<p>We Chinese pronounce 阿Q正传 like this:</p>

<pre><code>a1 Q(exactly the same as English letter Q) zheng4 zhuan4
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T06:49:06.397Z
2014-05-08T06:49:06.397Z
Soony
<blockquote>
<p>“Q弹”中“Q”的本字为“”，音读    khiū，近似“Q”，是台湾闽南语。 
“”释义：形容食物柔软而有弹性、韧性。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>, which is a Taiwanese word, means (foods are) chewy (<em>This translation might be wrong. forgive my English please. Feel free to edit</em>), has a similar pronunciation as English Letter Q. So this word gets its way into Mandarin speakers, and then become an unformal word Q弹(kiu1 tan2) which means chewy. The point I want to make here is that pronouncing the English letter &quot;Q&quot; is not an issue because there is already such a word. So 阿Q正传 is pronounced as /a1 kui1 zheng4 zhuan4/ by people today.</p>
<p>Ref: <a href="https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/680905255852818652.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/680905255852818652.html</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-08-17T02:19:19.230Z
2020-08-17T02:19:19.230Z
River
<p>Q is pronounced the same as the English pronunciation of the letter Q.</p>

<p>Which is funny actually because a lot of mainlanders pronounce QQ (software) as "kou kou" (pinyin spelling). </p>

<p>edit: maybe my answer does not quite fit the criteria because my understanding is purely coming from the way people talk of 阿Q精神 —— but the 阿Q we're talking about is obviously the same...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T00:08:19.810Z
Please give some background on the _scope_ of your answer (Where you're from, who--e.g., fellow students, teachers--you've heard pronounce it that way).
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T08:19:36.760Z
I believe the "koukou" sound comes from some dialect.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T08:29:21.620Z
Completely anecdotal, some of my friends from North-eastern China read QQ as 'koukou', while I have never heard any Southerner pronounce it that way.
NS.X.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-09T03:24:33.873Z
@NS.X. I've heard a bunch of people over here, in the south-west, pronounce QQ as 'koukou' - I figured it was a 'national' thing...
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-07T23:30:37.133Z
2014-05-09T03:30:16.407Z
2014-05-09T03:30:16.407Z
Mou某
<p>Generally speaking, in modern practice, Chinese speakers pronouce mixed English letters as is. for example:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>5A级景区</p>
</blockquote>

<p>is pronouced as "wu3 ei1 ji2 jing3 qu1"</p>

<p>阿Q正传 is somehow different, because the author had explicitely mentioned in this novelette that Q should be pronounced as 桂 or 贵. (Note that back in the era of this novelette Chinese people were just starting to get familiar with western cultures so there was no established rules as how to incorporate English letter pronouciations in Chinese context.)</p>

<p>What I have experienced, when famous theatre companies present the play of 阿Q正传, they were always faithful to the original novelette and pronouced "gui4" in the play. However in daily speech, people sometimes just follow common practice and forget that this should be a special case.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T08:26:10.680Z
It reminds me the pronunciation of 恪 in the name [陈寅恪](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%99%88%E5%AF%85%E6%81%AA#.E5.A7.93.E5.90.8D.E8.AF.BB.E9.9F.B3). There're always controversies how this kind of special name should be pronounced. IMO, as there's actually no standard (or I miss it?), it doesn't matter for us to freely choose an acceptable one.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T10:59:58.400Z
@Stan your example reminds me "万俟卨"... I had so much pain to memorize the pronounciation of that name! The pronouciation of people's names are full of unique variations which you just can't reproduce with modern tones. But that was off topic... :P
Rephinx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-09T05:57:58.263Z
现代汉语词典 gives the pinyin for 阿Q as a1 qiu1 or a1 kiu1 . What I hear is always the latter one.
fefe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T06:33:36.480Z
2014-05-08T07:54:32.340Z
2014-05-08T07:54:32.340Z
Rephinx
<p>This is the story named in English "The true story of Ah Q."  Author Lu Xun transliterates the pronunciation of Q as Quei, and suggests that the Q could stand for 桂, or 贵, which are today pinyin Gui4.  I think Lu Xun grew up speaking a Wu dialect, but I am not sure of that.  Anyway I am less concerned to know how he pronounced it.</p>

<p>Answers to the question <a href="https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/2724/how-do-chinese-people-pronounce-latin-characters">How do native speakers of Chinese pronounce Latin characters?</a> suggest it could be pronounced by the name of the Latin letter, kiùr.</p>

