GOOGLE doodle hari ini menampilkan aksara Tionghoa atau yang biasa disebut pinyin. Bukan karena akan memperingati Hari Raya Imlek yang segera tiba, melainkan untuk memperingati hari kelahiran Zhou Youguang, sang pencipta romanisasi aksara Tionghoa yang lahir 13 Januari 1906.
Zhou Youguang lebih dikenal sebagai Bapak Pinyin. Dengan bantuan pinyin, ia telah mempermudah aksara Tionghoa dalam tulisan latin yang semula sangat sulit dipahami. Sistem ini mampu mengekspresikan karakter Tiongkok dalam alfabet Romawi. Pinyin secara harfiah berarti " suara mantra ".
Zhou Youguang sebagai pencipta pinyin meninggal setahun lalu di Beijing, tepatnya Jumat 14 Januari 2017 pada usia 111 tahun. Meskipun menjadi salah satu tokoh paling berpengaruh dalam sejarah Tiongkok, nyatanya masih sedikit yang diketahui orang tentang warga Beijing ini.
Berikut adalah lima fakta tentang Zhou yang telah membuat bahasa Mandarin jauh lebih mudah dipelajari seperti dikutip dari Time Out Shanghai.
1. Zhou Youguang bukan ahli bahasa tapi ahli ekonomi
Zhou belajar ekonomi di Universitas St John di Shanghai sebelum bekerja di Wall Street di New York sebagai pedagang selama tiga tahun pada tahun 1940-an. Linguistik atau ahli bahasa adalah hobinya yang kemudian mengubah kariernya. Semua bermula saat Zhou Enlai, Perdana Menteri Tiongkok saat itu, memintanya untuk memimpin sebuah komite untuk menciptakan sebuah sistem alfabet untuk bahasa Mandarin.
2. Membantu mengentaskan angka buta huruf di Tiongkok
Ketika Zhou memulai proyeknya untuk membuat bahasa Mandarin lebih dipahami bagi pemula, tingkat buta huruf di Tiongkok lebih dari 85 persen. Sekarang, sebagian berkat bantuan 26 huruf latin yang digunakan untuk mewakili ribuan karakter aksara Tionghoa, angka buta huruf di Tiongkok hanya sekitar 5 persen.
3. Menerbitkan lebih dari 40 buku, 10 di antaranya ditulis saat ia berusia 100 tahun
Mengubah sebuah bahasa yang rumit ke dalam beberapa huruf saja tentu bukan pekerjaan mudah. Meskipun demikian, Zhou ternyata mampu mewujudkannya, dan usia bukan menjadi halangan baginya. Dia dijuluki sebagai "Ensiklopedi Zhou" setelah karyanya menerjemahkan Ensiklopedi Britannica ke bahasa Tionghoa terwujud. Tercatat sebanyak 40 buku telah ia tulis sepanjang hayatnya hingga masa tuanya. Ironisnya, beberapa bukunya justru dinyatakan dilarang beredar di negaranya sendiri.
Sebelum diciptakannya sistem pinyin, sistem yang paling populer untuk menulis karakter aksara Tionghoa dalam alfabet Romawi adalah Wade-Giles. Sistem itu diambil dari nama dua orang diplomat Inggris yang merancangnya pada abad ke-19. Sebagai gambaran, pada sistem Wade-Giles, Beijing ditulis Peking. Ahli bahasa sepakat bahwa sistem Wade-Giles agak berat. Itu sebabnya pinyin dianggap lebih mudah dalam romanisasi aksara Tionghoa.
5. Jadi salah satu dari sedikit supercentenarian Tiongkok
Tak banyak orang yang dinyatakan panjang umur. Zhou Youguang menjadi satu dari sedikit kelompok yang disebut supercentenarian atau berusia di atas 110 tahun. Zhou mencapai usia 110 tahun pada 13 Januari 2016, satu tahun sebelum ia wafat pada usia 111 tahun. Wikipedia mencatat, hanya ada sekitar 10 orang supercentenarian di negeri tirai bambu itu yang tercatat secara apik dalam sejarah mereka, dan Zhou adalah salah satunya.
