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1. 老师 are well respected in Chinese, so this 称谓 is used when addressing them. Unlike English, the title comes after a person’s last name.
2. As explained in the lesson, everything in Chinese needs Chinese character representation. So when importing foreign names, the closest Chinese sound equivalent is used. In this lesson, a few examples of famous people are given. Take a look at the vocabulary page for more examples.
3. The pronunciation of 亚当 in mainland China differs from Taiwan. While the speakers pronounce the 亚 with a third tone, mainland Chinese speakers pronounce it with a fourth tone.
4. Most Chinese names consist of three characters. Foreigners wanting to reside in Chinese communities are usually required to have an official Chinese name for ID purposes. The first character is usually an approximate sound from the person’s last name, while the last two characters can either be the Chinese equivalent of their English first name, or they can choose a more local sounding name here.
5. When translating Western names (especially famous people) into Chinese, there are usually multiple possibilities for the closest phonetic character. As a result, some names may have slightly different translations in Taiwan than in mainland China. The translations given in this lesson and on the vocabulary page are the mainland Chinese versions.
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