How Does One Say Xi Jinping’s Name?
During Xi Jinping's recent visit to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vigorously tweeted about the informal summit with the Chinese president in Tamil, English and even Chinese. Curiously, the Prime Minister’s Twitter handle did not have a single tweet in Hindi.
If he had indeed tweeted in Hindi, the vernacular media wouldn't have found itself in the awkward and uncomfortable position of having to conjure up a variety of spellings and pronunciations of Chinese President Xi Jinping's name.
It would seem that even seven years after Xi Jinping ascended to the position of the highest-ranking officer in China, and five years after the 2014 fiasco when a Doordarshan news anchor mispronounced "Xi" as "eleven" during a live telecast, there is still no consensus amongst members of the Hindi media over the exact spelling and pronunciation of the Chinese leader's name.
Given that China is a strategically important country for India and the world's second-largest economy, the least that members of the Hindi press could do is get Jinping's name right. The confusion isn't just limited to the media; several ministers have also offered a range of ways to write Jinping's name in Hindi.
वणक्कम !!!
चीन के राष्ट्रपति शी जिम्पिंग का स्वागत है। दोनों पड़ोसियों के बीच ये नए रिश्तों की शुरुआत है।
स्वागत, वंदन, अभिनंदन!#ModixijinpingMeet pic.twitter.com/VBzwC9jWzO
— Kailash Vijayvargiya (@KailashOnline) October 11, 2019
The variants – which shouldn’t be in existence – included the most common one “शी जिंपिंग”, the correct one “शी चिनफिंग” and the erroneous “शी जिम्पिंग”.
शी जिनपिंग-PM @narendramodi की मीटिंग के बीच चीनी अखबार ने कहा- सफल हो सकता है 'मेक-इन इंडिया'https://t.co/N9PW6P7ptT
— Zee News Hindi (@ZeeNewsHindi) October 11, 2019
The issue assumes all the more significance for this government which has claimed towering success in two areas of policymaking: the promotion of Hindi and India's foreign relations. Despite the presence of several books and scholars of Chinese – who are competent enough to shed light on the language and its pronunciation – the Hindi media isn't serious when it comes to its reportage of India's external affairs.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting could have, after consulting an expert, issued a guideline on how to write the Chinese President's name.
Watch: 'Media Bol' Episode 04: Why Has Hindi Media Become So Unprofessional?
It is no secret that India’s lack of knowledge about China is a severe handicap for the country’s policies regarding its neighbour. The Indian media could start by getting the names of important leaders right. An anchor from a leading news channel tried to school others on twitter about the right spelling of the Chinese leader but failed miserably by writing Xi Jinping’s name as “सी चिनपिन ”.
चीनी राष्ट्रपति के नाम पर भारतीय मीडिया में एका नहीं है। कुछ अख़बार शी चिनफिंग लिख रहे हैं तो कुछ शी जिनफिंग। जबकि मंडारिन में उनका नाम सी चिनपिन है।
— Akhilesh Sharma अखिलेश शर्मा (@akhileshsharma1) October 12, 2019
The promotion of the Hindi language both at home and abroad has been one of the major objectives of the government but the current situation belies the sincerity of the government to promote the language for anything other than votes from the Hindi belt of the country.
Jansatta, a leading Hindi newspaper was perhaps the only one which got the Chinese president's name right.
On the other hand, Danik Bhaskar, which claims to be not India’s but the world’s leading Hindi newspaper, got the Chinese president's name wrong.
चेन्नई के मशहूर आईटीसी ग्रैंड चोला होटल में ठहरे चीनी राष्ट्रपति शी जिनपिंग का आज (शनिवार) भारत दौरे का अंतिम दिन है।
आगे पढ़े.....#XIJinping #NarendraModi #Tamilnadu #Mahablipuram #ITCGrandCholahttps://t.co/NBgsT8NJg1— Dainik Bhaskar Hindi (@DBhaskarHindi) October 12, 2019
Republic Bharat gave two different variants of the president's name.
महाबलीपुरम में पीएम मोदी और शी जिनपिंग की मुलाकात खत्म, डेलिगेशन लेवल की मीटिंग शुरु
देखते रहें रिपब्लिक भारत पर LIVE- https://t.co/SDGVEbc7RS pic.twitter.com/3ZTaKTSyAG
— रिपब्लिक.भारत (@Republic_Bharat) October 12, 2019
मामल्लापुरम पहुंचे चीनी राष्ट्रपति शी चिनफिंग, पीएम मोदी ने गर्मजोशी के साथ किया स्वागतhttps://t.co/BoQRldQd4z
— रिपब्लिक.भारत (@Republic_Bharat) October 11, 2019
NDTV India, another Hindi news channel, wrote the name correctly.
PM मोदी और शी चिनफिंग के बीच महाबलीपुरम में शिखर वार्ता जारी, आतंकवाद जैसे मुद्दों पर हो सकती है चर्चाhttps://t.co/b3MCm0Ae7e
— NDTVIndia (@ndtvindia) October 12, 2019
सुप्रभात। यह है आपके अपने अखबार अमर उजाला का प्रथम पृष्ठ। अपने शहर की खबरें पढ़ने के लिए क्लिक करें https://t.co/4nLGMU3msk
दिनभर ताजा अपडेट्स के लिए पढ़ते रहिए https://t.co/B4phUJ6g2H #amarujalafrontpage #amarujala #BreakingNews. pic.twitter.com/A7oNHnPQkz— Amar Ujala (@AmarUjalaNews) October 13, 2019
चेन्नई के मशहूर आईटीसी ग्रैंड चोला होटल में ठहरे चीनी राष्ट्रपति शी जिनपिंग का आज (शनिवार) भारत दौरे का अंतिम दिन है।
आगे पढ़े.....#XIJinping #NarendraModi #Tamilnadu #Mahablipuram #ITCGrandCholahttps://t.co/NBgsT8NJg1— Dainik Bhaskar Hindi (@DBhaskarHindi) October 12, 2019
Even BBC Hindi spelt the Chinese president's name wrong.
पीएम मोदी-शी जिनपिंग की आज वन टू वन बैठक- पांच बड़ी ख़बरें https://t.co/iCHDslEkn7
— BBC News Hindi (@BBCHindi) October 12, 2019
Indian media in general and Hindi media, in particular, should pay closer attention to the pronunciations and spellings of at least the names of important world leaders.
The government and its leaders should also be careful when writing for tweeting in Hindi if they are serious about promoting the study of international affairs in Hindi.
Bihu Chamadia has an MA in Chinese from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
This article went live on October fifteenth, two thousand nineteen, at thirty minutes past six in the evening.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
