使用大約10年,以前不曾有. 滬尾 (Huwei, 本地發音Hobe) 則是舊名,但到現在還通行.
There are at least two forms of English spelling of 淡水, "Danshui" and "Tamsui" (plus a less common third, "Danshuei"). "Tamsui" is used by the Town Office, the Oxford University, the Cultural Foundation, and in old maps such as that used by the French during the Sino-French War. While others, including the Historic Sites and this blog, favor "Danshui". The difference originated from the three co-existing ways of Wade-Giles spelling; although the use of "Danshui" started only 10 years ago, unknown before then. Also, Huwei (for the locals: Hobe) is an old name but is still in use today.
Welcome to 淡水/Danshui/Tamsui/Danshuei/Huwei (Hobe). And please visit our Special Exhibition on Sino-French War, during which a battle was fought at Fisherman's Wharf on Oct 8, 1884.
Name is a funny thing.
回覆刪除Robert can be shortened as Rob or Bob. Roberta is female Robert so is Toni from Tony.
I use Tamsui regularly yet I write Tansui (タンスイ) with Japanese. When talking to the old country folks, I like to tell them I am from Hobe（滬尾）; easier for them to understand.
Taiwan can be pronounced by either Japanese or English even by 福佬話; fortunately it sounded all the same to the ear except the accent. When I talk to Spanish or Portuguese I tend to use Formosa instead of Taiwan. They all jump up the moment I say Formosa. Yet Formosa is a forbidden word under KMT martial law Taiwan for such a long time as long as I can remember.
Our neighboring country China should be translated by Japanese as シナ（支那）but they write as 中国 (middle kingdom) with 漢字. I do not know why but when I pronounce China as シナ（支那）all Japanese friends give me the dirty look and thinking I am under-educated. I still remember that Vietnam was called French Indo China （仏領インドシナ）before the WW2.
Most of the students from Taiwan in the States change their first names but keep their last name, like John Chen for example. My old friend changes his first name from 建徳to Kent, it sounds so close. If he changes his last name from Wang 王to King by translating the meaning then no one can tell Kent King is originally from Taiwan.
We have brother and sister team working in our office yet they have different last names, Chang and Cheung. They are from Hong Kong, sister picks Mandarin and brother used Cantonese spelling. By the way, the same last name Chang 張is Tue in Singapore, it must be translated from福佬話.
We need more varieties to enrich our lives one way or the other, isn’t it?
Have a good day.
ChoSan
Singaporean last names indeed are in Hoklo:
回覆刪除蔡 = Chua
林 = Lim
周 = Chew
陳 = Tan
洪 = Aung
歐陽 = Au Eong
謝 = Seah
However, 鄭 = Tay (Japanese?)
張 is Tio, BTW.
Ladies of course lose their identities totally if they adopt both English first names and their husbands' family names.