# Pronunciation: COVID-19



## yuechu

大家好！

I recently was reading the following sentence in Chinese: "享誉乐坛，素有德国“小提琴女神”之称的小提琴家安妮·索菲·穆特（Anne-Sophie Mutter）昨天通过她自己的社交媒体宣布，她的COVID-19冠状病毒检测结果呈阳性。", and I was wondering, would most Chinese people pronounce COVID-19 as "COVID nineteen" or "COVID 十九"?
Thanks!


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## SuperXW

Most Chinese are not familiar and not sure how to prounce COVID, and they would almost never speak "nineteen" in a Chinese sentence.
For a three-letter term such as App, they often read the letters out, for example, A-P-P.
If they do know how to pronounce COVID, they'll pronounce COVID 十九, or maybe COVID 幺九 (one-nine).
For English words they don't recognize or not sure how to pronounce, they'll probably skip it, or use 什么 as a filter.
I.e. "她的什么什么十九冠状病毒……"


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## corner1912

We would simply not use  COVID-19 冠状病毒 when speaking
COVID-19 冠状病毒 = 新冠病毒 in spoken Chinese
i.e. “她的新冠病毒检测结果呈阳性”


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## ovaltine888

Please also take a note of the pronunciation of 新冠 (xin1 guan1) though many people pronounce xin1 guan4.


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## corner1912

ovaltine888 said:


> Please also take a note of the pronunciation of 新冠 (xin1 guan1) though many people pronounce xin1 guan4.



Oh I did not notice that I pronounced it wrong...


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## Skatinginbc

COVID-19：Coronavirus disease 2019  ==> 2019 twenty nineteen
19-冠毒病：2019 冠狀病毒病  ==> 20*19* 二零*一九*


yuechu said:


> COVID-19 as "COVID nineteen" or "COVID 十九"?


*一九*冠毒病


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> COVID 十九 or COVID 幺九


Oh, really? That is something that I would not have imagined. People around me and I would either replace it with one of the many Mandarin equivalents or (mis)pronounce the English original.


Skatinginbc said:


> *一九*冠毒病


I have not ever heard this and personally find it odd.


ovaltine888 said:


> Please also take a note of the pronunciation of 新冠 (xin1 guan1)


Here is a forum thread on this: 新 <冠> 肺炎.


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## SuperXW

Skatinginbc said:


> *一九*冠毒病


然而并没有普及


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your help!


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## Youngfun

sei1欧微哎地19


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## SuperXW

yuechu do you know what you are thankful for...?

Moderator Note: Reference was made to a point which is now a separate thread.


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## yuechu

SuperXW said:


> yuechu do you know what you are thankful for...?


Oh, no... I only understood "sei1欧微哎地19", not the last part.


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## ovaltine888

yuechu said:


> Oh, no... I only understood "sei1欧微哎地19", not the last part.


Frankly speaking, I don't even understand the "sei1欧微哎地19” part.

I believe *Youngfun *was just pulling your leg. But I think native speakers in this forum should give serious answers otherwise you will make learners confused.


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## Skatinginbc

*Vic*toria 音譯：*維*多利亞
CO*VID*-19 音譯：科*維*19,  柯*維*19...


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## SuperXW

ovaltine888 said:


> Frankly speaking, I don't even understand the "sei1欧微哎地19” part.
> 
> I believe *Youngfun *was just pulling your leg. But I think native speakers in this forum should give serious answers otherwise you will make learners confused.


sei1欧微哎地19 is how exactly a native Beijinger would (mis)pronounce COVID-19. yuechu竟然能看懂。


Skatinginbc said:


> *Vic*toria 音譯：*維*多利亞
> CO*VID*-19 音譯：科*維*19, 柯*維*19...


Again, what's your point...?
Suggesting us to abandon the current names and accept yours?
If it is not a generally acknowledged term, just your creation or suggestion, or sometimes just a divergent topic, please clarify.
I also believe that we shouldn't confuse learners. Even I'm confused.