ZHOU Youguang adalah penyelamat bagi warga Tiongkok berkat penemuannya di bidang linguistik yang disebut Pinyin. Sistem linguistik itu diciptakan guna memudahkan aksara Tionghoa untuk ditulis ke dalam huruf Latin.
Tokoh yang dikenal juga sebagai “Bapak Pinyin” itu meninggal di usianya yang ke-111 tahun pada 14 Januari 2017 lalu. Tepat sehari setelah hari ulang tahunnya.
Sempat mengenyam pendidikan di St. John’s di Shanghai, Zhou Youguang ternyata mengambil studi ekonomi. Hal itu sangat berbeda dengan apa yang kemudian digelutinya hingga menjadi salah satu tokoh terpenting dalam sejarah Tiongkok. Setelah revolusi tahun 1949, ia memutuskan kembali ke negara asalnya.
Meski Zhou Youguang dikenal sangat berjasa, ia menjadi musuh bagi pemerintahan di Tiongkok. Di tahun-tahun berikutnya, dia menjadi kritikus garis keras terhadap Partai Komunis yang berkuasa dan seorang advokat untuk reformasi politik. Hal itu membuatnya mendapat status persona non grata dalam acara-acara kenegaraan resmi.
Dia terus menulis bahkan setelah berusia 100 tahun meski banyak bukunya yang dilarang dan pemerintah menyensor diskusi tentang karyanya secara online. Tercatat, lebih dari 40 buku sudah ia tulis.
Seolah Tidak takut dengan kontroversi, Zhou Youguang justru mengatakan, “Aku sangat senang ketika orang mencaciku.” Demikian dilaporkan npr.org.
Ia percaya bahwa Tiongkok membutuhkan reformasi politik secepatnya. Menurutnya, orang-orang tidak lagi percaya terhadap Partai Komunis. Bahkan sebagian besar kalangan intelektual menginginkan perubahan menuju demokrasi.
Zhou Youguang telah menjadi saksi perubahan di Tiongkok . Dia juga menjadi bagian di dalamnya. Hal itu telah membuatnya percaya bahwa Tiongkok telah menjadi apa yang dsiebutnya "gurun budaya".
Dia mengkritik Partai Komunis karena menyerang budaya tradisional Tiongkok ketika mulai berkuasa pada 1949 hingga akhirnya terjadi pemberontakan pada 15 April-4 Juni 1989 yang diwarnai peristiwa bersejarah di Tiananmen Square. Tujuan kritiknya adalah untuk mewujudkan reformasi demokrasi, kebebasan pers, serta kebebasan berpendapat.
VOA melaporkan, Zhou Youguang mengatakan kepada Radio Nasional Nasional Amerika dalam sebuah wawancara tahun 2011 bahwa ia berharap dapat hidup cukup lama untuk melihat pemerintah Tiongkok mengakui bahwa tindakan keras dan berdarah pada demonstrasi prodemokrasi di Lapangan Tiananmen tahun 1989 adalah kesalahan dan para korban tidak bersalah. (Elvin Rizki Prahadiyanti)***
TAK terasa, hampir genap setahun Zhou Youguang meninggalkan kesedihan bagi dunia setelah kepergiannya pada 14 Januari 2017. Ekonom, bankir, sekaligus ahli bahasa ternama asal Tiongkok itu meninggal sehari setelah berulang tahun ke-111.
Ya, 13 Januari 1906 merupakan hari kelahiran sang pencipta sistem aksara Tionghoa yang disederhanakan ke dalam alfabet Romawi. Sistem yang kita kenal sebagai pinyin itulah yang membuat bahasa Mandarin menjadi mudah dipelajari oleh semua orang dari berbagai latar belakang bangsa yang menggunakan huruf latin, termasuk Indonesia.
Jasa Zhou Youguang sangat besar bagi dunia, karena aksara Tionghoa memang tak mudah dipelajari. Seorang anak asli Tiongkok pun membutuhkan pengorbanan yang besar selama berbulan-bulan untuk bisa menguasai karakter-karakter aksara dalam bahasa ibunya itu.