<p>How is it said today by Mandarin speakers in China? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-07T20:53:28.523Z
I'm from Fuzhou, everyone around says Q as how it is pronounced in English
user58955
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-07T20:59:18.230Z
@user58955 That would be a good start to an answer.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T06:18:51.493Z
Your story is true, and I was told the same story by my junior high school 语文 teacher.
zsf222
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-08T08:43:01.503Z
(As no one mentions here) I would say some people would pronounce it as "阿丘正传", and it's actually, the way following the alphabet name definition in 汉语拼音方案. Anyway, I myself would pronounce it as the name of the Latin letter **with the first tone** in Mandarin (and I would think the more normal "fourth tone" Latin style is also OK).
Stan
<pronunciation>
How do current Mandarin speakers usually pronounce 阿Ｑ正传?
# How do current Mandarin speakers usually pronounce 阿Ｑ正传?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-05-07)

This is the story named in English "The true story of Ah Q." Author Lu Xun transliterates the pronunciation of Q as Quei, and suggests that the Q could stand for 桂, or 贵, which are today pinyin Gui4. I think Lu Xun grew up speaking a Wu dialect, but I am not sure of that. Anyway I am less concerned to know how he pronounced it.

Answers to the question [How do native speakers of Chinese pronounce Latin characters?](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/2724/how-do-chinese-people-pronounce-latin-characters) suggest it could be pronounced by the name of the Latin letter, kiùr.

How is it said today by Mandarin speakers in China?

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'm from Fuzhou, everyone around says Q as how it is pronounced in English  
> **username_2**: @username_1 That would be a good start to an answer.  
> **username_3**: Your story is true, and I was told the same story by my junior high school 语文 teacher.  
> **username_4**: (As no one mentions here) I would say some people would pronounce it as "阿丘正传", and it's actually, the way following the alphabet name definition in 汉语拼音方案. Anyway, I myself would pronounce it as the name of the Latin letter **with the first tone** in Mandarin (and I would think the more normal "fourth tone" Latin style is also OK).  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_9 on 2014-05-08. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

Generally speaking, in modern practice, Chinese speakers pronouce mixed English letters as is. for example:

> 5A级景区

is pronouced as "wu3 ei1 ji2 jing3 qu1"

阿Q正传 is somehow different, because the author had explicitely mentioned in this novelette that Q should be pronounced as 桂 or 贵. (Note that back in the era of this novelette Chinese people were just starting to get familiar with western cultures so there was no established rules as how to incorporate English letter pronouciations in Chinese context.)

What I have experienced, when famous theatre companies present the play of 阿Q正传, they were always faithful to the original novelette and pronouced "gui4" in the play. However in daily speech, people sometimes just follow common practice and forget that this should be a special case.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: It reminds me the pronunciation of 恪 in the name [陈寅恪](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%99%88%E5%AF%85%E6%81%AA#.E5.A7.93.E5.90.8D.E8.AF.BB.E9.9F.B3). There're always controversies how this kind of special name should be pronounced. IMO, as there's actually no standard (or I miss it?), it doesn't matter for us to freely choose an acceptable one.  
> **username_9**: @username_4 your example reminds me "万俟卨"... I had so much pain to memorize the pronounciation of that name! The pronouciation of people's names are full of unique variations which you just can't reproduce with modern tones. But that was off topic... :P  
> **username_10**: 现代汉语词典 gives the pinyin for 阿Q as a1 qiu1 or a1 kiu1 . What I hear is always the latter one.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2014-05-08. Score: 2

We Chinese pronounce 阿Q正传 like this:

```
a1 Q(exactly the same as English letter Q) zheng4 zhuan4

```


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2020-08-17. Score: 2

> “Q弹”中“Q”的本字为“”，音读    khiū，近似“Q”，是台湾闽南语。 
> “”释义：形容食物柔软而有弹性、韧性。

, which is a Taiwanese word, means (foods are) chewy (*This translation might be wrong. forgive my English please. Feel free to edit*), has a similar pronunciation as English Letter Q. So this word gets its way into Mandarin speakers, and then become an unformal word Q弹(kiu1 tan2) which means chewy. The point I want to make here is that pronouncing the English letter "Q" is not an issue because there is already such a word. So 阿Q正传 is pronounced as /a1 kui1 zheng4 zhuan4/ by people today.

Ref: <https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/680905255852818652.html>


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2014-05-07. Score: 2

Q is pronounced the same as the English pronunciation of the letter Q.

Which is funny actually because a lot of mainlanders pronounce QQ (software) as "kou kou" (pinyin spelling).

edit: maybe my answer does not quite fit the criteria because my understanding is purely coming from the way people talk of 阿Q精神 —— but the 阿Q we're talking about is obviously the same...

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Please give some background on the _scope_ of your answer (Where you're from, who--e.g., fellow students, teachers--you've heard pronounce it that way).  
> **username_4**: I believe the "koukou" sound comes from some dialect.  
> **username_8**: Completely anecdotal, some of my friends from North-eastern China read QQ as 'koukou', while I have never heard any Southerner pronounce it that way.  
> **username_7**: @NS.X. I've heard a bunch of people over here, in the south-west, pronounce QQ as 'koukou' - I figured it was a 'national' thing...  

---