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## Skatinginbc

SuperXW said:


> If it is not a generally acknowledged term...


Believe it or not, I don't know which translation of "COVID-19" is "generally acknowledged".


SuperXW said:


> If it is...just your creation or suggestion...


The translations I mentioned (i.e., 19-冠毒病,  科維19,  柯維19) were neither my creations nor my suggestions.  Purely from the descriptive point of view, I listed some Chinese terms that people have used as translations of "COVID 19".   For example,
19-冠毒病:
传染病命名问题纵谈 - 中国科技术语: “2019 冠状病毒病, 简称19冠毒病.”
曾泰元觀點 - 韋氏詞典記錄新冠疫情: "採納WHO的決定，收錄了COVID-19 (19冠毒病)."

科維19:
《壹米财经》 “科维-19疫情的影响下，境外投资者在国内金融市场的交易仍将保持快速增长."
《chenpeihao--First Hand China business news》江泽民说，科维-19对全球经济以及亚太地区经济产生了毁灭性的影响.

柯維19
《5G科技网》去年以来，在社会动荡和‘柯维'-19疫情的双重打击下，香港经济民生受到严重冲击.
《中国财商新闻网》 不仅治疗了柯维-19，在2003年SARS，2009年猪流感等重大病毒性公共卫生事件的防治中也发挥了良好的作用.


SuperXW said:


> If it is...just a divergent topic...


I don't think my posts have strayed from the topic.


SuperXW said:


> what's your point...?


The original poster did not ask for Chinese translations of "Coronavirus" (新冠病毒).  Instead, he asked for the Chinese pronunciation of "19" in the context of "COVID-19".  Accordingly, I am only interested in the pronunciation of "19" in the Chinese translations of "COVID 19" and don't care about whether those translations are widely used or not.  All of the translations I listed include the number "19".  And I already explained in Post #6 , the "19" in those terms is pronounced "*一九*" because it is a short form of  二零*一九* (2019).


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## SuperXW

yuechu said:


> would *most Chinese people pronounce* COVID-19 as "COVID nineteen" or "COVID 十九"?





Skatinginbc said:


> I am only interested in the pronunciation of "19" in the Chinese translations of "COVID 19" and *don't care about whether those translations are widely used or not*.


Please show some respect to the original question.
You are welcome to add relative information or suggestion but please answer the question first.


Skatinginbc said:


> I don't know which translation of "COVID-19" is "generally acknowledged".


So yours are not. You can say that at first.
As we always stress "context", if an expression is rarely used, it would be strange to fit most context.
In other words, clarify popularity of the word can be as important as clarify its context.

Purely from the descriptive point of view, there are other unpopular transliterations. For example, 科维德, 柯维德. Maybe we can go on searching 克, 威 and try out the combinations...but I don't know the meaning of this if we don't care about the popularity.


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## Skatinginbc

SuperXW said:


> Please show some respect to the original question.


I thought I did.  The original poster's question concerns the pronunciation of "19" in "COVID 19".  When encountering the word "COVID 19", some Chinese speakers may spell it out as "sei1欧微哎地19", some may translate it into 19-冠毒病, and some may transliterate it into 科維19, 柯維19, or something else.  I don't care about how "COVID" would be pronounced (e.g., spelled out, translated, or transliterated) by most Chinese people because that's not the OP's question.  What I care about is how most Chinese people would pronounce "19" when they encounter something like ""sei1欧微哎地19", "19-冠毒病", and "科維19/柯維19".


SuperXW said:


> You are welcome to add relative information or suggestion but please answer the question first.


This is the second time telling you that I didn't make a suggestion.  And I answered OP's question in my first post (see #6): "19" is pronounced "一九".


SuperXW said:


> Purely from the descriptive point of view, there are other unpopular transliterations. For example, 科维德, 柯维德.


