The mispronunciations occurred even though Wang had previously recorded the pronunciation of his name – which sounds similar to “Wang Chu-chin” – and can be found on the games’ website.
The same thing happened to fellow table tennis player Fan Zhendong, who was nicknamed “Pang Cheng-tong,” which amused many Chinese netizens as it sounds like “fat as a barrel” in Chinese.
The name of table tennis player Wang Manyu was also mutilated – she was called “huang menyu”, which sounds like “braised fish” in Chinese.
Other mispronounced names include that of the diver Quan Hongchan, with Quan (pronounced “Chuen”) at least consistently pronounced as “Kuan.”
Chinese names have long been mispronounced by non-Chinese speakers. They have particular difficulty pronouncing names that contain the letters “z”, “x” or “q”, especially when these have evolved into “zh”, “xu”, “xun”, “qu”, “qiu” or “qun”.
I don’t even want to imagine how the French commentators would pronounce the name “Zhuge Xuequn”.
In defense of the statement that “Quan” is pronounced “Kuan,” a non-Chinese friend asked: Isn’t the surname of Singaporean swimmer Quah Ting Wen pronounced “Kwa” or “Kuah”?
“I didn’t make the rules,” I said, shrugging.
Names in mainland China follow the standardized pinyin system, while some names elsewhere also follow the Wade-Giles style, another romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. In my opinion, the latter is less uniform, even a bit capricious, than the former.
While Quah’s surname is romanized in a non-standard format—for example, “Ke” in pinyin or “Ko” in Wade-Giles—her personal name is written in pinyin.
Mispronounced Chinese names – not only at the Olympics – are often a source of amusement, especially for mainland Chinese, many of whom believe their language is difficult to learn.
But wait a minute.
Many mainland Chinese were also briefly confused after Hong Kong fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai won a gold medal at the Games, because “Kong” – or “Jiang” in Mandarin – sounded like the pinyin version of the family name “孔”.
“Then why is she not a ‘Kong’ like ‘Kong Fuzi’ (Confucius)?” some mainland Chinese users asked on Chinese social media.
And what about the Hong Kong sprinter Felix Diu Chun-hei, whose surname is synonymous with a vulgar obscenity in Cantonese and is therefore not allowed to be printed in a family newspaper?
None of my mainland Chinese friends I asked knew the meaning of “Diu” (or “Diao” in pinyin) in Cantonese, nor did they know what a little commotion this name has caused in Cantonese-speaking regions around the world.
Another friend from mainland China couldn’t understand why the “Zii” in Malaysian badminton player Lee Zii Jia’s name had to be written with two “i”s instead of one. “If ‘Jia’ is in pinyin, why isn’t ‘Zii’ in pinyin too?” she asked.
This northern Chinese friend also couldn’t understand it when I told her that when I was a child in Singapore, I was teased at school because my surname Siow (“Xiao” in pinyin) sounded like “crazy” or “mad” in the southern Hokkien or Fujian dialect.
As a celebration of diversity, inclusion and respect, the Paris Olympics could certainly do more to ensure that all names – not just Chinese ones – are pronounced correctly.
After all, this is an international platform where athletes perform at their best, not a local high school sports tournament.
Mistakes such as the confusion of names – not only Chinese but also Korean – and the confusion of the South Korean team with the North Korean team that occurred during this year’s Games should not be easily overlooked or even happened.
There is no rocket science in figuring out the correct pronunciation and pronouncing it correctly. If necessary, the names of the athletes can be pre-recorded and played back during the ceremonies, where their names are not subject to the whims of the people making the announcements.
Why spoil the joy and triumph of athletes winning a medal when they have to pause to see if their name – or someone else’s – has been called?
Or, worse yet, discover that their names – when mispronounced – sounded like a common braised Chinese seafood dish?
