The Names , surnames Wang and Wong In Chinese and - What Do they Mean?

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You may recall the popular novel The World of Suzie Wong, about a prostitute in Hong Kong. The book was made into a play, film and a ballet. Two unofficial sequels were written.

THE NAMES WONG AND WANG

The name Wong is very common. So is Wang. Wong or Wang means king. So Suzie Wong, translated into English would be Suzie King. My friend Mr Wang, translated into English, would be Mr King.

Chinese Writing

Wiki gives this wonderful video demo of how to write the letter for king, pronounced as Wong or Wang. A Cantonese speaking friend of mine in Singapore told me: "The base line of a letter in Chinese is always wider, as a support, like the earth."

I replied, "Or a table or support for a candlestick!"

The majority of people in Singapore are ethnic Chinese and speak Chinese (Mandarin).

Wáng

Romanization	Wáng ([wǎŋ]) (Mandarin) Wong (surname) (Hong Kong, Macau, Cantonese, Hakka) Waan (Shanghainese) Ong, Bong (Hokkien) Heng (Teochew) Uōng (Gan) Vang, Vaj, Vaaj (Hmong) Vương, Vong (Vietnamese) Wang (Korean) Ō (Japanese) Heng (Thai)
Pronunciation	Wong4 (Cantonese)
Language(s)	Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese
Origin
Language(s)	Old Chinese
Meaning	"King"[1]
Other names
Derivative(s)	Vuong
Popularity	see popular names

 Suzie Wong lived in Hong Kong. What does that familiar name mean?

Wow. Now you know.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSBC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_of_Suzie_Wong

About the Author

BHA Toastmasters speakers club online Wednesday Aug 5th 7 pm Singapore time.

Japanese - three kinds of writing

Problem
I thought Japanese would be easy to learn. Its symbols are the same as Chinese, although the words are different.  I am trying to learn the traditional Chinese symbolic writing you see on signs.

Now I discover that there not one, not two, but there are three kinds of Japanese writing. I was in Tinycards, from Duolingo, when I read the warning that a set of cards were in Katakana script. I thought, ok, what's that, and what is the alternative?

The three kinds of writing are
katakana (a kind of simplified symbolism for sounds)
romanji - writing in the familiar roman alphabet I am using now - like Times New Roman font, which is the easiest for English speakers like me

Useful websites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_writing_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Japanese

Author
Angela Lansbury