 That's besides the point. It is meaningless to exhaust all possible transliterations. Since you already mentioned spelling out the word COVID in #2 (and later Youngfun also did in #12), there was no point for me to repeat what you already said, and so I brought up the fact that it could also be translated (義譯 in #6 with one example: "19-冠毒病") or transliterated (音譯 in #14 with two examples: "科維19" and "柯維19"). No matter it is being spelled out, translated, or transliterated, "19" is pronounced "一九"--That's my point.


SuperXW said:


> If they do know how to pronounce COVID, they'll pronounce COVID 十九, or maybe COVID 幺九 (one-nine).





SimonTsai said:


> Oh, really?


 SuperXW, "_so yours are not_" "_generally acknowledged_".  "_You can say that at first_" because to "_clarify popularity of the word can be as important as clarify its context_."  See my point? If you don't know how popular a certain expression would be, how do you "_say that at first_"?  You are demanding something I am not able to do.


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## SuperXW

Skatinginbc said:


> The original poster's question concerns the pronunciation of "19" in "COVID 19".





Skatinginbc said:


> *I don't care about how "COVID" would be pronounced* (e.g., spelled out, translated, or transliterated) by most Chinese people because *that's not the OP's question*.


*??????*
Let's read the OP's question again:
_would most Chinese people *pronounce COVID*-19 as "*COVID *nineteen" or "*COVID *十九"? _
OK OK, if we shouldn't care about COVID, why did you bring out 冠病毒, 科維, 柯維...?? I'm totally confused...


Skatinginbc said:


> And I answered OP's question in my first post (see #6): "19" is pronounced "一九".
> ...
> No matter it is being spelled out, translated, or transliterated, "19" is pronounced "一九"--That's my point.


And I, and a Taiwanese Chinese speaker, told you that, we felt your answer odd. Believe or not, your point is not generally accepted.
And "19" was not the whole question, also not your whole "answer".
And your current focus on 19, is contradictory to your earlier interest on COVID.
Anyway, *none of your post really answers "what would most Chinese pronounce COVID-19"*.


Skatinginbc said:


> When encountering the word "COVID 19", some Chinese speakers may spell it out as "sei1欧微哎地19", some may translate it into 19-冠毒病, and some may transliterate it into 科維19, 柯維19, or something else.


Actually, we were talking about *what we thought "most Chinese" would pronounce, not "some may"*.
You were talking about "some may" or "you may".
一九冠毒病, 科維19, 柯維19 were all in your posts.


Skatinginbc said:


> That's besides the point. It is meaningless to exhaust all possible transliterations.
> ...and so I brought up the fact that it could also be translated (義譯 in #6 with one example: "19-冠毒病") or transliterated (音譯 in #14 with two examples: "科維19" and "柯維19").


Yes, any new abbreviation could be translated or transliterated in many ways.
*If it is meaningless* *why did you bring them up?*
You didn't say "examples" when you brought them up. They all seemed to be proven as standards.


Skatinginbc said:


> Since you already mentioned spelling out the word COVID in #2 (and later Youngfun also did in #12), there was no point for me to repeat what you already said...


You can confirm, or disagree, before giving a different answer.
*There's a point, and it is important*, because if you don't comment but bring up a different answer, it usually means you haven't read or do not agree, and that means others' are wrong or no good.
This is common sense.


Skatinginbc said:


> SuperXW, "_so yours are not_" "_generally acknowledged_". "_You can say that at first_" because to "_clarify popularity of the word can be as important as clarify its context_."  See my point?


That's why *I said "or maybe" before 幺九*.
But *you said only "the reasons(?)" before 一九冠毒病, 科維, 柯維*.
"Or maybe" means not all people always use that. It is reasonable someone didn't know. And Simon was giving a normal feedback.
"The reasons(?)" seems only to prove your answers are confirmative, absolute or reasonable.


Skatinginbc said:


> If you don't know how popular a certain expression would be, how do you "_say that at first_"?  You are demanding something I am not able to do.


