Simplified Wade, abbreviatedSW, is a modification of theWade–Gilesromanization system for writingStandard Mandarin Chinese. It was devised by the Swedishlinguist Olov Bertil Anderson (1920–1993),^[1] who first published the system in 1969.^[2] Simplified Wade uses tonal spelling: in other words it modifies the letters in a syllable in order to indicatetone differences. It is one of only two Mandarin romanization systems that indicate tones in such a way (the other beingGwoyeu Romatzyh). All other systems usediacritics or numbers to indicate tone.

One of the important changes that Anderson made to Wade–Giles to was to replace the apostrophe followingaspirated consonants with an⟨h⟩.^{[note 1]} This modification, previously used in theLegge romanization, was also adopted byJoseph Needham in hisScience and Civilisation in China series. The table below illustrates the spelling difference.^[3]

While Wade–Giles spells the initials differently before the vowel[ɹ̩] (writtenŭ in WG buty in SW), Simplified Wade spells them the same as everywhere else:^[4]

Like most romanization systems forStandard Mandarin, Simplified Wade usesr for Wade–Gilesj: WGjih,jê,jên,jêng,jo,jui,jung, etc., become SWry,re,ren,reng,ro,ruei,rung, etc.^[5]

All other initials are the same as inWade–Giles.^[6]

The finals of Simplified Wade differ fromthose of Wade–Giles in the following ways:^[7]

• An-h at the end of a Wade–Giles final is dropped in Simplified Wade: WG-ieh,yeh,-üeh,yüeh,êrh become SW-ie,ye,-üe (but seebelow),yüe (but seebelow),er.

• Acircumflex in a Wade–Giles final is dropped in Simplified Wade: WGê,-ên,wên,-êng,wêng,êrh become SWe,-en,wen,-eng,weng,er.

• The Wade–Gilesê/o final is alwayse in Simplified Wade: for Wade–Gilesko,kʻo,ho;ê oro;tê,tʻê,chê,chʻê,tsê,tsʻê,jê, etc., Simplified Wade haske,khe,he;e;te,the,che,chhe,tse,tshe,re, etc.

• The Wade–Gilesui/uei final is alwaysuei in Simplified Wade (except when it forms a syllable on its own; then it iswei in both WG and SW). Wade–Giles writeskuei andkʻuei but otherwise-ui (hui,shui,jui, etc.), while Simplified Wade writes not onlykuei andkhuei but alsohuei,shuei,ruei, etc.

• While Wade–Giles writes the syllable[i] asi oryi depending on the character, Simplified Wade consistently usesyi.

• Like Gwoyeu Romatzyh, Simplified Wade uses-y for Wade–Giles-ih and-ŭ: WGchih,chʻih,shih,jih,tzŭ,tzʻŭ,ssŭ become SWchy,chhy,shy,ry,tsy,tshy,sy.

Whenü is available, it is used as in Wade–Giles. Otherwise, the following rules apply:

• The Wade–Giles syllableyu becomesyou and WGyü becomesyu: WGyu,yü,yüeh,yüan,yün becomeyou,yu,yue,yuan,yun (yung remainsyung).

• Wade–Gileshsü becomeshsu orhsyu: WGhsüeh becomeshsue orhsyue; WGhsüan becomeshsuan orhsyuan; WGhsün becomeshsun orhsyun; WGhsü becomeshsu orhsyu.

• In all other cases, Wade–Gilesü becomesyu, e.g.,nyu,lyue,chyu,chyun,chhyu,chhyue,chhyuan.

BothGwoyeu Romatzyh and Simplified Wade use tonal spelling, but in two very different fashions. In Gwoyeu Romatzyh, the spelling of the tone and the spelling of the final often fuse together: WG-iao has the basic spelling-iau in GR, which becomes-yau in the 2nd tone,-eau in the 3rd tone,-iaw in the 4th tone, and remains-iau in the 1st tone – hence WGchiao¹,chiao²,chiao³,chiao⁴ become GRjiau,jyau,jeau,jiaw. There are different rules for different cases: WGpʻin¹,pʻin²,pʻin³,pʻin⁴ become GRpin,pyn,piin,pinn, but WGsui¹,sui²,sui³,sui⁴ become GRsuei,swei,soei,suey.

In Simplified Wade, on the other hand, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tones are always indicated by an otherwise silent letter following the final:-v for the 2nd tone,-x for the 3rd tone, and-z for the 4th tone.^[8] The spelling of the tone and the spelling of the final are always separable from each other. Simplified Wade's tonal spelling is therefore similar to the adding of a digit at the end of the syllable.

The 1st tone is always indicated by the absence of a letter following the final.^[9] Examples:

When avertical apostrophe is used above one or more syllables, any syllable without a vertical apostrophe carries the neutral tone:Hànyǔ Pīnyīnlái le isla̍iv-le in Simplified Wade.^[10]

A right apostrophe is used to indicate a syllable break in an otherwise ambiguous spelling, e.g.,piʼaox for WGpi¹-ao³, freeing up the spellingpiaox to unambiguously mean WGpiao³.^[11] Due to the tone letters, this is only needed when the first syllable carries tone 1.

• Wade–Giles
• Wade–Giles table
• Comparison of Chinese transcription systems
• Spelling in Gwoyeu Romatzyh

• Anderson, Olov Bertil (1970).A Concordance to Five Systems of Transcription for Standard Chinese.Lund:Studentlitteratur.
• Anderson, Olov Bertil (1973).Konkordans till fem transkriptionssystem för kinesiskt riksspråk.Lund:Studentlitteratur.
• Malmqvist, N. G. D. (2011).Bernhard Karlgren: Portrait of a Scholar.Bethlehem, Pennsylvania:Lehigh University Press.

• A review of Anderson (1970), explaining Simplified Wade with an example

• Romanization of Chinese

• Pages with plain IPA