yao

[citambulos]

When they say a telephone number on radio or tv, they often start with yao, like yao 零二八八.... What does the yao here stand for?

thanks

[renzhe]

It's an alternative way of pronouncing 一. Especially common when reciting strings of numbers.

[xianhua]

And for an explanation on why 'yao' is used instead of 'yi', look no further than here.

Is it me or does anyone else find that when they look back through older threads they discover that the general level of English grammar and spelling is far inferior to that used by the current populace? What's all that untidy 'guest' business too?

[skylee]

Is it me or does anyone else find that when they look back through older threads they discover that the general level of English grammar and spelling is far inferior to that used by the current populace?

It doesn't sound very friendly to say other people are "inferior", does it?

Not everybody is good at English.

[YuehanHao]

That previous thread is helpful to me. Nevertheless, although I think I understand the general idea, in particular cases, I sometimes am still surprised and unsure whether to pronounce as 'yi' or 'yao.'

I thought the example of 9-11 and the different thoughts about it was interesting. A slightly different example that I have also wondered about is H1N1流感. I originally thought the ones should be said as 'yao,' yet it seemed to me the newscasters on 国际新闻 are certainly pronouncing them as 'yi.'

Based on what was said in the previous thread, I wonder, is it reasonable to think that this is because H1N1 is not a string of numbers and there is no concern about sequential digits running together in speech? Or could it be because the pronunciation of the term just flows together better as 'yi?'

It wasn't clear to me who decided or the reason why this choice was made.

约翰好

[liuzhou]

It's an alternative way of pronouncing 一

yāo has its own character 么 so its not really an alternative pronunciation of 一.

[trien27]

yāo has its own character 么 so its not really an alternative pronunciation of 一.

么 = the smallest number possible: Well, before the Chinese started using the number zero, which there was really no need in Chinese due to it being a decimal system, the smallest number was 一. Even if the pronunciation isn't an alternative for "one", the meaning is an alternative of 一.

[xianhua]

It doesn't sound very friendly to say other people are "inferior", does it?

Yes, it does sound a bit harsh now I've re-read it this morning. Maybe 'far less polished' would have been more appropriate.

[HashiriKata]

the general level of English grammar and spelling is far inferior to that used by the current populace?

That thread was written 5 years ago, so it should be natural that we've since made some progress in English. Or what do you take us to be ??!

[renzhe]

yāo has its own character 么 so its not really an alternative pronunciation of 一.

If you see 一 in a string of numbers, you pronounce it as "yao", don't you?

[liuzhou]

If you see 一 in a string of numbers, you pronounce it as "yao", don't you?

Yes, in the same way I "correct" the pronunciation of misprints or typos in English.

[romeo-48]

yāo has its own character 么 so its not really an alternative pronunciation of 一.

The correct Chinese character is 幺(yāo) which means 1. 么(yāo or mó or me) is not the standard way of writing characters.

If 1 is among a string of numbers like telephone number, we often pronounce it yāo.

When I was in high school, the number of my class is 129. If you want to read the numbers one by one, you can pronounce them yāo èr jiǔ. Or you can pronounce them 一百二十九yī bǎi èr shí jiǔ.

[trien27]

The correct Chinese character is 幺(yāo) which means 1. 么(yāo or mó or me) is not the standard way of writing characters.

幺(yāo), is the smallest number possible on a dice, etc..., which is one or less. Since counting with fingers it's not really possible to count "zero", therefore "one" is the smallest number in this case. Therefore, 幺(yāo) = 1, as used in China to get rid of ambiguity when the normal saying includes a string of "yī"s. like September 11th = jiu yao yao. Why is it Yao yao, & not "yao yi" or "yi yao"? Yao yao = doubling of the 幺 in "九幺幺" for "9/11"