我国提案被ISO-TC46接受

                             冯志伟

 

国际标准化组织 ISO-TC46文献和信息标准化技术委员会于2012年5月7-12日在德国柏林召开。我受国家教育部的派遣，与教育部语信司的冯向华一起参加了这次会议。

2011年，我国曾经向ISO-TC45秘书处提交过一个关于修改ISO-7098 Chinese Romannization的“新工作项目提案”（New Work Item Proposal，简称NWIP），英文稿是冯志伟起草的，大致内容如下：

 

 

             New Work Item Proposal for revision of ISO-7098

 

     To: ANSI (USA), AFNOR (France), DIN (Germany), SA (Australia)

 

   Dear Sir,

 

In according to the Resolution 2011-1 of the 38th plenary meeting of ISO/TC 46 “Information and documentation” held in Sydney, Australia – 6 May 2011, we shall submit a New Work Item Proposal (NWIP) for revision ISO-7098 to ISO/TC46 secretariat.

 

RESOLUTION 2011-1 (Transliteration standards) of the plenary meeting said,

“ISO TC 46 acknowledges the answers given by member bodies to the call to assess the interest and the need for revision of the transliteration standards (N2301). These results show that there is insufficient member bodies indicating a commitment to participate in a revision.”  “ISO TC 46 notes the contributions submitted from China (SAC) and Germany (DIN) and the possibility of future New Work Item Proposals to revise these standards. Member bodies wishing to update a transliteration standard are encouraged to consider submitting a New Work Item Proposal or an Amendment proposal as appropriate.”

 

Many years ago, in 1958-02-11, the National People’s Congress of China approved “The Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet” (Hanyu Pinyin, or Pinyin). This scheme provides rules for alphabetic spelling of syllables in Standard Chinese Language of China (Putonghua).

 

In 1979, China proposed to take the scheme of Chinese phonetic alphabet as the international standard in ISO TC46 meeting (Paris, Warsaw).

 

In 1982, ”ISO 7098 Documentation and Information – Chinese Romanization” was approved in ISO TC46 meeting (Nanjing of China).

 

In 1991, ISO TC46 has technically revised ISO 7098, and has published ISO 7098 (second edition, 1991-12-15).

 

In China, ISO 7098 gives impetus to new information technique in the information age. In computer application and mobile communication, it is used to input and output Chinese characters in computer and mobile phone. Now more than 80% Chinese used ISO 7098 Pinyin to deal with Chinese information processing.

 

In the international level, ISO 7098, that establishes Pinyin as the international standard for the Romanization of Chinese, has been adapted by most libraries around the world. It provides access to bibliographic material of the Chinese language in documentation.

 

In the end of 20 century, Library of Congress (USA) used ISO-7098 to catalogue Chinese books (700,000 books) in the library.

 

In the same tine, the Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations in Paris asked a team of sinological librarians from all over the country, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, to ask their opinion on Chinese word division of ISO 7098, in order to establish a common guideline on Chinese word division in Pinyin.

 

The National Library of Australia also adapted ISO 7098 for Chinese Romanization in documentation.

 

Now more and more people in the world learn Chinese as a foreign language by the means of ISO 7098. Pinyin became an important tool for teaching and learning Chinese.

 

These facts show, ISO 7098 is an useful standard in documentation in the world.

 

However, ISO 7098 (1991) has some disadvantages in the practical application.

 

Firstly, Pinyin rules in ISO 7098 (1991) are insufficient.

 

3.6 of ISO 7098 (1991) says: “Although, as a rule, spacing between characters is regular, it is usual to transcribe the characters forming a single word by linking them together. Principles and rules for formation of words shall be standardized in other texts related to every language concerned.”

 

This statement is very vague and insufficient, so it is difficult to apply in the practical documentation works.

 

In ISO/TC46 N2080 (2007-09-05), ISO/TC46 secretariat pointed out, for the compilation of comments on ISO 7098:1991 “Documentation and Information: Chinese Romanization”, they received four comments from Australia, USA, Germany and France.

 

Australia’s comment says: “’To transcribe the characters forming a single word by linking them together is actually a very problematic area because the concept of ‘word’ as in English may or may not be the same as in Chinese.”

 

USA’s comment says: “The examples given in 5.3 have joined syllables. This is not the standard practice in library cataloguing in the U.S.”

 

Germany’s comment says: “In the standard ISO 7098 (1991) the construction of words is lacking.”

 

France’s comment says: “Despite the widespread use of ISO 7098, one problem that persists is the matter of word division when using Hanyu Pinyin, due to the lack of a clearly stated and commonly used standard policy”.

 

By these reasons, we need clearly describe in the standard: When we link the different Chinese syllables together as a lexical unit, and when we separate the different Chinese syllables? We need also clearly describe: How we link the Chinese syllables to form a lexical unit?

 

Secondly, the list of dictionaries given in ISO 7098 (1991) is too old.

 

In ISO/TC46 N2080 (the compilation of comments on ISO 7098:1991), USA’s comment says: “the list of dictionaries given in 5.3 of ISO 7098 is rather old and not the most comprehensive and authoritative.”

 

By this reason, we need update the list of dictionaries in ISO 7098 (1991).

 

At the 38th plenary meeting of ISO/TC 46 (6 May 2011, Sydney), Chinese delegate suggests to further update ISO 7098 (1991) to reflect current Chinese Romanization practice.

 

We need further describe the rules of Pinyin in detail. For example, we need to describe the detailed rules for joining Chinese syllables of personal name, place name; we need to describe the detailed capitalized rules in Chinese Romanization.

 

We need update also the list of dictionaries in ISO 7098 (1991), and replace them by the new list of comprehensive and authoritative dictionaries.

 

In summary, there are a lot of spaces to improve ISO 7098 (1991). It is necessary to update ISO 7098 (1991) to reflect new development of Chinese Romanization not only in China, but also in the world.

 

In this case, we shall submit a New Work Item Proposal to ISO TC46 secretariat in order to update this standard.

 

Because you have rich experiences in documentation application of ISO 7098 (1991) and you know well the insufficient of this standard, we warmly invite you to join this New Work Item Proposal. We hope that you can accept our invitation.

 

Sincerely Yours,

 

                Standardization Association of China (SAC) 英文稿起草人：冯志伟

 

   这次会议讨论了我国的这个提案，并且在5月11日ISO-TC46的全体会议上一致通过了我国的这个提案，并成立了工作组，由美国、德国、俄罗斯、加拿大派专家参加这个工作组，由我国冯志伟担任 Project leader。这样，ISO-7098的修改工作进入WD（Working Draft）阶段（工作草案阶段）。

 

 这次会议的决议表明，我国政府50年前颁布并推行的汉语拼音方案，现在已经得到了ISO国际标准化组织的大力支持，得到世界上大多数国家的支持，这个汉语拼音方案已经走向了国际标准化的轨道。今后，汉语拼音方案将会在国际范围之内，在计算机汉字输入、移动通信汉字输入、对外汉语教学中汉字注音等应用领域发挥更大的作用。 

 

    我多年曾经说过，汉语拼音方案是汉字的好朋友，是汉字的有力助手，我们不能把汉语拼音方案和汉字对立起来，汉语拼音方案在国际范围的广泛使用，将会使古老的汉字在信息时代焕发青春。