PLACE NAMES IN EASTERN ASIA 



THE breaking out of the war between 

 Russia and Japan is bringing trouble 

 to every household in the land, for 

 the place names of Korea and Man- 

 churia are spelled differently by different news- 

 papers and on different maps. These names 

 in the native tongue are written in characters 

 different from those which we employ, and 

 have been transliterated into roman characters 

 by different persons in different ways ; hence 

 the widely varying forms which are seen. It 

 is not generally known that a system of trans- 

 literation of such names has been adopted by 

 most European nations, by Canada, and by 

 this country — a system which is simple, easy of 

 application, and which, if generally followed, 

 reduces these variations of spelling to a mini- 

 mum. This plan is published in the report of 

 the U. S. Board on Geographic Names, and is 

 here republished for ready reference. 



RUIZES FOR TRANSLITERATION 



a has the sound of a in father. 



e has the sound of e in men. 



i has the sound of i in ravine or of ee in beet. 



o has the sound of o in mote. 



u has the sound of oo in boot. 



ai has the sound of i in ice. 



au has the sound of ow in how. 



ao is slightly different from above. 



ei has the sound of the two Italian vowels, 



but is frequently slurred over, when it is 

 scarcely distinguishable from ey in the En- 

 glish they. 



c is always soft and has nearly the sound of 

 s. Hard c is given by k. 



ch is always soft, as in church. 



f 2& in English ; ph should not be used for 

 this sound. 



g is always hard. (Soft^ is given by j.) 



h is always pronounced when inserted. 



j as in English ; dj should never be put in 

 for this sound. 



k as in English ; it should always be used 

 for hard c. 



kh has the sound of the oriental guttural. 



gh is another guttural, as in the Turkish. 



ng has two slightly different sounds, as in 

 finger, singer. 



q should never be employed ; qu is given 

 by kw. 



y is always a consonant, as in yard, and 

 should not be used for the vowel i. 



The U. S. Board on Geographic Names has 

 passed upon only a few of these names of east- 

 ern Asia. Among them are Amur, Chemulpo, 

 Korea, Seoul, Manchuria, and Tokyo. Of the 

 names already in common use in connection 

 with the seat of war, the following forms 

 should be employed in accordance with the 

 rules above quoted : Mukden, Yalu, Sungari, 

 Chefu, aud Fusan. H. G. 



NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY 



8 p. m., Friday, February 26. — National Rifles 

 Armory. ' ' Travels in Arabia and Along the 

 Persian Gulf. ' ' Mr David G. Fairchild. Illus- 

 trated. 



4.40 p. m., Saturday, February 27. — Colum- 

 bian University . ' ' The Argentine Republic . ' ' 

 Mr Charles M. Pepper. 



8 p. m., Friday, March 4. — Cosmos Club. 

 " The Work of the National Bureau of Stand- 

 ards." Dr G. M. Stratton. 



4.40 p. m., Saturday, March 5. — Columbian 

 University. ' ' San Domingo. ' ' Mr Percy King. 

 Illustrated. 



8 p. m., Friday, March 11. — National Rifles 

 Armory. ' ' Little Known Peoples of Mexico. ' ' 

 Dr Carl Lumholtz. Illustrated. 



4.40 p. m., Saturday, March 12.— Columbian 

 University. ' ' Brazil . ' ' 



8 p. m„ Friday, March 18.— Hubbard Me- 

 morial Hall. "The Work of the U. S. Bio- 

 logical Survey." Dr C. Hart Merriam. 



4.40 p. m., Saturday, March 19. — Columbian 

 University. "Peru." Hon. Manuel Alvarez 

 Calderon, E. E. and M. P. from Peru. Illus- 

 trated. 



8 p. m., Friday, March 25. — National Rifles 

 Armory. "The Louisiana Purchase Exposi- 

 tion." President D. R. Francis. Illustrated. 



4.40 p. m., Saturday, March 26. — Columbian 

 University. ' ' Chile. ' ' 



8 p. m., Friday, April 1. — Hubbard Memorial 

 Hall. "A Journey Across Mindanao." Alonzo 

 H. Stewart. Illustrated. 



4.40 p. m., Saturday, April 2. — Columbian 

 University. "Colombia and Venezuela." Hon. 

 F. B. Loomis, Assistant Secretary of State. 