Tingkat kesulitan dalam aksara Tionghoa adalah tidak adanya alfabet seperti tulisan Romawi. Setiap kata dalam bahasa Mandarin diwakili oleh satu, dua, atau tiga gabungan karakter aksara.
Dalam kamus literasinya, ada sekitar 85.000 karakter aksara Tionghoa. Namun, hanya sekitar 7.000 karakter yang bisa dihafal karena memang sering digunakan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari masyarakat setempat.
Tak hanya menghafal, menulis karakter aksara Tionghoa pun bukan hal sepele seperti yang dibayangkan. Setiap titik, garis, dan entakan saat menggoreskannya harus tepat agar tak mengubah arti.
Bisa dibayangkan bagaimana bisa karakter aksara Tionghoa bisa diterapkan dalam teknologi. Untuk menulis dalam komputer misalnya, ribuan karakter yang harus diletakan pada keyboard. Repot tentunya.
Meskipun demikian, terciptanya sistem pinyin ciptaan Zhou Youguang mengubah seketika dilema itu. Menulis karakter aksara Tionghoa di layar komputer kini pun bisa dilakukan dengan keyboard QWERTY yang sudah umum digunakan. Juga sama mudahnya saat digunakan pada telefon seluler zaman sekarang.
Pada dasarnya, sistem pinyin mengkategorikan aksara Tionghoa ke dalam karakter awal yang berdiri sendiri dan karakter akhir berupa gabungan dua atau lebih karakter.
Ada sekitar 23 karakter awal (initial) yang umum dikenal dalam sistem pinyin:
b 波, p 破, m 摸, f 佛, d 大, t 他, n 那, l 拉, g 哥, k 科, h 哈, j 機, q氣, x 西, zh 之, ch 吃, sh 是, r 日, z 子, c 此, s 四, y 意, w 為
Selain itu ada 33 karakter gabungan (final) yang umum dikenal:
a 大, ai 帶, an 單, ang 幫, ao 刀, e 德, ei 給, en 本, eng 風, er 兒, i 一, ia 家, ian 年, iang 良, iao 了, ie 烈, in 林, ing 冰, iong 窮, iu牛, o 佛, ong 東, ou 否, u 不, ua 瓜, uai 怪, uan 管, uang 光, ue決, ui 對, un 均, uo 多, uu/v 旅.***
The man responsible for developing the phonetic translations of Chinese characters is being celebrated this week by Google, with a doodle.
Zhou Youguang would be 112 years old Saturday. During his life, Youguang not only developed phonetic translations of Chinese characters — meaning, he’s the reason why you say “Beijing” instead of “Peking” these days, for instance — but also authored more than 40 books, and translated the Encyclopedia Britannica into Chinese.
Youguang was born in Changzhou in 1906, and showed an interest in linguistics early on, at the age of 12. He went on to graduate from his high school with honours.
Still, although he was clearly a bright young man, as evidenced by his stellar performance in school, he faced financial hardships that threatened his ability to pursue higher education. He enrolled in the St Johns University in Shanghai in 1923, but wasn’t able to attend until family and friends put together a successful effort to fund the education.
In school, he majored in economics and took courses in linguistics.
Youguang would end up fighting during World War 2, and afterward went on to live in New York City and in London, where he worked at a Chinese bank.
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It wasn’t until 1955 when he began to work on the Romanization of the Chinese characters, when he was placed by the Chinese government at the head of a committee to reform the language. While he protested initially, saying that linguistics was just a hobby of his, he ultimately couldn’t refuse.
It turns out the the assignment was a good one, and he completed the pronunciation guide by 1958.
But, Youguang did not get propped up as a hero for his efforts. He was put into a Chinese labour camp in 1969 after he was accused of being a reactionary academic, where he worked in rice fields. He was there for two years.
He left there and continued to write about language, and to compose books. He translated the Encyclopedia in the 1980s. Many of his books he wrote were banned by the Chinese government.
