Chinese language experts try to correct ‘Beijing’

NEW YORK (AP) — In the shadow of Olympic venues, Brian Williams anchored NBC’s “Nightly News” last week in a city he calls Bay-jing.

Yet Bob Costas, Meredith Vieira and many of NBC’s sports announcers seem to be working in a different, more exotic place: Bay-zhing.

So which is it?

Williams is right, if you talk to experts in the Chinese language. He’s even recorded something about the pronunciation puzzle for NBC’s Web site, although it doesn’t seem to be required viewing for everyone at the network.

“It’s been annoying me for quite awhile, honestly,” said S. Robert Ramsey, a college professor and author of “The Language of China.”

He’s not alone, and it isn’t just NBC at fault. “For you mousse-coiffed, Mr. Gravitas TV anchor types and you sotto voce public radio types, please oh please stop saying “Bay-zheeng,” wrote Kaiser Kuo, who works for a China-based ad agency and wrote an online guide for journalists covering the Olympics. “The pronunciation of the city’s name couldn’t be easier.”

Carson Yee and John Weinstein, experts in the language who occasionally do theater work as Two Chinese Characters, recorded a YouTube video clip making the same point.

Does it really matter? Think how Tony Soprano would feel if you said he lived in New Zhersey (Joisey is another issue entirely). You’d get strange looks if you order zha-va at your local coffee shop.

And who’s going to sing “Zhingle Bells” when they go caroling this winter?

“If we can’t even pronounce Beijing correctly and consistently, how can we ever hope to address deeper cross-cultural misunderstandings and conflicts?” Yee told The Associated Press.

Beijing used to be known as Peking to English speakers. It officially changed in 1949.