It’s Iimi! And Binh Ngo Was its Name-o

Talking to Carl during their daily run, Krysta and Iimi learn about tones and pitch in Asian languages and about the different ethnic groups they previously lumped together. They realize that Vietnamese Tết differs from the Chinese practice. They learn that it’s the Year of the Fire Horse… And Bính Ngọ Was its Name-o

Pre-Comic Notes:

I’ve done my best to portray Asian-American cultures and languages accurately in this comic. Any errors are unintentional, and I apologize for them.

Chinese New Year (called Tết by the Vietnamese) is on February 17^th this year. Officially, it’s The Year of the Fire Horse… And Bính Ngọ Was its Name-o

In Chinese, 丙午年 (pronounced bǐngwǔ nián in Mandarin and bíng-móuh nìhn in Cantonese) is the formal zodiac term for Fire Horse, while 火馬年 (huǒmǎ nián in Mandarin and fóh-máh nìhn in Cantonese) is the everyday descriptive phrase. The hanzi are traditional, as this reflects the usual usage among the Chinese diaspora. The reason for pointing out both will be established in the comic. “Bính Ngọ” is the Vietnamese name for it (hence the title).

Post-Comic Notes: No, this isn’t a comic about “representation politics.” But every group of people does have a different history and culture. It’s easy to downplay that when our own isn't the one being overlooked. If you’ve ever wondered why the Church is concerned about it, I hope this comic has helped.

Is there another purpose for introducing this? Well, you’ll have to wait and see.

On The Hmong Spelling and Pronunciation.

If you’re wondering about why the spelling of Hmong words and names don’t line up with the conventional English use, it is logical, but you need to understand the rules. As I understand it, it’s about expressing tones.

 

Of the Asian languages that use tones, Mandarin has 4 (5 if you count the neutral), Cantonese has 6-9, and Vietnamese has 6 or 8, depending on the region. When transliterated into Roman letters, Mandarin (Pinyin), Cantonese (Yale), and Vietnamese use diacritical marks to designate the tones. However, while the Hmong language has 8 tones, it doesn’t use diacritical marks. Seven of the eight tones are indicated by the final consonants b, j, s, v, m, g, and d. The eighth tone is used when the word ends with no final consonant (i.e., ends in a vowel).

 

So, with Ka Lia’s grandfather, “Lij Ntxawg Xyooj,” Lij is roughly “Lee” with a tone. Ntxawg is close to “n-chao” with a tone, and Xyooj is “Shyong” or “Syong” with a tone (if it were spelled “Xyoom” it would roughly be the same sound but with a different tone… and meaning). Ka Lia (a modern Hmong-American name) is written without a tone-marking letter… which corresponds to the 8th tone in Hmong. Because nothing is added at the end to mark tone, the spelling looks close to the English pronunciation.

Once I learned about this, I could see how their pronunciation aligned with the spelling. (“Oh, right. «tx» is similar to «ch.»”) For more information, see: https://studyhmong.com/the-hmong-alphabet.

Image and Other Credits

Cover (Horse) Image: Ramon Lucha (ramonlucha.com), Copyright 2018

The Vietnam War-era pictures are from the U.S. Military and are therefore in the public domain.

Yuki no Shingun is a military marching song from the Imperial Japanese Military and is in the public domain. It appears in the anime Girls und Panzer, where Iimi and Krysta learned it. The translation can be found HERE. A recording of that performance can be found HERE. The youthful enthusiasm is how I picture Iimi and Krysta doing it (albeit off-key in their case). As translated lyrics can be copyrighted as a “derivative work” because they require original creative input, I didn’t use the translation in the comic itself.

AI Disclaimer

I discontinued using AI for covers and background scenery after Issue 277. I still use it to create logos, doodles, and symbols, simply because there are no non-AI logo-creation programs (suggestions are welcome). Some previously used images have been retained for consistency (iconic buildings and “historic photographs”) and will be replaced when possible. Any other appearance of AI means the stock art seller I purchased from misrepresented their product.