Thread Alert:
I received a good question by email the other day that I think would be valuable to answer here regarding the translation of some names in the Eng subs for MXH/GMI contestants. I was asked what the difference is between Ayanga vs. Ayunga & if you're new 1/?

to the fandom, I can see why it can be confusing.
Ayanga is Mongolian, so his birth name is also Mongolian. Ayanga is the official English romanization for this Mongolian name and you'll see it listed in his official baidu page. 2/?

Ayunga is the pinyin for the sinicization of Ayanga's name: 阿云嘎
Similarly, S2's Arxidin Askar (aka Alading) is Uyghur. Arxidin Askar is the official English romanization of his Uyghur name. Again, you can find this on his official baidu page. 3/?

Alading comes from the sinicization of Arxidin's name: 阿拉丁·阿斯哈力. And actually, Alading is only his first name, the full pinyin for Arixdin's name is Alading·Asihali. Which, as you can see, is quite different from the official English romanization. 4/?

Why do we choose to use the official English romanization as opposed to using the Chinese pinyin? From the standpoint of practicality and maximizing reach, it probably would make more sense to just stick with the Chinese pinyin. 5/?

I mean, w/ Ayanga it's not too big of a deal since it's just one letter. But with Arxidin (Alading) it's a big difference, and he himself goes by Alading in the show to match the general 3 character Han Chinese name pattern. 6/?

So why did I make the decision that GMI subs would go the more tedious route of always typing out Arxidin Askar (Alading) or Alading (Arxidin Askar) each time? At the root of it all, basic translation principles really. 7/?

Referring to Arxidin as Alading officially in English, is no different than say referring to Mozart in English as "Mozhate", the pinyin for 莫扎特, the Chinese translation for his name. German, Chinese, and English are 3 completely separate languages, 8/?

and translating from German into English by first translating into Chinese and then to English is absolutely absurd when direct translation from German to English is already possible. Rule #1 of translation: Always translate from the source language as much as possible. 9/?

Similarly, Mongolian/Uyghur are completely diff langs from Chinese & Eng, and direct romanization from Mongolian/Uyghur already exist, so there is no need to go through a Chinese intermediary to make the translation possible 10/?

So for all my moots that follow C-ent, I encourage you to use the official English romanizations (if available, many don't have it) to refer to your ethnic minority c-ent favs when interacting in Eng 11/?

esp. Uyghur stars (as this is where I see it happen most ). So Dilraba>Dilireba, Gulnezer>Gulinazha, Merxat > Mi Re. This ofc applies differently when it comes to nicknames like Gazi, & u could make the case that these r stage names so no need to be such a stickler. 12/?

But names hold a lot of meaning, & I'm a firm believer that names should not be compromised just for the sake of accommodating a dominant group. This is particularly important as Uyghur language and culture faces immense oppression and assimilation pressures these days. 13/?

In the end, how you choose to refer to ur favs is ur choice though, and I just wanted to provide some context on why GMI subs went with the name translations we did. 14/?

Side note: Zhaxi Dunzhu (which is the pinyin for the sincitization of his Tibetan name) was a deliberate exception for 2 reasons:
1) His name doesn't have 1 consistent official eng. romanization. There isn't anything listed on his Baidu 15/?

and I literally spent an afternoon digging up his name in Tibetan (I have 0 Tibetan bg mind you) and then trying to figure out what the definitive eng romanization is (so not for lack of trying) but I couldn't pinpoint one. 16/?

From what I could piece together, his first name can be romanized as Tashi or Trashi, and last name as Dondup/Dondrup/Dhondup/Dhondrup. 17/?

2) In my research process, I learned that it's common for Tibetans to share the same name, because the name hails not from parental lineage, but is traditionally bestowed by the Dalai Lama
So for easy differentiation I ultimately chose to stick w/ Chinese pinyin 18/?

I've since discovered though that Zhaxi can be found on YT credited as both Tashi Dondup and Tashi Dhondup, for those curious. /end