How Pinyin Helped Chinese-Speaking Investors Get Their Business Permits Around the World

As summer hits, it's normal for me to want a cup of cold tea. One of the many things that could revive interest in Mandarin learning is not just Mandarin shows resurging on paid digital subscriptions. It's the rise of Taiwanese MNCs around the world. In my case, as a coffee and tea person, Taiwanese tea shops are practically my alternative to coffee shops, even if both tend to cost just as much (read why here).

After Chatime, I'm going to use Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea. You can see the use of Pinyin, English, and Chinese calligraphy. Taiwan may still teach zhuyin as part of its tradition. However, I believe that Pinyin is truly the bridge between Chinese speakers and non-Chinese speakers in this Asian century (read here). I may have my criticism about the lack of tones in the Yi Fang. However, I could really appreciate how the use of Pinyin makes it easier to get a business permit.

I find it stupid how we were still using zhuyin over pinyin to learn phonetics. These days, I prefer to call pinyin Bopomofo using the Roman alphabet. Sure, it can get tricky because B and P are read almost alike. However, learning the rhythmic cycle and the sequence can be easier (eventually). I believe Pinyin should be taught instead as non-Chinese speakers enroll in Filipino-Chinese schools. 

I could imagine the oddity if Yi Fang in the logo were written in zhuyin. Certainly, you can't expect non-Chinese-speaking nations to read it, right? Some names combine Chinese and English. For example, Chatime is a combination of the pinyin Cha with the English word time. Can you imagine if the permit's name was spelled as 茶time or using the zhuyin? It would be very funny compared to if pinyin were used. We get the word Cha mixed with time. It might be better to render it as Chátime since saying it without the right tone (in this case, the second tone) would mean something else. These days, special characters can now be inserted through encoding software. 

Simply, I believe pinyin has been a lot more helpful not only in educating people how to read Chinese. I would credit it also for making it easier for Chinese-speaking investors (whether they are from Taiwan or China) to invest around the world. Can you imagine if Huawei and Xiaomi opened stores using either the zhuyin or Chinese characters only? They wouldn't be able to click. 

It's true Mandarin is becoming more and more widely spoken. It's the second most-spoken language in the world. I believe in the need to emphasize that Chinese is very important. In school, it's often referred to as 华语 (huá yǔ). Pinyin would be the best tool to learn Chinese. 

If you were a non-Chinese speaker and the phonetics were written in zhuyin, you'd certainly lose track right? However, they are written in pinyin. It can be very easy to mispronounce the words by reading z as a z or g as a g. If one starts to learn the sequence of the bopomofo in pinyin, one can easily integrate. It's like how I can see that zh is read as a softer ch, g is read as a softer k, and that b is read as a softer p. Now, we spin around with seven words meaning Mandarin. The most commonly used is 华语 (huá yǔ) which is called hua gu in Hokkien. 

With this in mind, other forms of MNCs are using some form of Romanized letters. I can't imagine eating in a Korean restaurant written in seoye, in an Arabic restaurant written in the Arabic alphabet, or in an Indian restaurant written in Hindi. The Mandarin Chinese language, did after all, evolve from a language just for the Chinese people into something that's becoming so important, you need to find better ways to teach it!