IS "SHE" THE CORRECT WAY TO PRONOUNCE THE LAST NAME OF THE PRESIDENT OF CHINA?

[Jeffersons Ghost]

According to the BBC website, he is a "shee."
Xi Jinping: SHEE jin PING
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/2012/11/how_to_say_chinese_leaders.shtml

[NuclearDem]

1. I DON'T KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. the BBC online seems reliable to me. How could the English spelling of Xi translate into SHE?

[NuclearDem]

7. BECAUSE CHINESE TO ENGLISH TRANSLITERATION IS ALWAYS A BIT SCREWY

[Rex]

16. WELL WHY THE HELL DON'T YOU KNOW!?

NOW I DON'T KNOW! I THOUGHT I DID!

[jberryhill]

26. HEY KIDS, PIPE DOWN!

WE'RE TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP UP HERE!!!!!!

[Rex]

27. HOLY SHIT IS IT 10:30 ALREADy!?!?!

I BETTER GET MY ASS UPSTAIRS AND IN BED!

*STOMP*

*STOMP*

*STOMP*

SHORT FLIGHT OF STAIRS!!!!

GOODNIGHT!!!

[jberryhill]

28. .

[Jeffersons Ghost]

29. "THAT" looks like the house in The Amityville Horror

or maybe a movie called Halloween. "You can't kill the bogeyman."

[Fozzledick]

58. Third base?

[zappaman]

2. Good question.

Let's ask Patti Smith.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. What an odd reply. Let's ask Agent Smith, instead. Welcome to The MATRIX, Neo...

What does "WE ARE LEGION," mean?

[zappaman]

17. Or

[Jeffersons Ghost]

34. WE GOTTA WRITE IN ALL CAPS ON THIS OP!

or is it spelled GOTCHA?

[zappaman]

36. GOTCHA!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

38. WHILE I WAS PRAYING OR...

IS I.T. SPELLED PREYING ONLINE, I FOUND THIS 9/11 THEORY:
Revelation 9:11New International Version (NIV)

11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer)[git ready! It's comey.]

[KT2000]

3. yes nt

[diabeticman]

4. This might help.

[rock]

52. That "sh" sounds very close the the German "ch" in "ich"

Which is very close to the "sh" in English. If you put your tongue in the position for a "y" as in yes and force air through it will sound much like the "sh" but further back. So the answer to the poster's question is, "Yes, that's how we say it when anglicized."

[Jeffersons Ghost]

53. I wonder why the name isn't spelled in English the way it is pronounced...

Chinese language characters are far different than English letters.

[rock]

54. It appears that both sounds are in Chinese

That is "sh" as in English "shoe" and "ch" as in German "ich". So they need to distinguish both sounds in the orthography.

[Hekate]

5. Is Beijing the correct pronunciation for Peking? Answer: It certainly is if the Chinese say so.

The BBC probably checked.

[NYC_SKP]

8. Well, Xuxa is pronounced Shu Sha, so I guess so.

[Electric Monk]

9. Posting in ALL CAPS is internet short-hand for shouting, and generally considered quite rude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_caps

With the advent of the Bulletin board system, or BBS, and later the Internet, typing messages in all caps became closely identified with "shouting" or attention-seeking behavior, and is considered very rude. As a result, netiquette generally discourages the use of all caps when posting messages online. While all caps can be used as an alternative to rich-text "bolding" for a single word or phrase, to express emphasis, repeated use of all caps can be considered "shouting" or irritating. Its equivalence to shouting traces back to 1984 and traces back to printed typography usage of all capitals to mean shouting. Such poor netiquette has led to a number of employees being laid off for this particular reason.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

30. DIDN'T YOU KNOW THIS IS A WORLDWIDE "SCREAMING" OP? ;-)

[betsuni]

10. That's what she said. nt

[Bonobo]

11. Yes (ignoring the tone issues). nt

[jberryhill]

12. Is she or isn't she...

...only her hairdresser knows for sure.

[Rex]

14. Extend the ee part...sheeeeeeeeee

Long E.

[cherokeeprogressive]

15. WHO WANTS TO KNOW?

[jberryhill]

18. HU WANTS TO KNOW!

[cherokeeprogressive]

21. Man I stepped right into that one...

[jberryhill]

22. That's what his wife said

[pinboy3niner]

35. STOP XIT-STIRRING!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

50. A PREVIOUS POST DID NOT EMPASIZE THE WORD "THAT" READ "THIS" NSA RESPONSE FOR SURE!

READ THIS NEWS ARTICLE:

1 dead after Fort Meade gate crashing
NSA: Car failed to stop before police opened fire

The NSA released a statement Monday afternoon saying the driver of the (stolen) sport utility vehicle, Hall, disobeyed instructions from an NSA police officer and failed to stop shortly before 9 a.m. Authorities deployed barriers at the gate as the SUV accelerated toward an NSA police vehicle blocking the road.

