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Help[Surname] Re: Pronunciation of Tsang
in reply to a message by Megan
Difficult - the pronunciation of a Chinese name can change dramatically from one province to another.
If you check this wikipedia article -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Chinese_surname
You may recognise no.32 on the list as your Tsang, apparently the Hong Kong version in the Roman alphabet. I'm guessing here, probable Mandarin pronunciation something like DZEUNG, probable Cantonese pronunciation something like DZAHNG.
You can also find an article on the name Zeng (pinyin spelling) on wikipedia.
If you check this wikipedia article -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Chinese_surname
You may recognise no.32 on the list as your Tsang, apparently the Hong Kong version in the Roman alphabet. I'm guessing here, probable Mandarin pronunciation something like DZEUNG, probable Cantonese pronunciation something like DZAHNG.
You can also find an article on the name Zeng (pinyin spelling) on wikipedia.
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Replies
I heard the "Ts" is pronounced like "Ch" in English but, in Cantonese its supposed to be a "J" sound. I dont know exactly how its supposed to be pronounced because i dont know Cantonese but, if Cantonese is anything like Mandarin then its pronounced like jah-ng.
The name can also be rendered as Zeng(Mandarin. Pronounced: zuh-ng), Tseng(Taiwanese. I dont know how its pronounced in the Taiwanese Minnan. sorry, dont speak that language. but in Taiwanese Mandarin it should be the same as Zeng), Chan(Malay. Again, dont speak Malay so, dont know how its pronounced), Tjan(Indonesia. Pronounced: Dont know), and of course, Chang(English. Pronounced: chay-ng but, if you pronounce it in Mandarin its chah-ng)
The name can also be rendered as Zeng(Mandarin. Pronounced: zuh-ng), Tseng(Taiwanese. I dont know how its pronounced in the Taiwanese Minnan. sorry, dont speak that language. but in Taiwanese Mandarin it should be the same as Zeng), Chan(Malay. Again, dont speak Malay so, dont know how its pronounced), Tjan(Indonesia. Pronounced: Dont know), and of course, Chang(English. Pronounced: chay-ng but, if you pronounce it in Mandarin its chah-ng)
This message was edited 6/8/2009, 3:34 AM
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As you can see at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_dialect, Cantonese has no /dz/. It has /ts/ but it also has phonemic aspirated /tsʰ/ so I don't know which one it should be. Also, according to the information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Cantonese, there is a "[m]erging of /ŋ/ coda into /n/ coda, eliminating contrast between these pairs of finals: /a:n/-/a:ŋ/ . . ." in this dialect. In sum, Tsang is probably something like /tsa:ŋ/ or /tsa:n/.
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There does seem to be many different pronunciations for it. Thanks for the article.
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