Romanization Systems

Romanization is a convenient way to find East Asian language materials in the catalogs. A brief explanation of the romanization systems used in the East Asia Library is given below.

Chinese Romanization

Pinyin is now the accepted romanization system for Chinese in libraries throughout the United States and Canada. It replaces the Wade-Giles system which was in use for almost 100 years. The two systems are not the same as can be seen from the following example of the romanization for "China" :

ONLINE CATALOG: Wade-Giles records in the online catalog are gradually being converted to pinyin. During the conversion process, there will be a mixture of Wade-Giles and pinyin records. Until all records are converted, library users will need to search under both pinyin and Wade-Giles catalog entries. This conversion process is expected to continue for an undetermined period of time. Updates on the progress of the conversion project are available on the library's Pinyin Conversion Page.

CARD CATALOG: Chinese entries in the card catalog are entirely in Wade-Giles and will not be changed to pinyin. Instead, the data will gradually be transferred to the online catalog in the form of new pinyin records. This will take place in phase two of the conversion project. Until this phase of the project is complete, it will be necessary to check the card catalog in Wade-Giles for materials not found in the online catalog. Again, the conversion process is expected to last for an undetermined period of time.

Conversion tables are available at various locations in the libraries and on the Chinese Studies page of this web site.

In Wade-Giles romanization aspirated and unaspirated sounds are distinguished by a special diacritic mark resembling an apostrophe; for example: chi and ch'i (ji and qi in Pinyin). In the online catalog such "words" file together in one sequence, however in the card catalog they are filed in separate sequences. The words without an apostrophe come first followed by the words with an apostrophe. This means that "Chi, Chen-huai" would be first in the filing sequence for "chi." "Ch'i, Chao-nan" would be found in the "ch'i" sequence which begins after the last entry in the "chi" sequence which is "chi yun yen chiu."

Japanese Romanization

Modified Hepburn romanization is used for Japanese. It is nearly identical to the Hepburn system employed in the Kenkyusha dictionaries.

A Searching Tip

In 1983 the Library of Congress made a change in the romanization rules for Japanese. Previously, the letter "m" was used before "b," "m," and "p." After the spring of 1983, libraries began to use the letter "n" before "b," "m," and "p." For example, "kempo" became "kenpo" and the surname "Homma" became "Honma." In cases such as this, it is beneficial to search under both methods of romanization for materials published prior to 1984.

Korean Romanization

The McCune-Reischauer system as modified by the Library of Congress is used for Korean library records in the United States and Canada. It is different from the official romanization system devised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism which was approved for use on July 4, 2000 by the Republic of Korea.