# Call for help on an Instrument alias!
**URL:** https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706
**Category:** MusicBrainz
**Created:** [October 11, 2021, 4:23pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706 "2021-10-11T16:23:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ApeKattQuest\_MonkeyPython](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/ApeKattQuest_MonkeyPython)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2021, 4:23pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/1 "2021-10-11T16:23:52Z")
Hi there MusicBrainz!
I need your help translating a specific instrument’s aliases!
The instrument in question is “Strings” [https://musicbrainz.org/instrument/32eca297-dde6-45d0-9305-ae479947c2a8/aliases](https://musicbrainz.org/instrument/32eca297-dde6-45d0-9305-ae479947c2a8/aliases)
As you can see I’ve added all the names from wikidata/pedias: [https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1798603](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1798603)
But these are all “string instrument” type names.
It would be very useful to also have just the equivalent of “strings” in all these languages, as well as any other very used names and common misspellings.
I’d also like if anyone could “confirm/debunk” which alias is “correct” one of a) the ones who now have more than one on MusicBrainz and b) have a different one in the [wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1798603) “In more languages” section.
Basically if you see something “off” here, please tell! `😺`
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### Author:  [@reosarevok](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/reosarevok)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/2 "2021-10-11T16:29:01Z")
Spanish and Estonian both seem good (I don’t think Estonian has a “shorter” version than “keelpillid” since that’s already one word only!). Thanks for looking into this 🙂
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### Author:  [@Iceman1415](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Iceman1415)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/3 "2021-10-11T17:34:43Z")
There is a Cantonese entry, but it seems to be using mandarin pronunciation instead of Cantonese. 弦樂器 in Cantonese would be pronounced “jin4 ngok6 hei3”, instead of “xián yuè qì”.
[Here’s](https://hongkongvision.com/tool/cc_py_conv_en) a website I’ve just found for converting characters to Cantonese pronunciation, but haven’t check how accurate is it.
Alternatively [here’s](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/) an online database by CUHK (small search box on top left, one character at a time).
Apparently there are few systems of romanization (pinyin), I actually have no idea which is the most popular, maybe jyutping?
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### Author:  [@mr\_monkey](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/mr_monkey)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/4 "2021-10-11T17:37:10Z")
French aliases both look good (cordes, instrument à cordes), but there is also another alias marked as french that definitely isn’t.
Looking at the script it could be Persian/Farsi: سازهای زهی
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### Author:  [@yindesu](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/yindesu)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2021, 6:15pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/5 "2021-10-11T18:15:37Z")
I just want to point out that Japanese is sorted in kana, not Latin script, as also indicated on [Style / Aliases - MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style/Aliases). So the sort names for the Japanese aliases need to be corrected:
- 弦楽器: gengakki → げんがっき
- ストリングス: sutoringusu → ストリングス
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### Author:  [@yindesu](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/yindesu)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/6 "2021-10-11T18:29:20Z")
> [@Iceman1415](#):
>
> There is a Cantonese entry, but it seems to be using mandarin pronunciation instead of Cantonese. 弦樂器 in Cantonese would be pronounced “jin4 ngok6 hei3”, instead of “xián yuè qì”.
>
> [Here’s](https://hongkongvision.com/tool/cc_py_conv_en) a website I’ve just found for converting characters to Cantonese pronunciation, but haven’t check how accurate is it.
> Alternatively [here’s](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/) an online database by CUHK (small search box on top left, one character at a time).
> Apparently there are few systems of romanization (pinyin), I actually have no idea which is the most popular, maybe jyutping?
I would assume the sort name should actually be removed. I don’t think Chinese is sorted in Latin script.
[Well, I guess there is pinyin sort order, but I don’t think it’s the most common method used in Chinese systems.](https://www.quora.com/How-does-alphabetical-order-or-sorting-order-work-in-Chinese)
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### Author:  [@reosarevok](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/reosarevok)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2021, 8:15pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/7 "2021-10-11T20:15:53Z")
We should probably have _separate entries_ for the romanizations, but it might be a good idea to still have them 🙂
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### Author:  [@yyoung](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/yyoung)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2021, 1:54am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/8 "2021-10-12T01:54:48Z")
> [@yindesu](#):
>
> Well, I guess there is pinyin sort order, but I don’t think it’s the most common method used in Chinese systems.
AFAICT it’s the most common and intuitive method, stroke counts method is only used in some specific situations. But I’m not sure if the sort name will put it among other languages, Chinese names should probably be separated from other latin script languages.
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### Author:  [@Iceman1415](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/Iceman1415)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2021, 5:52am UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/9 "2021-10-12T05:52:00Z")
nice catch, most dictionaries I know actually sorts by radical-stroke count, and other dictionaries uses mandarin pinyin. I don’t know of any dictionaries that sorts with cantonese pronunciation / “cantonese pinyin”, it’s kindda just a way of writing down how to pronounce words in cantonese, not used for much else.
mainland will sort using pinyin, taiwan probably uses a similar system called Bopomofo. I’m not sure what the sort name would be for “Cantonese” (zh-HK?) locale, but using mandarin pinyin seems wrong.
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### Author:  [@yindesu](https://community.metabrainz.org/u/yindesu)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2022, 12:02pm UTC](https://community.metabrainz.org/t/call-for-help-on-an-instrument-alias/554706/10 "2022-07-26T12:02:40Z")
Is there a reason this has still not been implemented, or opened up so that the community can fix it for ourselves?