Reading of 蒙山

[Flagelli45]

This is not a "quick translation," but I think it appropriate for this form.

The character 蒙 can be read as mēng, méng or měng (according to http://en.wiktionary...nary.org/wiki/蒙). What is the correct reading of the mountain name 蒙山? And is there a way to determine questions like this without asking?

[jkhsu]

The "蒙" in "蒙山" is the 2nd tone according to MDBG. See this link.

In general, if you're looking for the correct tones of characters within a word, you can check the entire word in a dictionary such as MDBG. Don't check the characters separately as many characters, such as 蒙 can have multiple meanings and tones.

You should also read the tone sandhi rules for exceptions. For example MDBG has the incorrect pronunciation for "不" in "不是". "不" should be a second tone when followed by a fourth tone syllable.

There are also regional differences in the pronuncation of characters. For example in Taiwan, the “危" in "危险" is pronounced with a 2nd tone instead of a first tone.

So to answer your question: Start with MDBG or an online dictionary and check the entire word (not individual characters). Make sure the tone sandhi rules don't apply. If your word is a proper name (in your case here), it doesn't hurt to ask. In some cases, there is even a debate as to how a character should be pronounced. For example, the "燕" in "燕京" (for the old name of Beijing) is one of them.

[imron]

For example MDBG has the incorrect pronunciation for "不" in "不是".

Actually, according to the rules of pinyin, tone sandhi is *not* indicated when writing tones, so MDBG is correct here. It is expected that the reader knows the tone sandhi rules, and applies them as they are reading/learning.

[skylee]

In some cases, there is even a debate as to how a character should be pronounced. For example, the "燕" in "燕京" (for the old name of Beijing) is one of them.

What is the debate about?

I think it is clear that in that case it is pronounced yan1 in Putonghua. The 燕 in 燕京 and 燕雲十六州 (as in Chinese history) is prounounced yin1 in Cantonese (instead of the usual yin3), which usually corresponds to the first tone in Putonghua. They refer to 燕國 in the past. Also take a look at the entries in the Lin Yutang Dictionary (See noun (3) and word (6)) and the Taiwan MOE Dictionary here and here.

[jkhsu]

skylee:

I don't know much about this myself but it was explained to me by another forum member, Daan. See this link:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/35241-same-word-different-inflection/#comment-262957

Excerpt: (from Daan)

"I'd say that a native speaker of Beijing Mandarin would pronounce it as Yànjīng, while people from other parts of China who've learnt Standard Mandarin from textbooks would be very likely to say Yānjīng instead, simply because they are learning from printed materials rather than using their ears. In due time, this may well make Yānjīng the preferred pronunciation across China, but that does not mean that it was originally the correct pronunciation to begin with. What it really boils down to is that in Mandarin, what is "correct" is decided by the language planning authorities and lexicographers, and not by the speech community itself, as is the case for English, for example. This is prescriptive linguistics as opposed to descriptive linguistics, and I stand firmly on the side of the descriptivists in this debate. Why, after all, should the opinion of a lexicographer about what is "correct" be of any more value than the opinion of any number of native speakers?"

---

Also check out this link:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/theory/2006-12/14/content_5483454.htm

[Flagelli45]

Thank you all for the kind replies and excellent advice!

[xiaocai]

I think yan1jing1 is the historical pronunciation, where as yan4jing1 is like the medical term 荨麻疹 (xun2ma2zhen3 instead of qian2ma2zhen3), when everyone pronounces it wrongly, the authority would actually replace the "correct" one with the "wrong" one to make everyone happy.