Tuesday 23 June 2009
In Taiwan, children learn how to pronounce Chinese characters using a kind of alphabet, which is called "buh puh muh fuh," after the first four consonants. It is not used in China at all. Children's books here have the characters in them, but then the buh puh muh fuh next to each character, so if they did not know that word, the can learn how to pronounce it. (Chinese characters are not phonetic at all - if you see a new word, you have no way to know its meaning or sound.)
This sign has buh puh muh fuh next to one of its characters, but it is not in a children's book. I figure that character must be very rare, and most people would not know it, so the restaurant decided to let everyone know how to say their name. Helpful, and something very distictly Taiwanese.
In Taiwan, children learn how to pronounce Chinese characters using a kind of alphabet, which is called "buh puh muh fuh," after the first four consonants. It is not used in China at all. Children's books here have the characters in them, but then the buh puh muh fuh next to each character, so if they did not know that word, the can learn how to pronounce it. (Chinese characters are not phonetic at all - if you see a new word, you have no way to know its meaning or sound.)
This sign has buh puh muh fuh next to one of its characters, but it is not in a children's book. I figure that character must be very rare, and most people would not know it, so the restaurant decided to let everyone know how to say their name. Helpful, and something very distictly Taiwanese.
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