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What are some aspects of the American public?

What goes into consideration into translating foreign aspects of American written History Textbooks?

  • I'm very curious because it seems American historians have sloppily neglected cultural customs. "Chiang Kai-Shek" appears to a very deviated twist on Jiǎng Jièshí (蔣介石). In addition, why on earth do textbooks (such as Alan Brinkley's AP American Survey) fail to refer to Ngô Đình Diệm correctly. They repeatedly refer to him as Diem (pronounced Zee-um [northern] / ee-m [south]), his first/given name. They can call the Communist Hồ Chí Minh correctly by his surname, but not his Southern (but flawed) contemporary. Just want some intelligent thoughts on the matter. Thanks So, my question to you all is : What do Western historians take into consideration when translating foreign elements into American-written textbooks? Is it ease of pronunciation for Americans? I believe that Chiang was a Mandarin speaker? (im not sure). The Wades-Giles romanization is read Chiang Chieh-Shih. I've asked several Taiwansese native speakers and they seem offended with the way that Americans pronounce Chiang's name. Please someone also explain why historians refer to Ngô Đình Diệm, as Diem (his first name).

  • Answer:

    In each of the cases you mention, the textbook spellings are the ones that were commonly used in US newspapers and magazines of the time. (US readers are more or less allergic to diacritical marks, much less letters outside the 26 standard English ones.)

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In each of the cases you mention, the textbook spellings are the ones that were commonly used in US newspapers and magazines of the time. (US readers are more or less allergic to diacritical marks, much less letters outside the 26 standard English ones.)

Gawain of

What you call a "deviated twist" is actually a standard method of romanizing Jiang's name as it is pronounced in Cantonese. "Jiang Jieshi" is the pinyin spelling of the "Mandarin" (putonghua) pronunciation. (And, by the way, the official specification of pinyin states that the tone markings are optional.)

玄子 Dude the Obscure

What you call a "deviated twist" is actually a standard method of romanizing Jiang's name as it is pronounced in Cantonese. "Jiang Jieshi" is the pinyin spelling of the "Mandarin" (putonghua) pronunciation. (And, by the way, the official specification of pinyin states that the tone markings are optional.)

玄子 Dude the Obscure

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