If you don't know how popular are 一九冠毒病, 科維, 柯維, you are not qualified to answer the original question, as your don't know how "most Chinese" talk.
But I think you do know, because you'll meet more common translations during the intentional research to find the rare ones.
If you really don't know, you can take a look at other answers, do some research, agree or disagree, or lay back and learn something.


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## Skatinginbc

yuechu said:


> 她的COVID-19冠状病毒检测结果呈阳性。", and I was wondering, would most Chinese people pronounce COVID-19 as "COVID nineteen" or "COVID 十九"?





SuperXW said:


> If they do know how to pronounce COVID, they'll pronounce COVID 十九, or maybe COVID 幺九 (one-nine).


I know how to pronounce COVID correctly in English, and intuitively I would pronounce "COVID-一九" (not COVID 十九, and certainly not COVID 幺九) in the context provided by the OP (i.e., involving code switching--COVID in English, 19 in Chinese).  I didn't want to openly agree or disagree with SuperXW's unsubstantiated claim, because (1) most Chinese people would not say "COVID-I9" (involving code-switching) anyway, and (2) there might not be a statistically significant difference between the number of people that say COVID 一九 and the number of people that say COVID 十九.  I _do_, however, think COVID 一九 is more "correct" and I gave the reason in #6:


Skatinginbc said:


> COVID-19：Coronavirus disease 2019  ==> 2019 twenty nineteen
> 19-冠毒病：2019 冠狀病毒病  ==> 20*19* 二零*一九
> 一九*冠毒病


My emphasis was obviously on 19 (一九)--in RED and BOLD.  I explained why 一九 (as opposed to 十九) would make more sense to me.  And my view was echoed by two authoritative government agencies:
《國語日報社》(a Taiwan-government sponsored agency tasked with the responsibility of promoting Standard Mandarin) issued a news article stating that "南隆國中教師蔡雅鈴則分享「國際議題——*COVID一九*」課程，學生開始關注國際及社會議題，也多了新聞敏銳度。"
《中华人民共和国国家卫生健康委员会》于2020年2月21日宣布《关于修订新型冠状病毒肺炎英文定名事宜的通知》 新型冠状病毒肺炎英文名称修订为*COVID-一九*。


Youngfun said:


> sei1欧微哎地19





Skatinginbc said:


> *Vic*toria 音譯：*維*多利亞
> CO*VID*-19 音譯：科*維*19, 柯*維*19...


Youngfun's spelling out of the word "C-O-V-I-D" reminded me of the possibility of substituting "COVID" with a transliteration that includes the number 19.  Simple as that.


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## zeit

yuechu said:


> 大家好！
> 
> I recently was reading the following sentence in Chinese: "享誉乐坛，素有德国“小提琴女神”之称的小提琴家安妮·索菲·穆特（Anne-Sophie Mutter）昨天通过她自己的社交媒体宣布，她的COVID-19冠状病毒检测结果呈阳性。", and I was wondering, would most Chinese people pronounce COVID-19 as "COVID nineteen" or "COVID 十九"?
> Thanks!


Actually, we just say "新冠病毒"


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## yuechu

I appreciate all of your answers  It looks like COVID-19 is not normally what is called in Chinese! (I thought it might be fairly common because I saw it in a Chinese article, but it looks like this is not the norm! I think I will call it 新冠病毒 instead  )

谢谢，大家！


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## SimonTsai

ovaltine888 said:


> Frankly speaking, I don't even understand the "sei1欧微哎地19” part.


I would certainly not have been able to get it, either.


Skatinginbc said:


> I _do_, however, think COVID 一九 is more "correct"


I agree, but, honestly speaking, if I were asked to read aloud '*19*-冠毒病' and '科維-*19*', I think that I would pronounce them '*一九*' and '*十九*'. The reason for the difference is, I guess, that '科維-19' is a transcription of the English original, and that people therefore are actually thinking of the English word '_nineteen_' when reading it aloud.


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