<p>Just adding a bit. </p>

<p>We also use respective Japanese pronunciations when we introduce ourselves in Japan....unless your name contains something really weird.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-27T03:00:10.570Z
2014-09-27T03:00:10.570Z
Joseph S WU
<p>You're right. Chinese people read Kanji using their Chinese pronunciations. For Chinese people who don't speak Japanese, they have probably only learned 'tokyo' from the English word and they don't have a clue what 'akihabara' is. The same applies to nouns, proper nouns and names.   </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-24T23:02:53.557Z
I would add that some transit systems in Japan have stop announcements in Chinese, and they read place names using the Mandarin pronunciations. For place names that have non-Kanji components, they are simply left out of the Mandarin reading (e.g., 西ヶ原 `Nishigahara` becomes 西原 `Xīyuán`). One exception to this is ノ `no`, which is translated to 之, a Chinese character of equivalent meaning (e.g., 丸ノ内 `Marunouchi` becomes 丸之内 `Wánzhīnèi`).
Claw
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-25T00:49:47.567Z
also note: Oxford 牛津， Cambridge 剑桥，San Francisco 旧金山
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-24T21:25:20.233Z
2014-09-24T21:25:20.233Z
NS.X.
<p>When I hear people talk about Tokyo in Mandarin, they always pronounce it as "dōng jīng" because it's written as 东京. Similarly for Osaka and "dà bǎn" (大阪), and other such places.</p>

<p>Are there any names for places in Japan where this <em>isn't</em> done? For example, is Akihabara still called "qiū yè yuán" (秋叶原) or is it better known as just "Akihabara"? Are there any place names in Japan for which the Japanese pronunciation of the name is better known and more commonly used in China than the Chinese one?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-24T21:03:21.173Z
For example, I know that in Korean, there is no "Chinese" version of Seoul, and the version that's officially used in Chinese is just a transliteration.
Joe Z.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-05-29T10:47:13.470Z
The Japanese pronunciation of kanji usually makes no sense to Chinese people, whereas the kanji does. So as long as the place names can be written as kanji, they are always read with their Chinese pronunciation of the corresponding Chinese characters.
ltux
<pronunciation><place-names>
When saying Japanese place names like "秋叶原", do people always use the respective Chinese pronunciation?
# When saying Japanese place names like "秋叶原", do people always use the respective Chinese pronunciation?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-09-24)

When I hear people talk about Tokyo in Mandarin, they always pronounce it as "dōng jīng" because it's written as 东京. Similarly for Osaka and "dà bǎn" (大阪), and other such places.

Are there any names for places in Japan where this *isn't* done? For example, is Akihabara still called "qiū yè yuán" (秋叶原) or is it better known as just "Akihabara"? Are there any place names in Japan for which the Japanese pronunciation of the name is better known and more commonly used in China than the Chinese one?

**Tags:** pronunciation, place-names

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: For example, I know that in Korean, there is no "Chinese" version of Seoul, and the version that's officially used in Chinese is just a transliteration.  
> **username_1**: The Japanese pronunciation of kanji usually makes no sense to Chinese people, whereas the kanji does. So as long as the place names can be written as kanji, they are always read with their Chinese pronunciation of the corresponding Chinese characters.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-09-24. Score: 10 | Accepted answer

You're right. Chinese people read Kanji using their Chinese pronunciations. For Chinese people who don't speak Japanese, they have probably only learned 'tokyo' from the English word and they don't have a clue what 'akihabara' is. The same applies to nouns, proper nouns and names.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: I would add that some transit systems in Japan have stop announcements in Chinese, and they read place names using the Mandarin pronunciations. For place names that have non-Kanji components, they are simply left out of the Mandarin reading (e.g., 西ヶ原 `Nishigahara` becomes 西原 `Xīyuán`). One exception to this is ノ `no`, which is translated to 之, a Chinese character of equivalent meaning (e.g., 丸ノ内 `Marunouchi` becomes 丸之内 `Wánzhīnèi`).  
> **username_5**: also note: Oxford 牛津， Cambridge 剑桥，San Francisco 旧金山  

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### Answer by username_2 on 2014-09-27. Score: 1

Just adding a bit.

We also use respective Japanese pronunciations when we introduce ourselves in Japan....unless your name contains something really weird.


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