A project exploring the complexity of Chinese names called Not My Name has published an interactive visualization that allows users to explore how the system of latinizing Chinese names, Pinyin, can obscure the diversity of Mandarin characters and their meanings. The visualization depicts each latinized name in the form of a tree, and each branch represents the corresponding variety of Mandarin characters. Users can click on each branch to hear a name’s pronunciation in Mandarin, showing the nuances lost in latinization of Chinese names.
Visualizing Nuances in Chinese Names