"It's overwhelming to me. It's an eye-opener, first of all, because that could have been anybody being in a situation like that, not to say that just anybody would steal a car, but we could be in a bad situation and not in a good head-space," Leonard said. "I'm sure that they didn't leave their house knowing that they wouldn't come home that day or that that would be the end."
http://www.wbaltv.com/news/police-investigating-reports-of-shooting-crash-at-fort-meade/32085082

[Rex]

19. HELLO OPERATOR!? MY REFRIGERATOR IS RUNNING!

[jberryhill]

20. Do you have Prince Albert in a can?

[Rex]

23. No but I do still have some unopened Billy Beer.

Think I can still get a head?

[jberryhill]

24. Depends

Call up the bowling alley and ask if they have twelve pound balls.

[Rex]

25. Two cannibals are eating a clown.

One looks at the other and says "This taste funny to you?"

[pinboy3niner]

31. Of COURSE it tastes funny

[Warpy]

33. "X" is pronounced like the "sh" in "wish."

"Sh" is pronounced like the "sh" in "shirt."

The difference is subtle but it's one that's apparent in that language.

[Chellee]

37. Wow. That is subtle.

Confession - I don't hear a difference between the 'sh' in wish and the 'sh' in shirt.

Is it the length of time you hold the sound?

[Hekate]

40. Chinese is a tonal language, unlike English. Also, it is more than one language, united by...

....a system of writing that is not based on an alphabet or syllabary. Even though the writing system was modernized a couple of decades ago and the Chinese informed the West of their preferred spellings (which is how we got Beijing from Peking) it still remains a difficult language for Westerners to learn.

My undergrad major was Asian History, but I graduated in 1971, so all of the place-names I learned are now difficult for me to recognize, not to mention the important historical persons.

All of which is a kind of long way of saying: I can't tell the diff between "sh" -- "sh" -- and "Xi" either!

[pinboy3niner]

41. No xit, Xerlock

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Warpy]

42. No, the first is toward the front of your mouth, tongue behind your teeth

and the second is more toward the sides.

[Electric Monk]

43. Oh wow, that is subtle, but I totally get what you mean. Neat.

I've never thought about it like that before.

[Warpy]

49. Then you get the "Q" versus "ch"

"Q" is the tch in "itch." "Ch" is like "church." Not quite as subtle but a difference they pick up quickly.

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. If anything, it's the other way round for me

I pronounce 'wish' with my tongue slightly more out to the sides, I think, and 'shirt' with it a little more 'domed' in the middle. That may be influenced by the shape of my mouth for the vowel sound, though; though it seems the same, for ''wish' and 'shit' with the same vowel sound.

Maybe it's an American thing? I'm British.

[BainsBane]

39. Chinese languages are tonal

Mandarin is tonal. So it's not possible to write an entirely phonetic pronunciation in English since we don't have a way to convey changes in tone.

[Tanuki]

44. Reminds me of the Bush-era "Hu's on first" oldie-but-goodie...

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/quotes/hus_on_first.html

[hifiguy]

56. Sir, Hu is now the president of China

Who?
Yes, sir, Hu.
That's what I wanna know, who?
It's Hu.....

[Fozzledick]

60. Guess Who is on next.

[underahedgerow]

46. Anecdote; interestingly, Chinese languages have a lot in common with the ancient Mayan

languages in terms of sounds and spellings. Not meanings though.

I blame that land bridge migration thingy.

Xel Ha, Chichinizta, Xcaret, etc.

[jberryhill]

47. Land migration? pfft

Everyone has been looking inside the pyramids, but nobody's been looking UNDER them!

[hifiguy]

61. Proof, I tell you!!

[LibertyLover]

48. Yes, it pretty is -

my daughter's last name, given to all children at the orphanage she came from, is Xi. All girls got the same first name - Li - as well. It was the middle name that distinguished them. My daughter's Chinese name is Xi Li Liang. According to her Chinese teacher it is pronounced She Lee Lee Ang.

[arcane1]

51. It is, but I have no idea which tone is appropriate

My Mandarin classes were a long time ago

[sakabatou]

55. HERE YOU GO!

[longship]

57. Ask Ursula.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

59. Welcome to the Matrix Neo... Let's ask the Oracle