MEotW: mángwén
The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
What connection does Chinese Braille have with Pīnyīn, and what does this tell us about Pīnyīn?
⠪⠆
— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) January 5, 2021
is the (Mainland) Chinese Braille representation of
ài (love 爱 愛)
⠪ corresponds to “ai” in _Pīnyīn_, and
⠆ corresponds to 4th tone.
Blind Mandarin-speaking people need to read and write about love too! https://t.co/sXSVzycXre
“_Chinese Braille_…is in principle a conversion of _Hanyu Pinyin_ into braille letters…If braille is a script [writing system], which no one doubts, especially not blind people, then _Hanyu Pinyin_ must also be a script [writing system].” https://t.co/EpGCXe7OOp
— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) January 5, 2021
Blind Chinese people cannot see Chinese characters, but they can still read and write Mandarin with _Chinese Braille_.
— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) January 5, 2021
_Chinese Braille_ is based on _Pīnyīn_—they both represent the sounds of Mandarin.
Since _Chinese Braille_ is obviously a writing system, so is _Pīnyīn_.
Many claim that _Pīnyīn_ shouldn’t be used as a writing system because characters are required to avoid confusion from all the homophones (different words that sound the same) in Mandarin.
— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) April 8, 2025
If that’s true, then people shouldn’t SPEAK Mandarin either! But many do, and it’s fine. pic.twitter.com/1MK0ERuFjc
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