# Pronunciation: Ng (surname)



## Qcumber

I have been told there are Chinese people whose surname is written *Ng*. How do they pronounce it?


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## Delzac

It is hard to teach you the right way to pronounce it through the internet, but here goes.

" Eal-n"

Goodness, I hope you get what I am  saying.


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## gao_yixing

Qcumber said:


> I have been told there are Chinese people whose surname is written *Ng*. How do they pronounce it?


 
Oh....Ng? They are not from mainland China. In our Pinyin system, this surname does not exist.


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## Flaminius

Ng is the Hokkien (and other Southern varieties) transliteration for 黃.  When I was introduced to a certain Mr. Ng in Singapore, he pronounced his family name "ng" as in English "si*ng*," "to*ng*" or "swi*ng*."


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## bR0123

In HK *ng* is 吳 or 伍.  It's difficult to tell you how to pronounce it, but you may imagine saying "*mm...*that's delicious" and focusing your airflow through your nose.


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## Brendela

Flaminius said:


> Ng is the Hokkien (and other Southern varieties) transliteration for 黃. When I was introduced to a certain Mr. Ng in Singapore, he pronounced his family name "ng" as in English "si*ng*," "to*ng*" or "swi*ng*."



Pronounce it as the equivalent sound with English words -ng e.g. ha*ng*

This is the Hanyu Pinyin version in Singapore. For your information, this surname is commonly found in Chinese-Singaporeans' names whose early ancestors were immigrants mainly from the Province of Fujian and Fuzhou in China.

The mainland Chinese's Hanyu Pinyin version does not have this "Ng" because it is only uniquely coined in Singapore, the sound of which is derived according to the specific Chinese dialect group of that person.


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## Qcumber

Flaminius said:


> Ng is the Hokkien (and other Southern varieties) transliteration for 黃. When I was introduced to a certain Mr. Ng in Singapore, he pronounced his family name "ng" as in English "si*ng*," "to*ng*" or "swi*ng*."


Thanks a lot, Flaminius.
I suppose you mean this is how the consonant is pronounced. 
Is it accompanied by a vowel that is not written?
If so, is this vowel placed before or after the consonant?
[əŋ]
[ŋə]


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## Flaminius

The word was consonant only as I heard my Mr. Ng utter it.  Yet you might find this Wiki article of help.


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## Qcumber

Flaminius said:


> The word was consonant only as I heard my Mr. Ng utter it. Yet you might find this Wiki article of help.


Wikipedia: "It is pronounced [ŋ̩]. It is sometimes romanized as _Ang_, _Eng_, _Ing_ and _Ong_ in the United States and _Ung_ in Australia."
Thanks a lot, Flaminius. What is striking is that the phonetic transcription places the schwa after the consonant, whereas English-speaking people transcribe it with a vowel before the consonant.


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## eastlife

NG is absolutely Singaporian Pinyin for surname 吴 (Wu2).


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## palomnik

_Ng _is a dialectical variation that doesn't exist in Mandarin Chinese.  It does exist in Cantonese, and several other south China dialects.  since a lot of the early emigration came from the south, it's a common surname among overseas Chinese.  I believe that the standard pronunciation of the surname in Mandarin is _Wu, _although there may be more than one possibility.


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## Dalian

eastlife said:


> NG is absolutely Singaporian Pinyin for surname 吴 (Wu2).


It could be Cantonese, too.


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## Brendela

Hi all,
Someone mentioned the surname 'Ng' stands absolutely for 吴　in Singapore. I would like to point out that this is not true. From the region where I come from, *Ng is always associated with 黄*, never have I come across as 吴. Nonetheless, it is possible for at least 1 or 2 other surnames (perhaps 吴) to share the same spelling. 　 

To be precise, based on the standard Chinese Hanyu Pinyin "Huang", the sound is then converted to English spelling according to the person's dialect group. 

For example, the surname "陈" (Chen) has a few English versions:
1) written as "Chan" if the person's dialect group is Cantonese
2) written as "Tan" for Hokkien
3) written as "Chang" for Hakka

Hope you have a clearer picture.


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