Pronunciation

Discuss training methods, physiology, pedagogy, psychology, morality. Conquer yourself, contribute. Please stay on topic.

Moderators: nyang, Dvivid, Inga

Pronunciation

Postby pilotfish » Wed Jun 04, 2014 1:01 pm

Hi.

Would someone please confirm Dr. Yang's pronunciation of his name (and Nicholas')? Is it the common, Americanized short "a" as in "he rang the bell", or a short "o" as in "far" (or "long 'a' " in some languages)?

I'd like to get it right when I tell peopl who I follow, out of respect and in appreciation of his detailed explanations, especially the historical backgrounds of these traditions.
pilotfish
Forum Contributor
 
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:56 pm
Location: Colorado Springs

Re: Pronunciation

Postby chh » Fri Jun 06, 2014 12:57 pm

As best I can tell, Yang/ 楊 is pronounced closest to the vowel in "far"/"father" in English.

Mandarin (at least the standard, Putonghua) doesn't have the vowel in English "rang", or the vowel in English "bother", which some people call "short a" and "short o" respectively.

You sound like you might be like me and speak a variety of English where "father" and "bother" rhyme, but I made the distinction above just in case. :)

Other Sinitic languages like Taiwanese or Cantonese or Hakka have different vowels, so the pronunciation might be different in those languages, but I think most people will expect you to pronounce it with the vowel in 'father'/'pasta' unless you say 'pasta' funny!
chh
Forum Addict
 
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2011 10:09 pm

Re: Pronunciation

Postby oldstudent » Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:18 am

The proper pronunciation of our masters name can be heard if you go to an interview video on youtube. Search: Dr. Yang Jwing Ming interview 1988. The interviewer pronounces it correctly at the beginning of her interview with Master Yang. I recommend that all students watch this video as you will gain much knowledge from his techniques if you pay attention and watch his movements closely. You can stop / pause / and repeat so as to really absorb each step, hand/leg motion, and where his head turns when he demonstrates the forms. Old student.
oldstudent
Forum User
 
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:37 pm


Return to General Training and Practice

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 27 guests

cron