Proper Way to Pronounce "Xihe"?

[Sayne]

If it is Chinese as I suspect, than Xi with a falling tone is pronounced like "shee" but the sh is more breathy than in English. It's sort of like a "sh" and a light breathy hiss sound put together. It's all at the front of the teeth in the Bei Jing northern dialect (what is generally taught to foreigners).

With a falling tone... That's hard to describe without hearing it...

He with a rising tone would be pronounced like well.. Sort of like you would say an English " H followed by the u sound from "ugh".

A rising tone sounds like the rising tone English speakers put on a question, like how you would say "yes?"

 

[tawittle]

part of the fun of navigating the galaxy is having to figure out all the weird names. Theres no right or wrong answer, really it's just what you think sounds best/is easier to say.

Personally I would pronounce "xihe" as "Zee-Hee" but if you said anything the OP suggested I would know what you're talking about.

 

[the100thmonkey]

西河 Xìhé meaning "River"

Japanese: Nishikawa. It's a common surname meaning "west(ern) river", although the symbol for river in this variant is somewhat unusual.

Not that that helps very much. I'm just overjoyed when I can unambiguously read the symbols! It's a bit of a shock to us mere mortals with our phonetic alphabets when confronted with a language that deploys some 4,000 pictographs.

 

[specialsymbol]

What is in Xihe?

 

[Roybe]

What is in Xihe?

Streetwalkers and Xihe Crystalized Chilling Powder.

 

[Gortron]

Is it:

"she-yuh"
"she-hay"
"zee-yuh"
"zee-hay"

None of the above?

X = Z I'm dyslexic but it is Zeee GlodGlider is right.

 

[Don Alvarez]

Zhee-huh

 

[the100thmonkey]

What is in Xihe?

Biomorohic companions (either robot pets or robot "companions"). They're a rare good involved in the Noti Drug Empire community goal.

That region of space is my old stomping grounds. I must have cashed 100,000,000cr in bounties there or thereabouts. The pirate factions round that way... don't like me very much.

 

[Achilles7]

Zhee-huh

Bless you

 

[freedom4556]

I'm just overjoyed when I can unambiguously read the symbols! It's a bit of a shock to us mere mortals with our phonetic alphabets when confronted with a language that deploys some 4,000 pictographs.

I thought Chinese had like, 30,000 symbols? I know the JLPT for Japanese is only ​a few thousand. =)

 

[the100thmonkey]

I thought Chinese had like, 30,000 symbols? I know the JLPT for Japanese is only ​a few thousand. =)

I've no idea how many symbols exist in the language, but there is a core set of pictographs that are used far more regularly than others and comprise "Standard Chinese" that is taught in schools. the JLPT N5 has something like 1980 characters that comprose the "hyoujun" -- standard -- kanji that is taught in schools and is used in newspaper and other media. An educated Japanese person probably knows double that; those symbols and more comprise the literary language.

 

[insanephoton]

I gave up worrying about how system and planet names are pronounced when I realised that so many of them are just catalogue numbers. A lot of the time I don't even remember system names and just go by station names.

 

[freedom4556]

I've no idea how many symbols exist in the language, but there is a core set of pictographs that are used far more regularly than others and comprise "Standard Chinese" that is taught in schools. the JLPT N5 has something like 1980 characters that comprose the "hyoujun" -- standard -- kanji that is taught in schools and is used in newspaper and other media. An educated Japanese person probably knows double that; those symbols and more comprise the literary language.

Yeah, I was wondering if there was a 'standard set' for Chinese as well and if it was comparable to Japanese vocabulary. I wonder if the Chinese have a similar test they make foreigners take.

 

[Retrograde]

西河 Xìhé meaning "River"

Yup, that's how I've read it as well. But you've got the tones wrong. Xi is in the 1st tone, not 4th.

Edit: There are some 2,500 characters in regular use and a standardised test for foreigners - HSK (hanyu shuiping kaoshi)

 

[Axdrenalin]

Always pronounced it "Zi-He" myself...never thought of it any other way.

 

[ratchet5000]

西河 Xìhé meaning "River"

Taiwanese American here. It actually means Western River in Chinese (as is in Japanese according to an earlier post) - 西 west, 河 river. Left a word out. The phonetics are mostly accurate - except for the "i" which generally is written with a macron "ī" for neutral tone in 西. So Xīhé.

Xìhé with the forceful tone on the Xi actually means something like narrow or thin river. Though, given the system name in English doesn't have these markings, it could logically be either "Thin River" Xìhé (细河) or "Eastern River" Xīhé(西河). Technically you could also have Xǐhé (洗河), but "River of to Wash" or "Wash the River" doesn't sound like something you would name a system.

Always pronounced it "Zi-He" myself...never thought of it any other way.

Your profile picture checks out given how they always butcher the pronunciation of Chinese on Firefly.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Yeah, I was wondering if there was a 'standard set' for Chinese as well and if it was comparable to Japanese vocabulary. I wonder if the Chinese have a similar test they make foreigners take.

Yup, that's how I've read it as well. But you've got the tones wrong. Xi is in the 1st tone, not 4th.

Edit: There are some 2,500 characters in regular use and a standardised test for foreigners - HSK (hanyu shuiping kaoshi)

^This^

Although I do'nt think they make foreigners take it. That wouldn't be very nice of them.