Quantumpoetic

Share this post

How to Pronounce Yuan

www.quantumpoetic.com

How to Pronounce Yuan

C'mon Google

Quantumpoetic
Apr 2, 2021
6
2
Share this post

How to Pronounce Yuan

www.quantumpoetic.com

Yuan is the word for the currency of China.

A yuan (Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán)

Second tone.

It’s also my name.

Yuan (Chinese: 遠; pinyin: yuǎn)

Third tone.

My grandfather gave me my name, 王致遠. (Wáng Zhìyuǎn)

It is from a Chinese idiom: 寧靜致遠 - which translates to “tranquility yields transcendence.” So, the literal translation is King of Transcendence.

遠 - Yuan literally translates to “far.”

致遠 - Zhiyuan translates roughly to “send far.”

If you Google how to pronounce yuan, it returns yoo-aan.

Here are native pronunciations of 遠 and 元.

Now, I’m not picky. People can call me “Yen” or “Yuen” and it doesn’t bother me at all if an individual mispronounces my name.

However, “yoo-aan” does sound like a caveman being vaguely offensive to Asians. Google is a massive company and should be able to do better. This Google search seems to explain why people so commonly make this mistake in butchering my name and the currency of China.

2
Share this post

How to Pronounce Yuan

www.quantumpoetic.com
2 Comments
Mark
Apr 2, 2021

> Thanks for your feedback.

> Your responses help to improve the Google Search experience.

You can make a difference!! :-)

Expand full comment
Reply
1 reply
1 more comment…
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Quantumpoetic
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing